Beowulf

Tommaso Iacchetti, Alberto Piacentini, Sabrina Suku, Francesco Casini

Beowulf and grendel

storyline, the fight and beowulf's funeral

storyline

the poem

the fight

introduction

main themes

beowulf's funeral

text

Main characters

beowulf and grendel

end

language

grendel's description

The poem

introduction

Beowulf is an epic poem which was written by an author that is unknown. Even today, the dating of the work remains uncertain, but there is evidence which suggests that the poem was written in the mid-eighth century. Beowulf is the longest Anglo-Saxon poem composed by 3182 lines. The work has arrived to us in a single manuscript which is currently held by the British Library and named Cotton Vitellius. It is thought that the author's original idea was to take up an old Anglo-Saxon legend.

main characters

Nephew of the Geats King, who defeats the monster Grendel

Lady Warrior, that lives with Grendel at the bottom of the lagoon

Cruel monster that terrorized the Danish people

grendel's mother

beowulf

grendel

language

The meter is based on the number of the accents and not the number of the syllables. There are no rhymes , but the text is rich in periphrases, canonical metaphors and there are a lot of repetitions and alliteration. The language is elevated and a lots of parallelisms and antitheses recur throughout the poem.

Storyline

Beowulf is a story of warriors and is the only example of an epic poem completely based on the archetype of the clash between monster and hero, namely the dragon and St George. The poem begins with the construction of the Danish king's mansion, this palace attracts the attention of the monster Grendel. The king, frightened by the troll, asks Beowulf, nephew of the Geats king, for help.

main themes

The whole poem centres on the struggle between Beowulf, the well, and Grendel, the evil.

well against evil

Important sequence of the poem in which Beowul tricks Grendel by pretending to be asleep.

deception

In the ending of the poem Beowulf is rewarded by King Hrothgar with a large money prize.

reward

Beowulf and grendel

beowulf and grendel

grendel's description

Grendel appears in the guise of a fearsome dragon, who lives in a lairinside a cave, He has powerful claws and has the strength of thirty men,the only one able to defeat him is Beowulf, man of extraordinary strengthand indomitable courage, called by the king Hrothgar to be instructed tokill the monster who for too long persecuted peasants and made theslaughter of innocents.

beowulf and grendel

the fight

Only after being surprised in his bed in the middle of the night, the heroof the story can hurt to death the dragon, ripping out an arm andsentenced him to bleed to death. Immediately after Beowulf has madethis gesture, Grendel makes a inhuman scream and run away to avoidbeing definitely killed by that powerful man.

beowulf's funeral

according to beowulf's wishes, his people burn his body on a huge pyre and then bury him whit a great treasure in a barrow overlooking the sea

"The Geats built the barrow as Beowulf had asked. For miles it could be seen, standing high on the cliffs above the sea. Inside they placed Beowulf's ashes and the heap of treasure he had won. Beowulf was not greedy for gold. Instead he gladly gave it away. Now it would lie with him, no use to living men, as for hundreds of years before. Twelve warriors rode around the barrow singing their sadness, praising Beowulf's deeds with their words."

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THANK YOU!

Tommaso Iacchetti, Alberto Piacentini, Sabrina Suku, Francesco Casini