Paradise Lost written by John Milton and Beowulf written by an unknown author, both are epics with many similarities and differences. In the epic Beowulf, the main character, Beowulf, comes to aid the king of the Danes, Hrothgar, by killing the monster Grendel. After that battle, two more follow with Grendel’s mother and an unknown dragon. During the last battle, Beowulf is victorious, slaying the dragon, but he dies. One of the central themes of Beowulf, embodied by its title character, is loyalty. At every step of his career, loyalty is Beowulf 's guiding virtue and is something that he took very seriously. In Paradise Lost, the first words of the epic state that the poem 's main theme will be “Man 's first Disobedience.” Milton narrates
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Milton depicts the fall of Adam and Eve as the biggest tragedy of human history. In his epic, his tragic and serious tone stay constant, some might say there is a hint of sadness portrayed to. In Beowulf, the most prominent literary device used was alliteration. For example, in the poem the author writes, "He slipped through the door and there in the silence snatched up thirty men, smashed them..."(line 36-37). Another example of literary devices used in both epics is symbolism. Satan, Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon, also representing greed, represents evil, while Adam, Eve, and Beowulf represent …show more content…
In Paradise Lost, Satan attempted to overthrow God and when that didn’t work he wanted to hurt God in the worst possible way by trying to corrupt what God loved most, mankind. In Beowulf, there were three central conflicts. Beowulf coming to Hrothgar’s aid because of Grendel’s terrorist attacks on the mead hall for more than twelve years and Beowulf declares that he will not only defeat Grendel, but he will do it with his bare-hands. Shortly after that, Grendel’s mother comes to avenge her son’s death and many years after that a dragon arises to terrorize the kingdom after something is stolen from it.
Milton depicts the fall of Adam and Eve as the biggest tragedy of human history. In his epic, his tragic and serious tone stay constant, some might say there is a hint of sadness portrayed to. In Beowulf, the most prominent literary device used was alliteration. For example, in the poem the author writes, "He slipped through the door and there in the silence snatched up thirty men, smashed them..."(line 36-37). Another example of literary devices used in both epics is symbolism. Satan, Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon, also representing greed, represents evil, while Adam, Eve, and Beowulf represent …show more content…
In Paradise Lost, Satan attempted to overthrow God and when that didn’t work he wanted to hurt God in the worst possible way by trying to corrupt what God loved most, mankind. In Beowulf, there were three central conflicts. Beowulf coming to Hrothgar’s aid because of Grendel’s terrorist attacks on the mead hall for more than twelve years and Beowulf declares that he will not only defeat Grendel, but he will do it with his bare-hands. Shortly after that, Grendel’s mother comes to avenge her son’s death and many years after that a dragon arises to terrorize the kingdom after something is stolen from it.