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Anthony Faris

Anne Callahan

English IV

04 October 2017

How Beowulf Relates Today

The definition of theme a subject or topic of discourse or of artistic representation.

Themes are used in every piece of media such as writing, music, television, and much more. We

often think of theme as the moral or the main idea of the story, but its much more than that. The

theme is how the readers relate to the story and how the story relates to the world around the

reader. In the epic Beowulf, the multiple themes shown relate to the modern age. Beowulf is a

triumphant epic that takes the christian element of good vs evil and expands on it. Beowulf, the

protagonist, is summoned from Sweden to Herot (Denmark) to slay the monstrous Grendel. After

slaying the monster, Grendels mother comes for revenge by taking the life of Hrothgars (the

king that summoned Beowulf) closet friend. Once again Beowulf is called on for help. In a

intense battle, the outcome is victorious for our hero. 50 years pass, Beowulf is summoned once

more by King Hrothgar for his last ride. This time Beowulfs challenge is a fire breathing

dragon. In a change of pace, Beowulf is actually killed by the dragon and one of Beowulfs men

Wiglaf defeats the deadly dragon. Some of themes displayed in Beowulf are loyalty,

reputation, and finally good always defeats evil.

To begin, loyalty is a recurring motif in Beowulf that helps the reader deeply relate to the

characters. In Beowulf the main reason why Beowulf decides help the people of Herot was
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because King Hrothgar sheltered Beowulfs father Edgetho when he was in trouble. This was

shown in Section V: Beowulf, youve come to us in a friendship, and because/ Of the reception

your father found at our court./ Edgetho had begun a bitter feud,/ Killing Hathlaf, a Wulfing

warrior. /Your fathers countrymen were afraid of war,/ if he returned to his home, and they

turned him away./ Then he traveled across the curving waves /To the land of the Danes

(Beowulf l. 191-198). In addition, loyalty is depicted when Beowulfs men retreated from the

dragon besides, Wiglaf who contributed in defeating the foul beast. According to Section XIV, it

describes loyalty of Wiglaf, A beaten warrior. None of his comrades/ Came to him, helped him,

his brave and noble/ Followers; they ran for their lives, fled/ Deep in a wood. And only one of

them/ Remained, stood there, miserable, remembering,/ As a good man must, what kinship

should (Beowulf l. 746-751). The Loyalty displayed in Beowulf is strongly relevant to the

todays day and age in the way that society tends to be loyal for family, friends, loved ones, and

people with a good reputation, which bring us to our next topic.

Secondly, the topic of reputation in Beowulf is expressed numerous times. Because

Beowulf was took place in Anglo Saxon Period, reputation was everything. When Beowulf first

comes to Herot there is a man, Unferth that challenges the reputation of our hero. Unferth

described an event where Beowulf lost a swimming match to Brecca when they were boys.

Beowulf answered, Ah! Unferth, my friend, your face/ Is hot with ale, and your tongue has

tried/ to tell us about Breccas doings. But the truth/ Is simple: No man swims in the sea/ As I

can, no strength is a match for mine (Beowulf l. 263-267). Furthermore, Beowulfs reputation is

expanded on when he passes away. As portrayed in Section XVII: telling stories/ Of their dead

king and his greatness, his glory,/ Praising him for heroic deeds, for a life/ As noble as his name

(Beowulf l. 831-834). The theme of reputation in Beowulf is relevant to modern age on the
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grounds that society tends to challenge or judge people by their reputation. For example, in

Section VI of Beowulf : Unferth is jealous of Beowulfs reputation so he talks all this nasty stuff

about him. Similarly, this happens all the time in the modern age.

Finally, the last theme shown in Beowulf is good always defeats evil. The epic of

Beowulf has various events when good is threatened and still prevails over evil. An example of

this is when finally Beowulf finally defeats the monstrous Grendel after an intense battle. The

narrator explains this victory in Section X: A prince of the Geats, had killed Grendel,/ Ended

the grief, the sorrow, the suffering/ Forced on Hrothgars helpless people/ By a bloodthirsty

fiend. No Dane doubted/ The victory, for the proof, hanging high/ From the rafters where

Beowulf had hung it, was the monsters/ Arm, claw and shoulder and all (Beowulf l. 511-517).

In similar fashion, this motif is shown again in Section XVI, but after Beowulf and Wiglaf

defeated the fire breathing dragon, the narrator describes the death of the glorious hero Beowulf,

The old mans mouth was silent, spoke/ No more, had said as much as it could;/ He would sleep

on the fire, soon. His soul/ Left his flesh, flew to glory (Beowulf l. 825-827). These events in

Beowulf are relevant to the modern age in way that bad people usually get punish for the crimes

they commit. In addition, when terrible things happen in the this world it brings people together

so good actually triumphs over the evil of that terrible actions. In the similar way that when

Beowulf died it brought Beowulfs followers to remember how great of a hero he was.

The themes of loyalty, reputation, and good always defeats evil shown in Beowulf relate

to the modern age various way. It's important that we look back on these older stories/epics such

as Beowulf and examine their themes because is shows that society does not really change as

much as people think it does. People today might have all these advancements but main elements

still stay the same. The modern age needs to reflect on the themes described in Beowulf because
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these themes are will always be around not matter what time period. These themes will make the

world a better place.

Work cited

Beowulf. Elements of Literature: Sixth Course, Literature of Britain with World Classics.