Beowulf

When I started reading Beowulf, I thought back to the mythology unit that I had in my 6^th grade Reading/English class at my old school.  We only went over a simple version of Beowulf, but I still remember the little stick figures that we made for each character.  As I read through Beowulf, I couldn’t help but think back to those silly little stick figures with missing arms and x’s for eyes.

I really did enjoy this epic tale.  That may be because I love mythology and old epics, but I liked the poem just the same.  I did appreciate the references to Sigemund from Norse mythology, and the fight between Beowulf and the dragon reminded me of the fight between Sigurd and Fáfnir (the dragon that Sigurd has to fight).  Both the dragon from Beowulf and Fáfnir are guarding a treasure while Beowulf and Sigurd fight, and slay their respective dragons.  Beowulf is, essentially, a mash-up of some of the greatest warriors in mythology.  There’s Sigurd/Sigemund with their dragon slaying streak, and the strength of Heracles/Hercules.

I admired Beowulf most of all.  When he was younger, Beowulf is the ideal warrior.  He’s brave and strong, and clearly able enough to take on any foe he comes in contact with.  I mean, he took off Grendel’s arm without any weapon for crying out loud!  I’d say that gets some major warrior points.  Even though Unferth tried to tell Beowulf that he [Beowulf] wasn’t good enough to defeat Grendel, Beowulf simply said that he wouldn’t use a sword because it would be an unfair advantage.  The only thing that I could think of was “is this guy nuts?”  And then Beowulf goes and rips Grendel’s arm off with his Herculean strength like he pulls a monster’s arm off every morning before breakfast.  I bet that back in the day, every guy wished that he could say “yeah, I took off a monster’s arm this morning.  And I didn’t even break a sweet.”

As Beowulf ages, his wisdom grows, leading him to become a wise king that cares for the protection of his homeland and his people.  Even as an old man, Beowulf is still kicking monster butt.  He wanted to slay the dragon and obtain the treasure, not for himself or his family, but for all of his people.  I feel bad that the majority of his men ran away when Beowulf went to fight the dragon.  The only one that stayed and helped Beowulf fight the dragon was Wiglaf.  Shows how brave the other warriors are.

So far, I’ve enjoyed all of the books so far, especially this one, and I hope that the other books are just as good.