Grendel's Use Of Literary Devices In Beowulf '

In the poem of Beowulf, the writer uses many literary devices to convey Grendel's mother emotions, voluntary, and involuntary actions by using these literary devices such as: Alliteration, and Assonance. These two literary devices can improve the readers ability to understand the piece of literature they are going to read about in the poem of Beowulf. The writer of Beowulf uses alliteration. "Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of each or most of the words in a sentence. The easiest way to use alliteration would be to repeat the starting letter of the words." (Writers). This adds emphasis and effect onto the poem. "Assonance is also called 'vowel rhyme'. Assonance is the repetition of a pattern of similar …show more content…
We can learn from this brief description of Beowulf that he is such a powerful moving man, nothing can bring him crumbling down, sounds like they were calling him a God of sorts. Beowulf was a perfect contender for Grendel's mother because of how he fit into her criteria for a man which is strong and powerful. The use of Alliteration in Grendel's mother passage is very clear. One example in the poem is "How fierce, could have come with man's strength, fought with the power and courage men fight with, smashing their shining swords, their bloody, Hammer-forged blades onto boar-headed helmets, Slashing and stabbing with the sharpest of points. The soldiers raised their shields and drew Those gleaming swords, swung them above the piled-p benches, leaving their mail shirts and their helmets where they'd lain wen the terror took hold of them" (Raffel) There are many uses of Alliteration in this paragraph first with letters "S" and the letter "F". These letters make the paragraph more understanding to the reader and by using the letter "S" multiple times helps the reader remember what they are …show more content…
She fell, Grendel's fierce mother, and Geats' proud prince was ready to leap on her. But she rose at once and repaid him with her clutching claws, wildly tearing at him. He was weary, that best and strongest of soldiers; his feet stumbled, and, in an instant, she had him down, held helpless." (Raffel) By assigning this quote into the essay it shows how Grendel's mother reverses the dominance of Beowulf on her to she is on Beowulf's body and how she is in control of him. She tends to like it when she is in control of the situation, she claws at Beowulf marking her territory on his ripped chest. Grendel's mother does this because of her want to have a child. A woman by the name of Helen Fisher published an article called Brains Do It: Lust, Attraction, and Attachment. Her article is based on sexual desires, romantic longings, and feelings of long term emotional union. In the article Helen Fisher talks about the three emotion systems that complicate human life, the first one is The Sex Drive, which people crave sexual gratification and is usually associated with hormones. We can see the Sex Drive when Beowulf goes to battle with Grendel's mother and they begin their fight. The second Emotions System is The Attraction System, this emotion talks about an