Type of Work:

• Poem

Genre:

• Sometimes called an elegy
• Resembles heroic epic-though smaller in scope than most classical epics (Greek and Roman) such as The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid
• Alliterative verse

Language:

• Old English (sometimes called Anglo-Saxon)

Author:

• Unknown

Time and Place Written:

• Written in England
• Estimated date of composition ranges between 700 and 1000 AD

Date of First Publication:

• The only preserved manuscript of Beowulf is thought to have been written around 1000 AD
• The original poem exists only in manuscript form

Narrator:

• A Christian telling a story of pagan times

Point of View:

• The narrator recounts the story in third person from a generally objective standpoint dealing the action that occurs
• Narrator has access to every character's depths-we see into the minds of most of the characters at one point or another
• Narrative moves forward and backward in time with considerable freedom

Setting:

• The main action is set around 500 AD, but also recounts historical events that happen much earlier
• Denmark and Geatland (modern day southern Sweden)

Major Conflict:

• The poem consists of three main conflicts

1. Grendel's domination of Herot Hall
2. The vengeance of Grendel's mother after he is slain
3. The rage of the dragon after a thief steals a treasure that it is guarding

• The overarching conflict is between close-knit warrior societies and the various menaces that threaten their boundaries

Themes:

• The importance of establishing identity through lineage
• Tensions between the heroic code and other value systems
• The difference between a good warrior and a good king

Motifs:

• Monsters
• The oral tradition
• The mead-hall

Main Characters:

• Beowulf

1. Protagonist of the epic, a Geatish hero who fights Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a fire-breathing dragon
2. His boasts and encounters reveal him to be the strongest, ablest warrior around
3. In his youth, he personifies all of the best values of the heroic culture
4. In his old age, he proves a wise and effective ruler

• Hrothgar

1. King of the Danes-wise, aged ruler
2. Father figure to Beowulf
3. A model for the type of king that Beowulf becomes

• Grendel

1. A demon (giant) descended from Cain
2. Because his ruthless and miserable existence is part of the retribution exacted by God for Cain's murder of Abel, Grendel fits solidly within the ethos of vengeance that governs the world of the poem

• Grendel's Mother

1. An unnamed swamp-hag
2. Seems to possess fewer human qualities than her son
3. Her terrorization of Herot is explained by her desire of vengeance, which is a human motivation

• The Dragon

1. An ancient and powerful serpent
2. Guards a horde of treasure in a hidden mound
3. Beowulf's fight with the dragon constitutes the third and final part of the poem