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Beowulf : The Epic Of Beowulf

Decent Essays

To begin, Beowulf the poem has a unknown author, Beowulf is an epic poem. In Beowulf he is challenged by the murderous monster Grendel, Grendel is eating and slaughtering Hrothgar the King of the Danes men and people, the king needs Beowulf 's help in defeating Grendel, Beowulf ends up killing the monster and is now tormented by the monster 's mother that is much larger, she is no match for Beowulf and he kills her as well, lastly it is Beowulf’s last battle after he has been king of Geatland for fifty years, he has to defeat the dragon and he does but dies shortly after. In this essay I will be explaining how lof, comitatus, and wyrd is very important to Beowulf’s culture. First and foremost, lof meaning fame is important to Beowulf’s …show more content…

For example, in lines 761-765 it states “ Sad at heart, addressing his companions, Wiglaf spoke wise and fluent words: I remember that time when mead was flowing, how we pledged loyalty to our lord in the hall, promising our ring-giver we would be worth our price.” (Raffel, the final battle). In this quote it explains the importance of being loyal to your king or leader, they pledge and put their life on the line to make sure that their leader is taken care of, in Beowulf’s culture comitatus is extremely important and one of the main ways of their lives. Another example of comitatus in Beowulf is in lines 148-151 it states “ My people have said, the wisest, most knowing and the best of them, that my duty was to go to the Danes’ Great king. They have seen my strength for themselves.” ( Raffel, part 1). In this quote it explains how Beowulf himself showed loyalty to King Hrothgar by offering to help kill Grendel once and for all, Beowulf wanted to help him because their fathers were friends and Hrothgar’s father helped Beowulf’s and it was now Beowulf’s duty to help the king and repay him for what his father had done. As seen in this paragraph comitatus is a very important part of Beowulf culture, being loyal to your leader is simply out of respect and is done at all times. Finally, wyrd also known as fate is important to Beowulf’s culture because their way of life is that everything is predetermined, everything is supposed to happen

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