Beowulf Comprehension Questions

Beowulf Questions:

Prologue: The Rise of the Danish Nation:

• The way Shield became ruler of the Danes was unusual because he was an orphan. Although he came from rags, his funeral was one to be admired. It was on a ship at sea with his most loved companions and filled with treasures. Shield is Hrothgar's grandfather. 

Heorot is Attacked:

• The magnificent work that Hrothgar undertook was the construction of the spectacular mead hall, Herot. The monster Grendel attacked Herot, killing thirty warriors; unable to fend for themselves. The attacks lasted twelve years. The Danes did nothing and continued to suffer.

The Hero Comes to Heorot:

• When Beowulf hears of Hrothgar's problems with Grendel, he sails out with 14 of his bravest warriors to Herot.

• When the Geats arrive in Denmark they first meet a Danish watcher. The watchman asks what business they have in this specific area. Beowulf explains their intentions are not to harm the Danes, but to bring peace by slaying Grendel.

• The name of Hrothgar's herald is Wulgar, a messenger. He asks the Geats their business, impressed with their appearances and manners, relays the message to Hrothgar who realizes he had known Beowulf prior to this meeting. I am not surprised Hrothgar knew Beowulf so well because he was well-known across many people for his bravery and nobility.

• When Beowulf enters, he tells Hrothgar that he is ready to fight and kill Grendel to protect the kingdom. Hrothgar settled the dispute Beowulf started with the Wulfing’s by paying with old treasure.

Feast at Heorot:

• Unferth accuses Beowulf of being too proud, and that Beowulf cannot handle battling against Grendel. Beowulf replied back by describing his perspective of the story Unferth told. He also told about how he killed the sea beast that pulled him down to the bottom of the sea. This episode is relevant to the poem as a whole because the whole poem is about Beowulf battling in different situations. Beowulf accuse Unferth of not participating in any battle.

• During the feast, Queen Wealhtheow attended to everyone in the banquet hall and welcomed the Geats.

The Fight with Grendel:

• Beowulf prepares for his fight with Grendel by disarming himself which is different because heroes are usually described to have prepared themselves to fight by arming themselves.

• When Grendel enters Heorot, Beowulf watches Grendel attack the vulnerable. Beowulf fights Grendel by gripping Grendel’s hand first. When Grendel tries to leave, Beowulf’s men tried to slash Grendel with their swords, but their swords didn’t do much. Grendel escapes to his lair, critically wounded. He left his shoulder and arm behind.

Lesther Villanueva (http://lvalenzuelarhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/) 

Celebration at Heorot:

• Like Sigemund Beowulf experiences a very strong sense of valor and love of the kill and war, yet he lack the wisdom to be a general or command because he doesn’t take the time to think a plan out

• Hrothgar responds with joy, gratitude, and generosity. He says that Beowulf is like a son to him and gives him treasure. Unferth was proven wrong in his attempts to discredit Beowulf.

• The story is about a Danes battle against Finn, who was the king of the Frisians. The poem is quite confusing, but basically it was based on the battle of Finnsburgh, which was an absolute bloodbath between the Frisians and the Danes. The battle came to an end when Hnaef, the Danish leader, was killed during battle. The Danes called a truce and promised to live with them separately but they would follow the same rules of equality in order in sure peace among the people. Now, the Danish princess named Hildeburh married Finn, but she was still depressed due to the death of her brother, Hnaef, and her son.  After months of hardship, the Danes revolt against the Frisians and kill Finn while his wife, Hildeburh, goes back to Denmark. The wisdom of using a bride as a way to heal enmity between tribes was to show that they were connected and must keep peace within their society. There are thousands of books, poems, and movies that show arranged marriages in order to restore peace or to connect with the other culture. Family shouldn’t attack family. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t, but they may be less inclined to attack and more inclined to make amends.  

• When the feasting resumes, Wealhtheow asks Hrothgar to not give Beowulf the throne.

Maddie Klusendorf (http://mklusendorfrhsenglitcomp.blogspot.com/) 

• Beowulf later gives the golden torque to Hygelac, in which he wears it on his death. Wealhtheow asked Beowulf to act as a friend to Hrethric and Hrothmund (Wealhtheow's daughters), to offer them protection from the darkness, to be a guidance, and to treat them kindly.

• So many men remained in the beer hall to sleep because the other sleeping halls were full. The men who slept in the beer hall made a mistake because Grendel's mother descended on Heorot to seek vengeance for her son’s death where Grendel's arm was located on the wall of Heorot and Aeschere (Hrothgar’s trusted adviser) was captured by her.

Another Attack:

• Grendel's mother came to Heorot to seek vengeance for her son's death. Grendel's reason to come to Heorot wasn't the same as his mother's reason because he only wanted to cause destruction. 

• Hrothgar's response to Grendel's mother killing Aeschere (Hrothgar’s trusted adviser) is for Beowulf to seek out and kill Grendel’s mother.

• The mere is a magical swampy wood  lake in which it seems endlessly deep and it is where Grendel's mother lair is located at

Beowulf fights with Grendel’s mother:

• Beowulf tells Hrothgar to respond by taking care of the Geats and returning his property to Hygelac if he dies in the battle to kill Grendel's mother

• Before Beowulf can get to the mere he and his men find the many bloodied and dead men that were killed by Grendel and his mother, including the head of Aeschere. His men and Beowulf must fight off reptiles and sea dragons that live in the mere’s water. Also he gives a speech and names Hrothgar is successor should he die, and says that Hrothgar must take all the riches to Hygelac.

• Beowulf prepares for the battle by putting on his chain mail and metal helmet and took Unferth’s sword for Hrunting.

• When Beowulf enters the lake it takes him a long time to find the Grendel cave, but the Grendel mom knew that he was in the lake and tried to attack him. However the chain mail held and the Grendel mom was thwarted, so she just pulled his body into the cave. When Beowulf gets to the cave he is attacked by sea monsters. (Some more.) What was curious about the cave is that there was no water in it, and a fire going. That makes sense….

• The sword Beowulf borrowed proves useless and the steel doesn’t pierce Grendel’s mother at all. The magical sword’s spell in broken.

• Beowulf’s “net-of-chain” or chain mail saved him from dying because it deflected Grendel’s knife. And then he notices a pile of swords and stuff in the cave and pops up and grabs and sword to fight with.

• Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother by cutting her throat with the sword of Eotens. Her blood melts the sword, so only the hilt is left. Beowulf takes Grendel’s head with him from her house.

• All of his men are gone because they didn’t believe he could kill Grendel’s mother.

Further celebration at Heorot:

• The hilt of the sword and Grendel’s head.

• Hrothgar tells Beowulf a story about a horrible king names Heremod who was banished, exiled, and eventually killed. Hrothgar tells this story to teach Beowulf not to be a bad king too.

• His sword, Hrunting.

Beowulf Returns Home:

• Hrothgar predicts Beowulf will rule his people with a bloody fist. Very forcefully that is. But also he insinuates he has earned it and Hrothgar supports him fully.

• Queen Hygd was the opposite of Modthryth. While Modthryth was a violent queen, Hygd was virtuous and kind to her people.

• Beowulf plans to marry out his daughter to a conflicting neighbor as it were to create a temporary peace at least. He expects it to be settled until prosperity can be re-established, then fighting will break out. This shows Beowulf to be a cunning and almost pessimistic leader despite his inhuman strength.

• Beowulf played off the fact he killed Grendel as if it were nothing, He reports accurately, but diplomatically enough not to seem like he was boasting of his feats.

• To appease old tradition, He gave the treasure to his leader, and in return, Hygelac gave Beowulf his "boar standard, a suit of armor, and a sword belonging to Hrothgar's brother." My personal interpretation of this is Hygelac gave Beowulf his deepest honor and loyalty.

The Dragon Wakes:

• Heardred and Hygelac both fell in the 50 years after Beowulf's conference with Hrothgar.

• The Dragon was angry that his pillaged treasure was re-pillaged by a tribe. The lone man stealing the cup to make amends with his lord led the tribe to the barrow where an ancient tribe held their considerable wealth. 

• In the first day, the dragon killed and burnt down the countryside of the Geats.

• Beowulf heard of the burnt countryside and ordered a new iron shield to be made to withstand the flames, he believes he will fight the dragon the same way he fought Grendel, but his age gave him weakness and will die.

• Hygelac died from neighboring tribe invasions, Beowulf seeks revenge on them, but declines the honor of ruling his people. When he is home he finds out how the dragon got angry and sought to find him.

• Heardred was killed by the dragon (?) and Beowulf sought revenge by blood by killing the dragon.

• Thirteen men, including one who knew the whereabouts of the barrow, accompanied him.

• Heardred gets killed by the Swedish king's men over a century old feud. As retaliation, Beowulf kills Onela, a Swedish noble responsible for his death. SO MUCH DEATH. Beowulf killed everyone who killed his kinsman. The Swedes and the Geats were in a state of feud after the kill-fest.

 Beowulf Attacks the Dragon:

• Beowulf tells his companions to wait on top of the dragon’s den, and observe the battle instead of fighting in it.

• On his first battle with the dragon, Beowulf just counters the dragon’s attacks, until Beowulf strikes the dragon, barely wounding the dragon while the dragon burns Beowulf.  All of his companions flee to a nearby forest, but one, which is his kinsman Wiglaf.  Wiglaf tells of how Beowulf helped his family as Wiglaf grew up.  Wiglaf goes down to help Beowulf, by means of encouragement and help in the battle.

• The second time Beowulf meets the dragon, Beowulf’s sword fails again, and the dragon attacks twice, the second time, fatally biting Beowulf.  Wiglaf kills the dragon with the rage left from the attack on his king.

• Beowulf asks Wiglaf to bring him the dragon’s treasure.  When Beowulf sees the gold, He thanks God for letting him die rich, and tells Wiglaf to be king.  Beowulf wants to be buried in a tall tower so that he can be remembered by everybody who sees “Beowulf’s Tower.”

Beowulf's Funeral:

• When the companions return, they see Wiglaf trying to revive Beowulf.  Wiglaf scolds the company for not standing by the great Beowulf in his last battle, and he predicts that the Geats will be terrorized by rival clans once again.

• The messenger tells the city of Beowulf’s death, and begins to predict things that will happen due to the death of their king.  Overnight, Ongentheow’s army verbally terrorized the Geats, and the next morning, Hygelac returns with a Geat army.  Ongentheow killed a man named Wulf, whose brother, Eofor, ended up killing Ongentheow to avenge his brother’s death.  The messenger tells the Geats to put the gold on Beowulf’s funeral pyre as to melt with his burning body.  The final image of the messengers’ speech is the freshly slain dragon, from Beowulf’s last stand.

• Wiglaf tell the crowd that comes to see the dragon and Beowulf? Wiglaf tells the crowd that it is bad to sacrifice yourself on your own will, and warns that doing this will hurt many.

• The dragon is left alone, but its hoard is taken by the Geats to use in Beowulf’s funeral pyre.

• While Beowulf and all of the treasure from the burrow burn on the pyre, a woman sings a song about the fall of the Geats, and the Geats build a tower over Beowulf’s pyre over the next ten days.

• “Said he was kindest of kings under heaven,

Gentlest of men, most winning of manner,

Friendliest to folk-troops and fondest of honor.”

In these lines, the Geats talk of Beowulf’s kindness, friendliness and gentleness.  These are odd words to describe military heroes, at least by today’s standards, because today, military men are portrayed as manly men who do not show much emotion, just stoically save people

For this assignment, a group of us collaborated on Facebook from various periods. Jake Hoffman started the post and I thought it was an excellent idea because we could work and complete the assignment together. It was really helpful since I was able to see various people's different points of views, which allowed me to better understand Beowulf while I was reading it.