Grave Goods: An archeological and anthropological term, grave goods merely describe any objects buried with a body. But what is less well known is that Beowulf has to slay not one big monster, but three: after he has taken care of Grendel, the dead monsters mother shows up, and she proves even more of a challenge for our hero (though ultimately Beowulf triumphs and wins the day). Reblogged this on Willow's Corner and commented: from your Reading List will also remove any The dragon's treasure-trove poignantly represents the vanity of human wishes as well as the mutability of time. The dragon was cut in two by Beowulf before he died. WebWhen Beowulf sees the treasure, he thanks God for it and proclaims that he has sold his life well for the treasure. Complete your free account to request a guide. Removing #book# SparkNotes PLUS He tells us that the stewards sleep who once burnished battle-masks. At least 50 years have passed. Seamus Heaney, Translators Introduction, pp. The final act of the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf includes Beowulf's fight with a dragon, the third monster he encounters in the epic. Some interesting thoughts here on a classic, with references to J.R.R. Why did the Danes bury the treasure that Beowulf and Wiglaf recovered from the dragon? The scene includes extended flashbacks to the Geatish-Swedish wars, a detailed description of the dragon and the dragon-hoard, and ends with intricate funerary imagery. In Beowulf, some of the most important symbols are Hrothgar's mead-hall, Grendel's cave, Grendel's arm and head, and the dragon's treasure-trove. Beowulf scholar Alexander writes that the dragon fight likely signifies Beowulf's (and by extension, society's) battle against evil. [4] Although the dragons of hagiography were less fierce than the dragon in Beowulf, similarities exist in the stories such as presenting the journey to the dragon's lair, cowering spectators, and the sending of messages relaying the outcome of the fight. At line 2999, he says that these past battles are the reason why he is expecting trouble to rain down on the Geats, and so, at line 3010, he says that the treasure should be burned in its entirety in Beowulf's funeral pyre. An Interesting Summary | the shadows illuminated, https://goodmusicspeaks.wordpress.com/good-music-speaks-podcast-3/. (Immunity to swords evidently runs in the family.) Not finding the offender, the dragon goes on a rampage, breathing fire and incinerating homes and villages. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. He thus stands in contrast to the power-hungry usurper Hrothulf. In a parallel that cannot be missed, the dragon does the same, in a slightly different way, to Beowulf. At his death, peace in his lands will end, and his people will again suffer a period of war and hardship. But this action has consequences, and is in fact merely the prologue to a bigger conflict that must take place: that between Beowulf and Grendels mother. Just as the dead warriors cannot use the treasure, neither can the dragon. [7], Beowulf scholar J. R. R. Tolkien considered the dragon in Beowulf to be one of only two real dragons in northern European literature, writing of it, "dragons, real dragons, essential both to the machinery and the ideas of a poem or tale, are actually rare. Complete your free account to request a guide. He carefully buried the precious objects, lamenting all the while his lonely state. Time passes, and Hygelac dies in battle with the Franks. You'll be billed after your free trial ends. His imagined elegy foreshadows Beowulf's death and elegy to come. After his battles against Grendel's mother and Grendel, Beowulf returns home and becomes king of the Geats. All glory is fleeting. For 300 years, the dragon has peacefully guarded a treasure-trove, originally the riches of a now-defunct tribe but long hidden in a "high barrow-hall, / towering stone-mound" (2212-13). Always aware of his battle gear, he orders a new shield to replace his old linden-wood protector; this one is to be covered with the strongest iron. The poem then ends with Beowulf, now in his twilight years, slaying a third monster (this time, a dragon), although this encounter proves his undoing, as he is fatally wounded in the battle. False pride? Dickerson and O'Hara further elaborated that through its dragon, Beowulf turned the "notion of having a monstrous evil (and not mere human foes) as the enemy" into "a hallmark of modern fantasy" present in C. S. Lewis' Narnia books, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books, and the Thomas Covenant series by Stephen Donaldson. He takes what he can back with him to Beowulf, making haste lest Beowulf should die before he sees what he has won. [16] Moreover, the dragon is more overtly destructive. What happens to the treasure in Beowulf? Well start with a brief summary ofBeowulfbefore proceeding to some textual analysis and critical reading. However, in order to be recognized as heroic hero, Beowulf must participate in society in some meaningful way. Accessed 2 May 2023. Who are the experts?Our certified Educators are real professors, teachers, and scholars who use their academic expertise to tackle your toughest questions. Beowulf only succeeds in vanquishing the monster when he grabs a magic sword from the pile of treasure lying in the monsters lair, and is able to behead the monster with the weapon. cant even agree on what the first line of the poem means, Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell, Lewis Carrolls nonsense masterpiece, Jabberwocky, Christopher Bookers phrase for this type of narrative, Happy Tolkien Reading Day! One thing that the basic overarching story or plot summary ofBeowulf makes clear is just how formative and archetypal it is, not just in heroic English literature, but in fantasy literature, too. Beowulf also takes pains to protect his fame even in death through the creation of his barrow. Rather than directly drawing on the work of Homer and Virgil, the Beowulf poet simply seems to have hit upon the idea of using similar plot devices and character types. The poem continues to enjoy popularity, thanks to a bestselling translation by Seamus Heaney and a translation by J. R. R. Tolkien, which was only published in 2014. The foreshadowing is even more specific immediately after Beowulf orders his new shield; the poet bluntly reveals that the king is "to reach the end of his seafaring days, / his life in this world, together with the serpent" (242-43). May 1, 2023, SNPLUSROCKS20 Wed love to have you back! Beowulf is the first piece of English literature to present a dragonslayer. bookmarked pages associated with this title. When Beowulf sees the treasure, he thanks God for it and proclaims that he has sold his life well for the treasure. Theres an excellent film called The Thirteenth Warrior, in which an exiled Islamic poet joins a band of Vikings to defeat what appears to be a Beowulfian monster attacking a hall. Beowulfs call for the dragon to face him on open ground has the same primal feel to it as his youthful decision to fight Grendel unarmed. In the previous section, the reader learns only that Beowulf came to the throne after Hygelacs death and ruled for fifty years. Is he driven by vanity? Wiglaf excoriates them for their cowardice in leaving their king to fight the dragon by himself. He devotes his life to guarding a treasure that he frankly has no use for. In his death-speech, Beowulf nominates Wiglaf as his heir and asks for a monument to be built for him on the shoreline. Hygelac is killed in battle. [29], The dragon battle is structured in thirds: the preparation for the battle, the events prior to the battle, and the battle itself. Hygelac fell while Beowulf survived thanks to his great strength and swimming ability. Beowulf gives his life defeating the dragon and gaining this impressive treasure for his people, but they won't benefit from it either. So he does what lesser men would fear to do: he wrestles the monster with his bare hands, eventually tearing off one of its arms. In lines 2892-2897a, Wiglaf commands a messenger to go back to town, and give a report to the citizens who had not seen the battle with the dragon. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in. I certainly realize that it is not perfectly clear whether the treasure was owned by one people or two. What happens in Beowulf, the jewel in the crown of Anglo-Saxon poetry? Why does Beowulf want to see the treasure? The lengthy passages of recapitulation and reminiscence fill in the details of Beowulfs political biography. But hand-to-hand combat which was deployed successfully in the vanquishing of Grendel is also of no use now. The treasure is to be buried rather than shared by Hygelac's death (c. 520 AD) is one historical event in the epic; it was recorded by Saint Gregory of Tours in his Historia Francorum. $24.99 TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. This is deliberate. 98-100. Although it is not made explicit (as far as I can tell) it seems that this man's people might have wasted away at least partly due to the powers of the spell and the fact that they had used the ancient treasure for their own purposes. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. So, what about the context for the poem? not so far removed from, say, a James Bond or Indiana Jones film, or a fast-paced fantasy novel or superhero comic strip Yesbut also, surely, the Western? It begins to emerge nightly from its barrow to torment the countryside, still seething with rage at the theft. When was Beowulfwritten? Also, Beowulf is most commonly described as an epic poem; the label makes its main character, Beowulf, an epic-hero. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in. The hall is also symbolic in that it is the setting of Beowulf's first great battle, the defeat of Grendel. Wiglaf decides that the treasure hoard, because it is tainted by the cowardice of the men who should have supported Beowulf, should become part of Beowulf's funeral pyre and barrow: . They discover the thief who stole the dragons goblet and press him to take them to the barrow. He believes that he has somehow offended God. The problem starts when a fugitive, apparently a runaway slave, stumbles across the In this anecdote, the Beowulf poet seems to have given the pagan ethos a fairly sympathetic and even-handed treatment. As a monster that represents the opposite of a generous king and therefore is a destroyer rather than creator of society, it should come as no surprise that the dragon would burn Beowulf's mead-hall. WebThe fight with the dragon symbolizes Beowulf's stand against evil and destruction, and, as the hero, he knows that failure will bring destruction to his people after many years of It was only rescued from obscurity in 1815, when an Icelandic-Danish scholar named Thorkelin printed an edition of the poem. Whereas the earlier clash establishes Beowulfs reputation as a hero, we know this last clash must seal Beowulfs heroic reputation forever. The habit is so well known that examples are superfluous". (For a chronology of the Geats' feuds, see Chickering, pp. Ive just startd reading Seamus Heaneys translation and I must say its easy to follow so far! The title of the poem is probably the most famous thing about it that, and the fact that a monster named Grendel features at some point. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams. The stories, moreover, are often attached to real persons and localized precisely in time and place. He tells of the accidental killing of one of Hrethels sons by another and attempts to characterize the kings great grief. The cave itself represents a world alien to Heorot. [14] The characteristics of Beowulf's dragon appear to be specific to the poem, and the poet may have melded together dragon motifs to create a dragon with specific traits that weave together the complicated plot of the narrative. Instant downloads of all 1725 LitChart PDFs Nothing is permanent. This realization isnt exactly a Christian lesson in the transience of earthly things, since no alternative spiritual world is proposed; neither, however, does it reflect a greedy, purely materialistic lust for gold. Waking up to find In fact, gold can be seen as a symbol of social interaction: a lord rewards Lines 1888-2199. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Both monsters have now been slain, and Beowulf is a hero. Beowulf declined, however, not wanting to disturb the order of succession. The building is like a palace. Fifty years pass with Beowulf in charge, when a local dragon is angered when a slave enters its lair and takes a cup from its treasure. Beowulf tells his men to stay outside, that this fight is his alone, but the dragon proves strong and mortally wounds Beowulf. When Grendel's mother is able to fight Beowulf in the cave, she has a distinct advantage; his victory is all the more significant. As useless to mortals as in foregoing eras. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. [6] Beowulf preserves existing medieval dragon-lore, most notably in the extended digression recounting the Sigurd/Fafnir tale. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams. But this time, hand-to-hand fighting, which had proved handy against Grendel, is equally useless. Instant downloads of all 1725 LitChart PDFs He speaks of the mutability of time and the loss of the good men, heroes, and princes, who no longer have any use for the treasure. Raiding at night, the dragon reminds the reader of Grendel, the monster who haunted Hrothgar in his old age and changed the Scylding king's fortunes. 2023 Course Hero, Inc. All rights reserved. Although it is celebrated nowadays as an important work of Anglo-Saxon indeed, English literature, Beowulf was virtually unknown and forgotten about, amazingly, for nearly a thousand years. One is high and bright and full of song and joy, towering as the Scyldings' greatest achievement. Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. We can compare Beowulf, too, with the legend of King Arthur (which began to appear in written sources around the same time), specifically in terms of the magic sword which the hero of both stories uses in order to fulfil his quest. The poet has no reservations about giving away his ending. Can he still save the day, when everything he tries seems to be of no avail? (including. It is not clear whether he wins because of his own ability, the influence of magic (the giant sword), or God's intervention. and it struck a chord (!) What this tells us, I think, is how deep-rooted is the human need for the idea of the stranger who rides (all right, comes by boat) into town, deals with the monster/fear/rich landowner/evil bandit who is terrorising the townfolk and rides out again. The producers showed some respect for scholarship by including authentic details, for instance the rituals surrounding the ship burial of a Viking chief. He ignores the vast treasure in the cave, instead choosing to carry the magnificent, huge head as symbolic of his victory over both ogres. The fight with the dragon symbolizes Beowulf's stand against evil and destruction, and, as the hero, he knows that failure will bring destruction to his people after many years of peace. Which passages might reflect a Christian outlook? Since he had no son, it was foolish for Beowulf to risk his life. Here are all of the passages which tell us about the treasure, the barrow, and the two peoples who held the treasure over the past 1,000 years (which could be an indeterminate, "poetical" sort of 1,000 years), before it was discovered by the slave in the Beowulf story (the translation is from Chickering): The following notes on the dragon's treasure are from Frederick Rebsamen, page 70: Now, however, I think that the evidence for two peoples is clearly indicated in lines 2247-2252 and 3047-3057. By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. He begins to plot his revenge. It left Beowulf to do the seeking out". [21] The people's fate depend on the outcome of the fight between the hero and the dragon, and, as a hero, Beowulf must knowingly face death. And anyone whos a Tolkien fan should read his essay. 361-62.) It is also provocative that the Geats, despite being advised by Wiglaf's messenger to burn the treasure, bury it in his funeral mound instead, leaving the possibility that someone could unearth it again in the future. Renews May 8, 2023 You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Talking of Tolkien, it was his influential 1936 essay, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, which was really responsible for a shift in the way that people read Beowulf. (If youre looking for the Heaney translation, it can be found here: Beowulf: A New Translation; the Tolkien translation is Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell.) The foe he faces is no ordinary foe, and conventional weapons are powerless against it. WebWhat happens to the dragon's treasure in Beowulf? [39], In his 1936 lecture Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, J. R. R. Tolkien noted that the dragon and Grendel are "constantly referred to in language which is meant to recall the powers of darkness which Christian men felt themselves to be encompassed. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. What qualities characterize Beowulf as a hero? Already a member? The contrast drawn between Hrothgar, who earlier calls on the young Beowulf to eradicate Grendel, and the now old Beowulf, who enlists no such help against the dragon, accentuates Beowulfs valor and instills in us a confidence that Beowulf is still mighty enough to eradicate a menacing foe. This is why it is odd that the story of the poem is generally thought of as Beowulf versus Grendel. The ancient treasures in the hoard once belonged to a regional tribe of warriors who were killed in battle some 300 years previously. Before he dies, Beowulf gives Wiglaf his golden necklace, [22], Beowulf's eventual death from the dragon presages "warfare, death, and darkness" for his Geats. (including. Which passages might reflect a specifically Anglo-Saxon philosophy of life? So, the warriors end up building Beowulf his funeral pyre and burying the dragon's hoard with his ashes. Why does Unferth question Beowulfs ability? You'll also receive an email with the link. The narrator explains that this particular barrow was the, Without a generous king to give the treasure and loyal warriors to earn it, the treasure is "useless.". In proclaiming of Beowulf that He was a good king, the poet echoes his praise of the venerable Shield Sheafson and of Hrothgar (2390). It also looks back to Greek and Roman epics like Homers Odyssey and Virgils Aeneid. In an ancient time a prince's thane hid it, as he was the last of The poet recounts the death of King Hygelac in combat in Friesland. Time is out of joint as the poet reveals the events leading up to Beowulf's becoming king. Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. Thus the characters role is split and this binary role is portrayed in different ways depending on the translation of Beowulf. The next night, Grendels mother angered by the attack on her son turns up to wreak vengeance, and once again Beowulf finds himself having to roll up his sleeves and engage in fierce combat, which this time takes place in the underwater lair of the monster deep beneath the surface of a lake. The other is dark and dank and full of evil, beneath a mere in the middle of a fen and the symbolic home of resentful outcasts. The final encounter, with the dragon years later, will prove the most difficult of all and although he is successful and overcomes the monster, he will pay the ultimate price: victory will come at the cost of his own life. As translator Seamus Heaney points out in his introduction, the idea of gold in the Sigemund episode is associated almost entirely with goodness and honor, while here it is also associated with greed, theft, evil, and death. . He repeatedly tells us that Beowulf is about to meet his death. Struggling with distance learning? In ending with the tale of a dragon attempting to defend a mound of treasure, the poem prefigures not only the works of J. R. R. Tolkien (who, as well as being the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, was also an influential Anglo-Saxon scholar who translated Beowulfandwrote an important article on it of which more below) but also, more surprisingly, other poems like Lewis Carrolls nonsense masterpiece, Jabberwocky. | Interesting Literature, Five Fascinating Facts about Jabberwocky | Interesting Literature, Five Fascinating Facts about Geoffrey Chaucer | Interesting Literature, 10 Short Medieval Poems Everyone Should Read | Interesting Literature, What Happens in Beowulf? . The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. [43] Joan Acocella states in The New Yorker that "unlike Grendel and his mother, [the dragon] is less a monster than a symbol. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Beowulf becomes king of the Geats and rules well for 50 years. [42] As Beowulf dies from his fight with the dragon, despite defeating it, James Parker of The Atlantic writes that "There is no transcendence in Beowulf, and no redemption [] kill the dragonbut the dragon will get you anyway". One sole survivor, who is called the "keeper of rings" (2244), hid the treasures in the high barrow-hall and soon died. -Graham S. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. [35] Conversely, Kemp Malone writes in "The Kenning in Beowulf" that Beowulf's fight with the dragon receives much critical attention, but that commentators fail to note that "the dragon was no fighter. At this point, we assume that the gold hoard will be taken out of the dragon's barrow and put to use. The dragon, therefore, is a stark contrast to the other two antagonists. The dragon chanced upon the hoard and has been guarding it for the past three hundred years. The treasure also brings about Beowulfs death. Possibly the poems Christian narrator sees greed for treasure as a kind of spiritual death, suffered by pagans who value treasure over Heaven. The dragon hoards his treasure in a barrow, that is, a grave.