The Unsung Heroes Of Beowulf - 1305 Words

T’Andre Woods Doctor Jessica Evans English 2130 9 October 2017 The Unsung Heroes of Beowulf In Ovid’s epic â€Å"Beowulf† there is no contesting that Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, is a force to be reckoned with. A hero with many mythical deeds and feats under his belt, but he is not the sole hero of this tale. Rather, he is a morally ambiguous protagonist with the mystical powers to back him up. The true heroes of Beowulf are the unsung background fodder that often meet gruesome ends. A mixed tale for these heroes begin as soon as Beowulf makes his debut at Heorot Hall and eventually culminates into the greatest unsung hero of the epic, Wiglaf. In essence, Whilst Beowulf is the main character everything that he accomplishes is only made†¦show more content†¦Grendel stalks his immense form through the hall just looking for the first of many victims. One such victim being the nail in the coffin as far as the illegitimacy of this portion of the story goes. he grabbed and mauled a man on his bench bit into his bone-lappings, bolte d down his blood and gorged on him in lumps, leaving the body utterly lifeless, eaten up hand and foot. (Beowulf 906-907) A mauling such as this cannot be done silently. The devoured warrior would no doubt have been woken from his slumber immediately. As the monster would feed on the man’s flesh it would undoubtedly wake the others. If this is indeed the case then it can only mean one thing. Those men sleeping alongside Beowulf are among the bravest and most disciplined thanes that were likely to exist. They would have shown great restraint in not making their consciousness known. Meaning they had to lie there in silence as one of their very own was ripped apart in what had to be a very gruesome affair. A fact only strengthened by their response when Grendel’s mother assaults the hall. All while Beowulf did the same, but that is to be expected of a man of his caliber. Since no man moved during this time it allowed Grendel to fall into a sense of false security. Allowing the beast to fatally fall into the trap that Beowulf had laid out. In speaking of Grendel’s mother there are various aspects leading up to the battle that must be taken intoShow MoreRelated Cocky versus Swagger in Beowulf and Sir Gowain Essay1695 Words   |  7 Pagesby the other characters in the story in any and every situation. There is also a case in stories where the hero has to be found and is more of the unsung type of character within a story in which that character has to learn how to adjust to the advantages and disadvantages of their heroism and how it may affect the other characters in the story. Beowulf and Sir Gowain posses these types of characteristics and by actually reading the pieces of literature that they are featured in. These characteristicsRead MoreThe Origins Of The World1797 Words   |  8 Pagesword conjures up images of well built men with long hair and braided beards wearing firs and horned helmets, holding axes and shields, ready to battle so they can return home to consume bountiful feasts. The word brings to mind fanciful stories like Beowulf where these very same men fight beasts after a night of stuffing their gullets and consuming large amounts of mead. There are so many stories about these warriors that many of them have become legendary individuals, but there is so little information