Reaction to Beowulf

When you think of the character traits that define a true hero, the protagonist Beowulf, of the epic poem Beowulf, fits all of them. He is not boastful, but honest and proud in an honorable manner. He is brave, kind, and just and always willing to help those in need. Supposedly written somewhere betwixt 700-1000 A.D., Beowulf embodies the ideas of chivalry and bravery that were so highly praised during that time period. Beowulf could be considered the Superman of that time; he represents the ideal hero figure of early England, where the poem was written.

            I did, however, find a downside to the character Beowulf. His downside is that he is practically flawless; thus making him almost inhuman and therefore not easy to relate to. The nice quality of modern day heroes is that they are typically easy to identify yourself with; this is not the case with Beowulf. In fact, I must ashamedly admit that I can relate better to the men that ran away rather than helped fight the dragon at the end of the poem, than I can to Beowulf, the hero.  You cannot relate with him; you can only simply look up to him. This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing, although it does make the story that much harder to connect with.  

For a girl, Beowulf is not exactly “favorite poem” material seeing as it is all about gore and glory and rather lacks in the romance department. However, though it is both non relatable and unromantic, the poem Beowulf is unique and interesting to read. Unique because of the length and complexity of the poem compared to most all other poems, and interesting because, well, who does not like reading a tale of people with fascinating names and the defeating of monsters every now and then? Admittedly, Beowulf would not be my first choice to read on a rainy day, or any time for that matter, it was still an intriguing tale that captured my attention.

            I feel as though I must take a moment and talk about the monster Grendel and his mum. In my opinion, Grendel loses a few points in ferocity when his mother avenges him. Not that he asked her to, seeing as he was dead, but I still could not help but feel that it made the idea of Grendel slightly more pathetic. Perhaps I am being overly critical, but the idea of an angry demon mother slightly turned me off.

            On a closing note, Beowulf was not my favorite of stories, but I did find myself actually enjoying it. I liked reading about the Scandinavian culture and trying to pronounce the character’s names was moderately enjoyable. I must admit that when I first started to read it, I was determined to hate it, however, by the end of the poem I found myself entertained and I can now officially say that it was not horrible.