Revenge In Beowulf
Revenge, the common instinctual sense of self-justice exists in us all. Its manifestations may be observed through primitive, physical violence, skulking, character-assassination, or perhaps by simply taking it to authorities for them to dish out cold justice. Our need for vengeance unites us, while our actions with it divide us. The unknown author of Beowulf, however, was able to add more uses to revenge. The author drove the plot through cause and effect, showed how alike characters are through their actions, yet distant through their motivations, and even showed the toll of revenge. Beowulf consists of three main story arcs, the first arc begins with Grendel, the cursed descendant of Cain--enemy of man, who closely follows in the
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All major characters have had some offense done to them and they kill in retaliation, the same action repeats four times, with four different motivations guiding them. The very plot of Beowulf draws these characters together so that details separate them. Grendel kills because his instincts tell him to with only emotions he cannot understand guiding him. His mother, however, is only shown to have killed in the pursuit to avenge her fallen son. Though she is cursed, she exhibits far more control and does not seem as if she would kill for the sake of killing, only for specific events. “Still, his mother, gloomy and greedy, intended to go on a sorry journey to avenge her son’s death” (35). This quote reinforces her reason: to repay the murder of her son, nothing more. The dragon is the only character to kill for anything less than the life of another’s. For wealth. Wealth it did not accumulate itself, didn’t earn nor conquer, the dragon flamed all nearby villages due to a pitiful slave stealing a golden drinking mug. Finally, Beowulf has always slain the enemies of man, however, after he decapitated Grendel’s mother, “-angry and determined-that blade was not useless to the warrior, for he wished to repay Grendel at once” (42). Beowulf then decapitated a clearly dead Grendel with rage and the determination to act upon
All major characters have had some offense done to them and they kill in retaliation, the same action repeats four times, with four different motivations guiding them. The very plot of Beowulf draws these characters together so that details separate them. Grendel kills because his instincts tell him to with only emotions he cannot understand guiding him. His mother, however, is only shown to have killed in the pursuit to avenge her fallen son. Though she is cursed, she exhibits far more control and does not seem as if she would kill for the sake of killing, only for specific events. “Still, his mother, gloomy and greedy, intended to go on a sorry journey to avenge her son’s death” (35). This quote reinforces her reason: to repay the murder of her son, nothing more. The dragon is the only character to kill for anything less than the life of another’s. For wealth. Wealth it did not accumulate itself, didn’t earn nor conquer, the dragon flamed all nearby villages due to a pitiful slave stealing a golden drinking mug. Finally, Beowulf has always slain the enemies of man, however, after he decapitated Grendel’s mother, “-angry and determined-that blade was not useless to the warrior, for he wished to repay Grendel at once” (42). Beowulf then decapitated a clearly dead Grendel with rage and the determination to act upon