Mead Hall by Vitoria Cristina Ramos de Souza

Beowulf

AnaBPalomares — 2024-07-14 12:11:28 UTC

The main character of the poem Beowulf is the portrait of bravery, justice and kindness. He traveled all the way to Denmark to help saving Heorot, a place built for celebrations, of the terrors made by Grendel.

Grendel

AnaBPalomares — 2024-07-14 12:26:49 UTC

The first villain that Beowulf has to face during his journey is Grandel, humanoid beast that has profund hate for man's joy. For that, he started to kill those who spent the night at Heorot, the Mead Hall, a place filled with celebrations.

The monster is defeated by the great warrior, loosing it's arm and suffering till death after fighting with the only one that could confront him.

Observations from Reading "Beowulf"

amonbarbosasouza — 2024-07-14 12:42:24 UTC

The concept of a hero in Anglo-Saxon culture.
The connection between the Christianism and Beowulf (when Beowulf credits his strength and victories to God, references to God's protection, the battle between good - Beowulf - and evil - Grendel).
Beowulf's superhuman strength (demonstrated when he ripped the monster's arm off, broke a knife with his strength, and killed multiple monsters in the same story).
The loyalty between Beowulf and Wiglaf.
The story's structured format, which is similar to many modern literary works.
Even though it's an ancient tale, it contains numerous engaging elements such as fight scenes, revenge, examples of loyalty between friends, jealousy, and plot twists.
References: "The Lord of the Rings," "Damsel," "Harry Potter."

Group 5

amonbarbosasouza — 2024-07-14 12:52:40 UTC

Amon, Ana Beatrys, Camily, Débora, Vitória.

Grendel's Mother

AnaBPalomares — 2024-07-14 13:23:13 UTC

Representing the unconditional love a mother can have for a son, Grendel's Mother is the caracther that looks for revenge for the monster's death.

After kidnapping one of the warriors that were housed at the Mead Hall and taking him to her lair on a lake, Beowulf finds her. He shows his bravery swimming to the bottom and coming back with the head of Grendel's Mother, a proof of his victory, ending the first part of his journey.

The Mead Hall

AnaBPalomares — 2024-07-14 13:45:28 UTC

Important aspect of the story, Heorot symbolizes civilization and culture, a safe place built by the king and becoming a evidence of both his great political power and his altruism, since he used to give gifts to the faithful ones.

Grandel's Cave and the duality of Beowulf

AnaBPalomares — 2024-07-14 14:02:57 UTC

Beowulf's poem contrasts the concepts of good and evil in many moments. This can be noticed, in addition to the portrait of the characters, in the settings of the story, like the mead hall and Grandel's mother cave.

While the first one represents what's good in the lands of the king, Grandel's lair represents evil and the monstrous alternative to human society.

Courage, Death and Destiny

vitoriacristina3_1 — 2024-07-14 14:10:41 UTC

How we can read about the force, bravery and courage of Beowulf, the end of history bring him death to remember your humanity, although he have the force of 30 mens, Beowulf is a men too. Even so Beowulf with all your bravery fight with the dragon to protect your people and to show your courage. The death in this history bring about glory, honor and to complete your destiny how importants points, turning the death in the battle at symbol to heroism.

Beowulf's death and loyalty

AnaBPalomares — 2024-07-14 14:12:22 UTC

When the now king Beowulf dies in battle against a dragon, he is eternalized as a hero remembered for his legacy. Wiglaf is the only warrior who stands by him during the fight and, for that, he is the one who deserves to be the next leader.

Tolkien and Beowulf

AnaBPalomares — 2024-07-14 14:34:53 UTC

Beowulf's poem has taken a lot of influence over J.R.R Tolkien, fact that can be noticed on his books, such as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, through the morals of the characters, the portrait of the dragon and other supernatural monsters (the orcs, the trolls and Gollum all share characteristics with Grendel) and even on the languages created by the author during the narrative, that has traits of the Old English.

A fun fact is that Tolkien got to translate the poem, a proof of how much he appreciated the story.

AnaBPalomares — 2024-07-14 14:39:21 UTC

A portrait of the anglo-saxons

AnaBPalomares — 2024-07-14 14:41:09 UTC

First page of Beowulf's manuscript.

AnaBPalomares — 2024-07-14 14:45:01 UTC

Although the Beowulf manuscript was found in England, the narrative takes place in Nordic territory.

The Dragon as Divine Punishment

2024-07-14 22:35:04 UTC

“Beowulf was sure he must have angered the almighty. How else could God allow such a doom to fall upon his people?”

Manuscript

2024-07-16 18:14:15 UTC

The poem of Beowulf survives in a single medieval Manuscript known as "the Nowell Codex" or "Cotton Vitellius A XV".

One more about Grendel

2024-07-16 18:21:45 UTC

Grendel is described as a descendant of Cain, but his exact nature and origin remains ambiguous. H is the main antagonist in the first part of the poem.

Despite being a monster, Grendel has human-like characteristics and is capable to communication