Beowulf Hero's Journey

Beowulf is a story of a hero with superhuman qualities facing the forces of evil. The story is set in medieval times and the hero Beowulf encounters 3 major battles throughout the story. The battles with Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon all play a specific part in the story and describe the life of the hero. Each battle serves a different purpose and they each have their meanings related to the life of Beowulf and the different stages of a hero. The first major battle that occurred was between Beowulf and Grendel. At this time Beowulf was at his prime and when he heard that Grendel was attacking Hrothgar's village he set out to end his evil deeds. Beowulf attacked Grendel using nothing but his brute force and strength. The fight was intense but a very one sided fight. Beowulf succeeded in driving off Grendel after ripping his arm off with his bear hands. With losing his arm Grendel retreated to his lair where he later bleed out and died. This …show more content…
With learning this she sets out on a mission to kill Beowulf seeking revenge for her son. She reaches the village where Beowulf is staying and attacks a man of the group in the shadows of the night. The fellow soldiers awoke with a startle and realized that she had also taken back the arm of her deceased son. Beowulf sets out to kill Grendel's mother after she killed one of his comrades. He sets out to her lair at the bottom of the burning lake. He descended to the bottom and was attacked by Grendel's mother. Their power is equally matched between the two but Beowulf is able to overpower her with the help of a giant's sword. This sword allowed him to slice her head off where others could not. In this battle Beowulf's power has weakened significantly compared to his fight with Grendel. He was only able to successfully defeat Grendel’s mother with the help of the giants sword whereas up until now he only relied on his strength to overpower the