Beowulf's Past

After Beowulf dies and Wiglaf confronts the men who abandoned them, he says something that I feel is very interesting. On line 2890 he says, “A warrior will sooner die than live a life of shame”. He was saying this to the fighters that deserted Beowulf when he needed them the most but I thought it mirrored Beowulf’s own thoughts in the beginning of the story.
At the beginning of the story, when Beowulf arrives to the Danes, he is seen as a mighty warrior, come to save them. It is not until line 2183 that Beowulf tells the people about not being held in high regard with his own people and that he was never praised for his work by the Geats. When I read what Wiglaf tells the warriors, it brought a new outlook on the story to me. What if Beowulf did not think he could defeat Grendel, what if he thought dying for the Danes would at least bring him some glory instead of being shamed by his own people for the rest of his life. If this is the case, it is no question why he refused to wear armor or use weapons, he wanted to die a warrior. Then when he killed Grendel, and Grendel’s mother came to avenge him, Beowulf knew he had to fight her too because if he didn’t, he would be the same coward to the Danes that he was to the Geats.

When Beowulf becomes king, he is a good king, for 50 years and then he is faced with yet another daunting foe. He has lived a warrior’s life, he has been a great ruler, as an old man why did he need to fight the dragon himself? I think that even after everything he had done, he still felt like he had something to prove; that he was more than his people originally thought he was and in the end, he was more willing to “die than live a life of shame”.

Comments

  1. Lexi SchaeferSeptember 20, 2017 at 10:47 AM

    I really enjoyed your post. I think that drawing that conclusion from what Wiglaf said was brilliant. I honestly did not think much of that quote but after reading your post I think you are correct in saying that Beowulf always felt the need to prove himself because of his past. I also think you bring up a very good point about armor when fighting Grendel and then fighting Grendel's mother. I think it was because when fighting Grendel, nothing was really at stake. Beowulf would either earn fame and glory or die. But after he had won, once it was time to fight Grendel's mother, he had shown that he could be a hero and he must prove a point. I also would like to add that losing to a woman (Grendel's Mother) would have brought more shame upon him than if he lost to a man.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 20, 2017 at 6:26 PM

    I enjoyed reading your analysis! Wiglaf was a character that really stuck out to me as well! I think that you suggest an interesting explanation for Beowulf's actions throughout the epic here. Before now, I thought it was certain that Beowulf wanted to win these battles in order to gain glory, return home ALIVE, and reap the benefits of such honor. It is cool to read this other option explaining how he may not have wanted to come back alive but rather die a warrior.

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