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Anna Valente
Ms. Dill
British Literature
3 March 2020
Beowulf: A Greedy Savage
Beowulf, an Old English epic written anonymously around 700-750 B.C., follows the
quest of the mighty Beowulf who undertakes the menacing challenge to defeat the demonic
monster Grendel in Herot. Beowulf successfully slaughters Grendel and eventually Grendel’s
mother, bringing glory and triumph to the people of Herot and earning his status as a hero. Many
perceive Beowulf to be an epic hero, the central figure in an epic who has superior qualities and
risks personal danger to pursue a grand quest. The popular Geat is well-known for his
intelligence, superhuman strength, and ability to overcome any challenge that may face him.
Although this may be true, Beowulf constantly boasts about his accomplishments of brutally
murdering his opponents with pride and no remorse. His craving to slaughter any threatening
creature to gain personal glory and admiration leads him to accept the challenge of killing the
dragon, who ultimately slays Beowulf and fulfills Beowulf’s goal of dying a hero. Beowulf is not
an epic hero but instead a greedy savage who defies unimaginable tasks to fulfill his personal
need of glory and heroic status.
Beowulf often articulates loquacious speeches boasting about his achievements and
triumphs to procure praise and admiration. The powerful Geat’s expedition begins when he and
his crew arrive in the Danish kingdom of Herot, where he greets King Hrothgar and asserts his
paramountcy to the Danes by delivering a speech about his past conflicts. He begins his address
by revealing that it was his duty to save Herot, remarking how his people are the wisest and
“have seen my strength for themselves,/Have watched me rise from the darkness of
war,/Dripping with my enemies’ blood” (ll. 151-153). The glorified Geat continues by
highlighting his great victories and conflicts: “I drove five great giants into chains.../I swam in
the blackness of night, hunting monsters/Out of the ocean, and killing them one/By one” (ll. 153-
158). Although this may be true, Beowulf boasts haughtily about these achievements, portraying
him as a braggart and not a humble epic hero. The warrior uses supercilious language and
overdramatacization in his speech to suggest that he and his Geats are wiser and superior to those
of Herot and deserve their praise. After the Danes celebrate Beowulf’s declaration that he will
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kill Grendel, Unferth, a thegn of Hrothgar, explains how Beowulf is a boastful fool and endures
these tedious quests for no reason other than fame and pride: “Both of you daring/And young and
proud…/risking your lives for no reason/But the danger? All older and wiser heads warned
you/Not to, but no one could check such pride” (ll. 241-245). He continues to prove his point by
implying that Beowulf fabricated his claim that he won a match against Brecca and in reality
struggled seven long nights at sea (ll. 248-252). Beowulf, irritated that this servant debriefed his
heroic deeds, defends his ego by explaining that he had to survive alone in the sea, where he
ruthlessly killed nine huge sea monsters. He cries in glory, “What man,/Anywhere under
Heaven’s high arch, has fought/In such darkness, endured more misery, or been harder/Pressed?”
(ll. 308-311). The audience must remember that Beowulf took on this match against Brecca for
no reason other than to prove who is the strongest of the two. His pride in viciously slaughtering
these monsters through affliction suggests that Beowulf is not proud that he saved society from
these creatures, but rather is proud of the praise and recognition he receives for enduring these
struggles. His tendency to boast his abilities to fulfill his exigency for acclamation and glory
contrasts the humble traits a true epic hero possesses. Ultimately, Beowulf does not commit to
these deeds to help others; he commits for applause, fame, and personal glory.
Desiring admiration and fame as seen in his long speeches, Beowulf makes it a point to
brutally destroy Grendel and his mother, emphasizing his heroic abilities to kill the
unimaginable. Grendel enters the mead hall where the Geats are pretending to be sleeping Danes,
and he snatches a Geat and devours him. Beowulf, still pretending to be asleep, does not do
anything to save this Geat’s life; instead, he waits for Grendel to snatch him next, where he
avails his superhuman abilities by fastening “those [Grendel’s] claws/In his fists till they
cracked” (ll. 442-443). The terrified Danes could hear Grendel’s “horrible shrieks of pain/And
defeat, the tears torn out of Grendel’s/Taut throat” (ll. 468-470). To broadcast his success in
murdering Almighty’s enemy, Beowulf hangs Grendel’s arm, claw, and shoulder high for
everyone to see. Surely, Beowulf has committed the great deed of killing Grendel which will
save the people of Herot from further years of affliction; on the other hand, he has mercilessly
slaughtered the monster who was obviously in a plenitude of pain. Beowulf later takes on the
quest of killing Grendel’s mother and, after a strenuous struggle, slices off the mother’s head
with a giant sword. Still angry, Beowulf chops the head off of Grendel’s dead corpse, and he
displays the two decapitated heads to the people of Herot. Beowulf’s violent gesture is not
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necessary to protect the people of Herot, as Grendel is already dead; rather, he cuts off the head
to reaffirm that he was the one who killed the wild beast. The reader can perceive Beowulf’s
actions as parallel to Grendel’s, who breaks the limbs and devours bodies in front of people to
assert his dominance. Of course, Beowulf’s murders are justified because the monsters are
tormenting Herot, but the way Beowulf displays the deaths of these creatures suggests that his
motives were not to save Herot but rather to attain glory and admiration. Most epic heroes learn
to become hesitant to accept applause and recognition, and they humble themselves after their
hubris brings them misfortune. The praise Beowulf receives, however, for his savage murders
only fuels his pride and diminishes his self-control, which will become his fatal downfall later in
life. In short, Beowulf bathes in glory for ruthlessly killing the two seemingly-indomitable
monsters, boosting his ego and feeding into his heroic complex.
Still seeking personal glory fifty years after slaughtering Grendel, Beowulf fulfills his
desideratum of dying a hero when he undertakes his final battle with the dragon. Beowulf knows
he will most likely die if he challenges this beast alone, but, according to him, “No one else
could do/What I mean to, here, no man but me/Could hope to defeat this monster” (ll. 682-684).
He says farewell to his eleven warriors, and, with pride, enters the searing tower of the great
dragon. The angry dragon immediately suffocates the king with its fiery breath. Beowulf, his
sword and armor having no match against this heated beast, realizes the truth about his death:
“And for the first time in his life that famous prince/Fought with fate against him, with
glory/Denied him.../Edgetho’s/Famous son stared at death,/Unwilling to leave this world, to
exchange it/For a dwelling in some distant place” (ll. 723-739). The reader must realize that
Beowulf willingly entered this fatal conflict alone, and his eleven warriors could have helped
him. In fact, his most loyal warrior, Wiglaf, immediately comes to Beowulf’s side when he finds
out Beowulf has been severely wounded, and together these two alone kill the dragon. Beowulf’s
hubris, or his excessive pride, ends up being his fatal flaw. Instead of accepting help in the
beginning as most great leaders would, such as King Hrothgar when it came to killing Grendel,
Beowulf’s pride led him to desire the opportunity to showcase his superhuman and heroic
abilities. Beowulf dies as a glorified hero, which may have been his goal all along. He suggests
in his last words that he knew he was going to die: “I sold my life/For this treasure, and I sold it
well” (ll. 806-807). The treasure he is referring to could be the treasure he and Wiglaf obtained
after killing the dragon, but it could also refer to the prize of honor, praise, and glory Beowulf
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will continuously receive after his courageous death. All things considered, Beowulf’s motives
have always been for personal glory and adulation, and his hubris the warrior struggled with his
entire life ended up being his fatal flaw.
Many readers regard Beowulf as an epic hero for bravely killing three monsters that
threatened society; in reality, he performs these feats to satisfy his pride, hubris, and need for
glorification. Beowulf possesses these traits for his entire life, which contradict the humble and
wise attributes a true epic hero attains throughout their journey of self-discovery. His hubris
leads him to an impulsive lack of judgement to fight the dragon, which ultimately leads to his
downfall. In Anglo-Saxon culture, one became revered through success and loyalty during war
(Leeming 11). Beowulf, the embodiment of an ideal Anglo-Saxon, perhaps committed savage
acts of war against these monsters to prosper in his society. Beowulf teaches its audience to be
brave and courageous against brute forces; it also teaches its audience to practice humility.
Excessive pride and brutality ultimately leads to one’s downfall‒ whether it be Grendel’s or
Beowulf’s.