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Beowulf
Anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet
Contributed by Karim Chandra
Content
Overview
Context
Characters
Motifs
Themes
Symbols
Plot Summary
Chapter Summaries
Lines 1-63
Lines 64-193
Lines 194-661
Lines 662-851
Lines 852-1250
Lines 1251-1904
Lines 1905-2199
Lines 2200-2509
Lines 2510-2891
Lines 2892-3182
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Plot Summary
Summary

The Danes and King Hrothgar have been subjected to the hands of the evil monster Grendel for more than 12 years. Many of their people had been killed. Beowulf decides to rescue them because of loyalty and heroism which he had in mind. Beowulf, who is the King of Geats nephew decides to cross the see to find a way he can defeat the monster. He manages to convince Hrothgar and Unferth of his many achievements who then allowed him to defend the hall from the monster. His code of honor makes him place his armor and sword so that Grendel and his can be equal and that no one has an unfair advantage. As soon as Grendel arrives, the battle occurs, the energetic Beowulf manages to tear his arm from his body.

Grendel who is seriously injured withdraws from the battle and goes home to die. Grandels mother arrives the next day to revenge for the death of his son and kills one of the Hrothgar’s elders. Beowulf later goes after her into her swampy home and tries to fight her. His sword fails to even scratch the dreadful beast. He roughly takes the magical sword on the beast’s wall and gives her a deadly blow. Beowulf spots Grendel's dead body and cuts off his head. Glendel's blood makes the sword to melt and destroyed with only the halt remaining. Beowulf goes back to the surface where he presents Grendel's head together with the hilt to Hrothgar. They all celebrated Beowulf achievement of saving them.

Beowulf goes back to the Geats where he is proclaimed a hero, and in the end, he becomes the King of the Geats. All the good things have to come to an end with Hrothgar.  It is fifty years of his rule, and a great dragon is troubled. A man sneaks into his lair and takes the valuables he has been hiding for a very long time. The dragon, therefore, decides to revenge for his loss a situation that causes great damage to the Beowulf Kingdom. Although Beowulf has the best armor and swords, he knows that it will be so challenging to fight the beast. He plans for war with his loyal soldiers aiming to defeat the dragon. Beowulf gives orders to his warriors to stay behind while he alone fights the dragon. The warriors obey his orders, and when they see a dragon, they all run from his side leaving him with a young thane named Wiglaf.

As usual, Beowulf fights heroically although this time he is deadly injured. Wiglaf then gives him some of the treasures from dragon’s hoard. The story ends almost the way it started. Beowulf is buried with a lot of treasures as a way of appreciating his courageous and heroic nature. Unfortunately, Beowulf finally shows his imperfection and dies without naming an heir. A kingdom with no aim is normally at a big risk of enslavement, violence and even death of its people.

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