Beowulf Questions

Prologue:
1. It was an unusual way to come to power but Shield came to rule the Danes through fear, because no one questioned against his power. When Shield died he was sent off into the ocean on a boat of riches. Hrothgar is Shield’s grandson and heir to the throne.

Heorot is attacked:
1. Hrothgar made a magnificent hall for feasting and for festives but Grendel kept attacking the hall killing many Danes with every attack, and for fear of their lives the Danes fought back but eventually left when they could not beat Grendel.

The Hero Comes to Heorot:
1. Beowulf heads to Heorot when he hears of the Grendel attacks to fight and beat Grendel for glory.
2. The Geats are greeted by a watchman who demands to know who they are and Beowulf replies telling him that he is here to fight Grendel.
3. Hrothgars Herald is Wulfgar. He askes Hrothgar to see his men. Hrothgar knows Beowulf because of his father, Ecgtheow. This is not surprising because a warriors name or a person of great importance usually gets around.
4. Beowulf tells Hrothgar that he had beaten 5 giants before and will beat Grendel without armor. Hrothgar helped the Geats pay and survive through a war.

Feast at Heorot:
1. Unferth acuses Beowulf of foolishness because he is trying to do what many Danes have failed to do. Beowulf states that he will make Grendel pay for what he has done to the Danes, whom Beowulf seeks no feud with. This gives a slight view of Beowulf's motives and shows how strong his resolve is.
2.Queen Wealhtheow is offering drinks from the cup of the hall to everyone.

The Fight With Grendel:
1. Beowulf takes off all his armor in order to fight equal to Grendel whom also has no armor.
2. Grendel enters and kills a man. Beowulf then grabs Grendel with great strength, but when Grendel tries to escape, Beowulf who rips off one of Grendel’s arms. Grendel then runs to die in his moor.

Celebration at Heorot:
1. Beowulf is like Sigemund because they both fought monsters and won glory, but unlike Heremod who seized the treasue and power in greed and did not get glory.
2. Hrothgar is very happy, thanking God, Beowulf, and Beowulfs mother. Hrothgar gives Beowulf many riches of gold, weapons armor, and horses.
3.
4. Wealhtheow asks Hrothgar not to take Beowulf as his son because he already has sons.
5.
6. The men felt safe and guarded with Grendel gone.

Beowulf and Grendels Mother:
1. Grendels Mother comes to Heorot because she wants revenge for her sons death, which is not in the least why Grendel had gone.
2. Hrothgar calls for Beowulf because Grendel’s mother killer Hrothgar’s favorite thane.
3. The mere is a strange place where fire is seen upon the water. It is an icy lake with many visible sea monsters.

Beowulf fights Grendels mother:
1. Beowulf tells Hrothgar that he should act and not sit around and do nothing.
2. The warriors and Beowulf kill a serpent.
3. Beowulf puts on his armor and gets ready. He takes the sword, Hrunting.
4. Grendel’s mother drags Beowulf to her undersea.
5. The sword has no effect on Grendel’s mother.
6. Beowulfs armor saves him from Grendels mothers knife.
7. Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother with a sword that he found that was crafted by giants. Beowulf takes Grendel’s head and his own sword. The sword was useless by the hot blood of the monsters.
8. Beouwlf returns to a few loyal warriors. They had doubted that he would return victorious.

Further Celebration at Heorot:
1. Beowulf gives Hrothgar the hilt of the sword he used to kill Grendel’s mother.
2. Hrothgar talks about Heremod who abused his power by being ruthless and not rewarding the deserving. He warns Beowulf not to make the same mistake, and to bane the thoughts of selfishness.
3. Beowulf returns Hrunting to Unferth.

Beowulf Returns Home:
1. Hrothgar predicts that Beowulf will become king of the Geats.
2. Hygd is the queen of the Geats, and is unlike Modthryth because Modthryth was a very cruel queen.
3.
4. Beowulf tells the story honestly.
5. Beowulf offered his treasures to his leader Hygelac. Hygelac gives him a suit of armor and sword given to him by Hrothgar.

The Dragon Awakes:
1. Part II takes place 50 years later after the death of Hygelac. There is the new danger of a dragon.
2. The dragon is angry because its gold cup was stolen by a man that had been there since the dragon likes treasure.
3. The Dragon destroyed Beowulf’s home that evening.
4. Beowulf believes he angered God in some way and thus his house was burned down. He orders an iron shield to protect against fire. He plans to fight the dragon or die trying.
5. Hygelac died in battle in the land of Frisian.
6. Headred was killed by Onela, and Beowulf was left to be king and pursued to kill Onela.
7. 11 men.
8. Herebeald was accidently killed by Haethcyn. King Hrethel was forced to punish Haethcyn so he was always mournful making him a bad king. The Swedes and the Geats had a feud and had been at war ever since.

Beowulf attacks the Dragon:
1. Beowulf tells his companions to not interfere.
2. Beowulf is almost beaten by the dragon. His companions flee except for one named Wiglaf and unlike the others he is brave and stands beside his king. He yells for his king to fight for his life.
3. The second time Beowulf meets the dragon, Wiglaf hides behind Beowulf’s shield for protection and Beowulf strikes the dragon on the head with the sword, but it brakes. The dragon bites Beowulf in the neck. Beowulf kills the dragon by striking its unprotected belly.
4. Dying Beowulf asks Wilgaf to show him the riches. When Beowulf sees the gold he thanks God for these gifts for his people. He askes to be buried in the lair so as his people will remember him.

Beowulfs Funeral:
1. The companions see Wiglaf trying to revive Beowulf.
2. The messenger tells the city of their kings defeat.
3. Wiglaf tells the crowd who came to see Beowulf that the hoard of treasure was theirs and that the Beowulf had died for it.
4. The dragon was dragged to the sea.
5. The people mourned and built a mound around Beowulf. They all honored Beowulf as the most noble of al the Geats.
6. The last three lines of the poem describe Beowulf as a caring and honorable person, but they do not talk about his ferocity in battle. I guess these would be the terms except that maybe they would add in more about his achievements.