what happens to the dragon's treasure in beowulf
Sep 9, 2023 
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The cave itself represents a world alien to Heorot. Were here to offer a brief overview of the plot ofBeowulf, along with some interpretations of the poem. If you enjoyed this brief summary of, and introduction to,Beowulf, then you can learn more about the poem hereat the British Library website. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. I guess the rule of three is viscerally satisfying! In Beowulf, some of the most important symbols are Hrothgar's mead-hall, Grendel's cave, Grendel's arm and head, and the dragon's treasure-trove. Thank you! Are you sure you want to remove #bookConfirmation# Pay particular attention to his treatment of the Dragon which is all the more horrifying for not being a giant lizard. The defeat of his people had left the treasures to deteriorate. Now, ready to face one last adversary, Beowulf gathers eleven men to investigate the area. Despite the odds being stacked against him, he manages to overcome the monster, to borrow Christopher Bookers phrase for this type of narrative. The dragon, like Grendel, only Also, Beowulf is most commonly described as an epic poem; the label makes its main character, Beowulf, an epic-hero. Removing #book# He even burns the house of Beowulf, which houses the throne. Here, the tension is similar but even more frustrating. The dragon, therefore, is a stark contrast to the other two antagonists. They wish each other luck in the fight that will follow, and Beowulf has a premonition of his own death. [46] Aia Hussein of the National Endowment for the Humanities has written that the fight between Harry Potter and the Hungarian Horntail in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000) by J. K. Rowling was influenced by the confrontation between the dragon and the title character in Beowulf.[47]. Interesting Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.co.uk. This plot, as our brief summary of Beowulf above suggests,shares many of the typical elements of heroic narratives. No? The poem then ends with Beowulf, now in his twilight years, slaying a third monster (this time, a dragon), although this encounter proves his undoing, as he is fatally wounded in the battle. Beowulf hears that Grendel is killing Hrothgars men at Heorot and so our hero departs from home to go and help rid Heorot of this monster. When the monster appears, Beowulf and his men attack the troll-like monster with their swords. The story is about overcoming an evil foe, only to have to give way to death at the end: even heroes must accept that they will not live forever, even if their names will. "[13], A study of German and Norse texts reveals three typical narratives for the dragonslayer: a fight for the treasure, a battle to save the slayer's people, or a fight to free a woman. [29], The dragon battle is structured in thirds: the preparation for the battle, the events prior to the battle, and the battle itself. Subscribe now. Think of Bilbo Baggins leaving the Shire, or Frodo for that matter, inThe HobbitandThe Lord of the Rings (and, indeed, well return to Tolkien shortly). [36] In his 1935 work Beowulf and the Seventh Century, Ritchie Girvan writes that Beowulf should be seen as having some degree of historical accuracy despite the presence of a dragon in it; he argues that "Tales of dragons as well as a belief in dragons survived till recent times, and the popular mind is apt to accept with credulity stories of water-monsters. [40] Tolkien is here quoting a passage from R. W. Chambers's essay "Beowulf and the 'Heroic Age' in England. They had a feud with their uncle, Onela, and were temporarily sheltered by Heardred. The dragon fight, near the end of the poem, is foreshadowed in earlier scenes. WebIronically, Beowulf dies thinking that the treasure he has won will benefit his people; instead, the Geats burn or bury all of it with Beowulf. Sometimes it can end up there. What qualities characterize Beowulf as a hero? At line 2999, he says that these past battles are the reason why he is expecting trouble to rain down on the Geats, and so, at line 3010, he says that the treasure should be burned in its entirety in Beowulf's funeral pyre. When Beowulf tracks her to the mere and ends up in her underwater cave, he has no more interest in the claw. [9], The Beowulf dragon is the earliest example in literature of the typical European dragon and first incidence of a fire-breathing dragon. What this tells us, I think, is how deep-rooted is the human need for the idea of the stranger who rides (all right, comes by boat) into town, deals with the monster/fear/rich landowner/evil bandit who is terrorising the townfolk and rides out again. Eadgils, supplied by Beowulf, later killed Onela. . The poet has aligned Beowulf with the force of good throughout the story, and the dragons direct attack on Beowulfs hall renders this imminent encounter an inevitable clash between good and evil. The narrator explains that this particular barrow was the, Without a generous king to give the treasure and loyal warriors to earn it, the treasure is "useless.". So, the warriors end up building Beowulf his funeral pyre and burying the dragon's hoard with his ashes. What is the meaning of the Anglo-Saxon term wyrd? An Interesting Summary | the shadows illuminated, https://goodmusicspeaks.wordpress.com/good-music-speaks-podcast-3/. bookmarked pages associated with this title. The problem starts when a fugitive, apparently a runaway slave, stumbles across the Beowulf is the oldest extant heroic poem in English and the first to present a dragon slayer. The final encounter, with the dragon years later, will prove the most difficult of all and although he is successful and overcomes the monster, he will pay the ultimate price: victory will come at the cost of his own life. All glory is fleeting. They discover the thief who stole the dragons goblet and press him to take them to the barrow. ", Peter Gainsford noted in the article "The Deaths of Beowulf and Odysseus: Narrative Time and Mythological Tale Types" that "In the twenty-first century Beowulf does not lack for commentators to defend the literary merit of the dragon episode". Yet Beowulfs premonition of his own death attests to his strong sense of fate, an important component of these characters self-conceptions. WebWhat happens to the dragon's treasure in Beowulf? Ohthere and Onela Ongentheow's sons, Swedes. Beowulf Lines 22112515 Summary & Analysis Although it is celebrated nowadays as an important work of Anglo-Saxon indeed, English literature, Beowulf was virtually unknown and forgotten about, amazingly, for nearly a thousand years. This is a great commentary on the story of Beowulf. 98-100. Under Beowulfs reign, the feuding with Sweden eventually ceased when Beowulf avenged Hygelacs death. For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! Beowulf then asks that a barrow be built on a cliff overlooking the sea that sea travelers will later call Beowulf's barrow. Which passages might reflect a Christian outlook? He remembers victories against Grendel and Grendel's mother, as well as a heroic escape from Frisia after Hygelac was killed. R. D. Fulk and Joseph Harris, Beowulfs Name, pp. [5] Moreover, the dragon is vanquished through Wiglaf's actions: although Beowulf dies fighting the dragon, the dragon dies at the hand of the companion. Teachers and parents! Latest answer posted July 16, 2021 at 9:40:02 PM. . Eadgils and Eanmund Ohthere's sons, Swedes. At this point, we assume that the gold hoard will be taken out of the dragon's barrow and put to use. Summary and Analysis As translator Seamus Heaney points out in his introduction, the idea of gold in the Sigemund episode is associated almost entirely with goodness and honor, while here it is also associated with greed, theft, evil, and death. Although it is not made explicit (as far as I can tell) it seems that this man's people might have wasted away at least partly due to the powers of the spell and the fact that they had used the ancient treasure for their own purposes. The hall is a home for the warriors who sleep there and functions as a seat of government. The earnings of earlmen to earth they entrusted, The gold to the dust, where yet it remaineth. To a greater or lesser extent, it can be seen in much modern fantasy fiction such as that by Tolkien. Beowulf is a classic overcoming the monster story. He repeatedly tells us that Beowulf is about to meet his death. He commissions a mighty shield from the iron-smith, one that hehopes will stand up against the breath of flame. If you consider everything we are told about the treasure, the people who originally hid it, the curse put on it, the people who uncovered and used it and eventually buried it again, and about the barrow itself, and the dragon, which, for some reason, decided to guard it (although I know that there are many legends in which dragons guard treasures), there is enough material to inspire a very interesting story. He is too proudto assemble a huge army for the fight, and, remembering how he defeated Grendel single-handedly in his youth, feels no fear of the dragon. [2] Nonetheless, comparative contemporary narratives did not have the complexity and distinctive elements written into Beowulf's dragon scene. The Arthurian story was passed down for generations, but Beowulf and his bravery forgotten. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights, Beowulf: Which passages might reflect a specifically Anglo-Saxon philosophy of life? But hand-to-hand combat which was deployed successfully in the vanquishing of Grendel is also of no use now. Waking up to find the goblet stolen, the dragon bursts forth from the barrow to hunt the thief, scorching the earth as it travels. But this much constitutes a reasonably complete summary of the plot ofBeowulf. cant even agree on what the first line of the poem means, Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell, Lewis Carrolls nonsense masterpiece, Jabberwocky, Christopher Bookers phrase for this type of narrative, Happy Tolkien Reading Day! Previous The dragon is the final test for Beowulf, a test of his wisdom as well as his courage. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. Dickerson and O'Hara further elaborated that through its dragon, Beowulf turned the "notion of having a monstrous evil (and not mere human foes) as the enemy" into "a hallmark of modern fantasy" present in C. S. Lewis' Narnia books, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books, and the Thomas Covenant series by Stephen Donaldson. Beowulf, on the other hand, collected his warriors, At this point, we assume that the gold hoard will be taken out of the dragon's barrow and put to use. Unfortunately, the distinguishing feature of Beowulf's death is that his loyal retainers, with the exception of Wiglaf, failed to come to his aid when Beowulf could have used their help. Beowulf maybe I should have stuck with reading English instead of switching to Philosophy and obtained a better class of degree than the Gentlemans I ended up woth (a pass, just like T S Eliot). Some interesting thoughts here on a classic, with references to J.R.R. [10] The Beowulf dragon is described with Old English terms such as draca (dragon), and wyrm (reptile, or serpent), and as a creature with a venomous bite. [17][18], Beowulf's fight with the dragon has been described variously as an act of either altruism[19] or recklessness. He takes what he can back with him to Beowulf, making haste lest Beowulf should die before he sees what he has won. Before long, however, the aging warrior focuses on his responsibility as protector and prepares to face the monster in battle. As poetry, one of the most moving passages in the epic is the Keeper's invocation as he leaves the gold and other items in the barrow (2247-2266). Butthe monster which is described as resembling a troll cannot be killed with a blade, as Beowulf soon realises. On his return from Heorot, where he killed Grendel and Grendel's mother, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats and rules wisely for fifty years until a slave awakens and angers a dragon by stealing a jewelled cup from its lair. He wants his people to have the treasure, noting that his death will not be in vain if his people can profit from the fruits of his death. It opens with an account of a Danish king named Hrothgar, who was the one responsible for building a great hall (named Heorot), a hall which is now being terrorised by the monstrous Grendel. There will be no more songs from the scop. Grave Goods: An archeological and anthropological term, grave goods merely describe any objects buried with a body. 361-62.) If, in my first year at Reading University in 1964/65, we had studied Beowulf instead of extracts from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (so dull!)
