Beowulf, Grendel s Mother, And A Dragon - 878 Words

Throughout the story Beowulf fights three monsters; Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a dragon. Beowulf fights the creatures for reasons that are different, but share common ground. Beowulf leaves his homeland and travels to Herot because he heard of the nightly attacks the Danes were suffering at the hands of Grendel. Grendel was attacking Herot because he heard the sounds of joy and happiness within the hall and because he, as a descendent of Cain, was angered when he heard people praising God. Beowulf wanted to fight Grendel to stop the attacks and save the lives of the Danes, but his also did it for the honor and glory he would earn by successfully defeating Grendel. To prepare to fight Grendel, Beowulf took off all of his armour and laid down his weapons because boasted that he was stronger than Grendel and could defeat him unarmed. The fight result in Beowulf making good on his claim of being stronger than Grendel because he ripped off Grendel’s arm to keep as a trophy and Grendel ran away and died. The next monster Beowulf fights is Grendel’s mother. Grendel’s mother is motivated to avenge the death of her son and attacks Herot and kills one of the advisors to Hrothgar, the Danish king. Beowulf is then motivated to kill Grendel’s mother to avenge the death of the killed advisor, a similar motive to Grendel’s mother, and for the glory of being the one who brings peace to Herot, which is the same reason why he was motivated to kill Grendel. To prepare to fightShow MoreRelatedThe Epic Of Beowulf, Grendel s Mother, And The Fire Dragon782 Words   |  4 PagesThroughout the epic of Beowulf there are three main battles; the battle with Grendel, Grendel s Mother, and the Fire Dragon. While there are notable differences be- tween the battles, common motivations and themes exist. 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Over the course of the story, Beowulf ends up in three major battles: the battle with Grendel, with Grendel’s mother, and with the dragon. All of these battles were different in their style and the way Beowulf approached them was different. Beowulf also had different reasons to participate in each of the battles. The first major battle