Another frightening figure in Scandinavian folklore are the Mylingen (The Myling). In Sweden, infanticide was a fairly common crime amongst poor mothers. The reasoning behind it was either the family was not wealthy enough to afford feeding another child, or the mother had conceived the baby outside a marriage. Adultery was frowned upon and ruined many lives, and drove people to take extreme measures such as murdering their own infant. During this time, the most common places that Mylings were abandoned were in forests or brooks, where nobody would find them.…
Odin had great power he could cause a war on earth by simply throwing his spear, the Vikings worshipped odin because he decided who would win battles.…
Grendel, generally seen as a monster or giant, is one of the main antagonists in the popular Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. Portrayed as the epitome of evil, Grendel brutally attacks the meadhall of the Danes for twelve years before being defeated by the epic hero Beowulf. Gardner, through his book Grendel, creates a new point of view of these events through Grendel eyes, as Grendel learns about the humans and how they seem like wild animals in their actions. In Grendel by John Gardner, Gardner reveals that “Man must have evil so that he may have good to balance…” through the use of juxtaposition and aphorisms (Gardner 6).…
The hero Beowulf is a king and Danish warrior, also known as “The Geat” (Line 639),Prince of Goodness (676), Weather-Geat (697), The hero, and Kinsman. Hrothgar, King of Heorot have a variety of alternative in the work, as Lord of the Shielding (663), friend of the people (427-428), Helmet of Shielding (456), The King of Glory (665) and Divine Lord(685). The terrible monster Grendel an evil being known as the captain of evil (749), powerful demon (86), the shadow stalker, monster. Grendel’s Mother is an evil character who encourages the atrocities committed by his son Grendel and Wiglaf, Beowulf’s nephew known as man of worth, Shield warrior, Prince of the Scylfing, is finally the King…
The Vikings were explorers who lived in the region that is now Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. They often set sail for distant lands. Although their feats took place more than 1,000 years ago, the tales live on in legend. Stories tell of the sailors’ voyages to new lands and of their violent raids. Two views of the Vikings have emerged from these accounts. One view is of the Vikings as brutal warriors who led vicious attacks. The other view is of them as noble seafarers who embarked on journeys of exploration. Both views are true to some extent.…
In summary, Greco-Roman and Norse mythologies both believe that the world came from chaos, primordial matter. Greco-Roman mythologies call this chaos, while Norse mythologies call it Ginnungagap. The Greco-Roman creation myth looks somewhat like this, Chaos created the primordial gods, Gaia:the earth, Tartarus: the underworld, Eros:love, Erebus:darkness, Ouranos:sky, and Nyx:night. From Gaia and Ouranos came Okeanos. It was believed Okeanos was a river that surrounded the entire world. Okeanos was the grandfather of Prometheus and Epimetheus. Post Titanomachy Zeus gave Prometheus and Epimetheus, two titans who helped him overthrow Kronos, the job of creating humans. Epimetheus created animals first before he thought about creating men. He…
This is obvious during first encounter between Loki and Nick Fury. Loki tells Fury “Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose” (Feige & Whedon, 2012). This is a clear message that Loki is not trying to build a friendly relationship with any human.…
The story of Beowulf show what strategy did, when fighting the monster. Beowulf is an epic of a man so strong and mighty that he was being held so high by the people of his era. He was fight for the glory not for the gold. Beowulf out smarted the large Grendel and causes the amputation of grendel’s arms and soon he banished away to his lair. The victory of Beowulf was regarded so highly and the whole of Dane rejoiced. But the happiness did not look long because as Grendel was died, the monster mother becomes furious and killed so much more people, and king Hrothgar has this famous mead hall wher the merry making is being taken terrorized the place and drank up all the blood from every human that he sees in this hall , the sound that the people…
Beowulf is a story of a great man who battles many monsters throughout his lifetime and shows attributes of a hero the entire time. It originated from the Anglo Saxons and was passed down for generations. Eventually, it was recorded down by monks who gave the story a religious quality. This also gave Beowulf a theme of good versus evil and how the hero will always prevail.…
The Struggle of Good vs. Evil in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy…
Throughout the history of Humans there have been a collection of well-known Heroes, often mythical that make their mark on our psyche. Many of these heroes share many characteristics along with flaws. In the story of Beowulf he is portrayed as an ideal canon for a Germanic hero. He is brave, loyal and skillful in battle. Throughout the entire saga Beowulf did not falter in the face of great danger. This is represented very well when he battled grendel’s mother in the bottom of the river. As Beowulf grows as person he begins to mature and becomes a caring and great king. Although, most Germanic heroes seek to find their own personal glory Beowulf becomes responsible for the entire empire he rules.…
The role of evil characters in myths is to both teach that if one allows negative emotions such as jealousy, greed, or lust take over one’s decisions there are negative consequences and to also explain that there is evil comes in many forms. When myths such as The Death of Balder and Osiris, Isis, and Horus explain the punishments those who are evil receive, they show didactic intentions. Both Loki and Set receive harsh punishments for their ill actions: Set is defeated multiple times at the hands of Horus and never reached his ultimate goal and Loki is forced to suffer eternal until he ultimately dies in battle, showing that wrongs committed will be punished. In addition to the didactic teachings, the stories of the evil serve as etiological…
Thor and the Life of Christ can be looked in the same way. There are similarities between the two people and there are also many differences. There is a common theme between both Thor and the Life of Christ. Prominence, humility, suffering, and exaltation, in that order, are themes that happen to both Thor and Jesus. There are many similar relations that connect to both of these people but are presented in different way.…
When the play begins, Macbeth is given the characteristics of being a great warrior, who leads his nation to victory with the simple motivation that we will stop at nothing to serve his country. Yet as the play goes on, the true colors of Macbeth come out as he is blinded by his ambition to obtain power to which he would take extreme measures, where only tragedy was sure to arise, revealing that Macbeth is a true monster at heart.…
In the play, Macbeth, characters can be portrayed as both a hero and a villain. Shakespeare shows this in Macbeth through different themes and techniques. Some techniques include; similes, irony, metaphors and personification. A hero is a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities and a villain is the person or thing responsible for specified problems, harm, or damage. I will be discussing about Macbeth showing how he is more of a villain than a hero. Macbeth is shown as courageous and brave in the start of the play however is later shown as frightened weak and traitorous.…