- Hrothgar, a ruler with a family history of competent ruling,
created a mead-hall. The hall was created to drink mead, distribute treasures
and listen to stories and songs.
-Hrothgar and the people of Heorot are attacked by a demon
monster named Grendel. Grendel grabbed 30 men from the mead-hall and retreated
back to his lair.
-Beowulf claims to the people of Heorot that he is there to
extinguish any harassment Grendel imposes and Hrothgar throws a celebration in
the honor of Beowulf and his men for volunteering.
-Grendel wreaked havoc on the people of Heorot for 10 years.
Beowulf was the solution to their problem.
Beowulf was overconfident in his ability to defeat Grendel. He stated
that he would fight Grendel without a sword or shield. Beowulf did overpowered
Grendel and eventually ripped off his shoulder and arm. Grendel retreated to his lair and eventually
died.
-Hrothgar throws a celebration in Beowulf’s honor. Beowulf receives gold, an embroidered banner,
breast-mail, a helmet, a sword, and 8 horses with gold bridges. At the celebration the King’s poet performed
a saga about the confrontations of the Friesland and the Danish people and how
both kings were killed.
-Grendel’s mother, described as a monstrous hell-bride, is
seeking revenge for the death of her son.
Grendel’s mother comes to Heorot and grabs Aeschere, Hrothgar’s mentor and
right hand man. Grendel’s mother kills
Aeschere and takes her sons arm back to the lair.
-Hrothgar is personally effected by the attack carried out
by Grendel’s mother. He tells Beowulf
that he will be rewarded with gold if he fights and defeats Grendel’s mother.
-Beowulf is grabbed and falls in his battle with Grendel’s
mother. Grendel’s mother tried to thrash
at him but Beowulf was saved by his chain-mail.
This time Beowulf could not rely on his hands to fight, he needed the
aid of chain-mail and a sword wielded by giants. This heirloom sword would be responsible for
the decapitation of Grendel’s mother.
Seeing Grendel’s corpse, Beowulf also beheads it and returns to Heorot with
Grendel’s head.
Line 1544- “The strongest of warriors
stumbled and fell”
This is the first time Beowulf
conveyed weakness while in battle. Beowulf
fought Grendel with no weapons and eventually ripped his limp off. He has faced Icy waters, monsters, and sea
beasts. When Beowulf meets Grendel’s
mother we see the first match where he is not favored by strength. He is not distressed by his match up though. His situation awareness allowed him to
discover a sword once wielded by a giant.
He used this sword to decapitate Grendel’s mother. Beowulf possesses enormous strength and a
sharp mind.
This site aided me in summarizing the
chapters. Before reading the sections in
Beowulf I got a detailed concept of how the story was progressing. This site helps me comprehend some of the
tricky wording I might have missed with just a cold reading of the text.
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