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Beowulf: Difference between revisions
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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
[[File:Beowulf_JRSkelton1908_w250i_9705.jpg|frame|[[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me|Luckily his shield protects him.]]]]▼
| title =
| original title = Bēowulf
| image = Stories of beowulf fighting the dragon.jpg
▲
| author =
| central theme =
| elevator pitch = The battles of Beowulf, the Geatish hero, in youth and old age ''(Wikipedia)''
| genre = Epic heroic poetry
| publication date = probably somewhere between 700 and 1000
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
{{quote|''Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum,▼
''þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,▼
▲{{quote|Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum,
▲þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
▲hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon. }}
▲{{quote|LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Alliteration]]: The poem is written in alliterative verse, like most Germanic poetry.
* [[Ambiguously Human]]: The poem isn't big on physical descriptions; Grendel is only briefly described, and his mother isn't described at all, so one can only guess what sort of beings they were. Modern fiction often depicts Grendel as a sub-human monstrosity or ogre, but he could just as well have been a savage barbarian. His mother is usually depicted as a hag or she-beast, or even a shapeshifting seductress, but she could have been simply a [[Dark Action Girl]] type (the text names her as ''aglaecwif'', a pormanteau of ''ides'' which means "lady" and ''wif'' means "woman"). Of course, not much description was given to the Dragon either, but hey, everyone knows what a dragon looks like.
* [[Author Filibuster]]: Did you know that a proper ruler should always be benevolent, open-minded, and willing to honour his people who honour him in return? No? Don't worry, the poem will make sure you don't forget it.
* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: Beowulf, of course.
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* [[Buy Them Off]]: ''Wergeld'', or "man price" is a custom of the time that if a man killed another man he could essentially [[Blue and Orange Morality|buy exemption from the deceased family]], [[Values Dissonance|which was widely acceptable at the time]]. [[Small Reference Pools|Such practices are quite common in non-Western cultures.]]
** Well, considering that, at the time, the family of the murdered man would have been honor-bound to kill the killer, whose family would in turn been honor-bound to kill the killer's killer (lather, rinse repeat), this sort of thing was [[Fair for Its Day|intended to prevent excessive bloodshed]].
* [[By the Hair]]: Reading the original text closely reveals that Beowulf actually uses this strategy against Grendel's mom.
* [[Celibate Hero]]: Beowulf never marries in the 50 years he rules. As many an English professor is fond of pointing out, the only "action" Beowulf gets with a woman is with Grendel's mother.
** Not being married does not necessarily mean he was chaste...
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* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Beowulf himself.
{{quote|'''Beowulf:''' Well, friend Unferth, you had your say about Breca and me. But it was mostly beer that was doing the talking.}}
* [[Dirty Coward]]: Beowulf wisely brings 12 warriors with him to fight the dragon, but eleven of them flee at the sight of it, leaving only [[Hypercompetent Sidekick| Wiglaf]] to help him; Beowulf's final act is to name Wiglaf his heir, and Wiglaf's first act as king is to banish those eleven cowards.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: The dragon goes berserk after someone steals one trinket from its ''huge'' horde. [[The Hobbit| Fans of the fantasy genre can easily tell what this story inspired.]]
* [[Downer Ending]]: Beowulf dies in the fight against the dragon, and it's implied that, without their leader, the Geats will be conquered by their Swedish neighbors. Of course, Saxons love reminding their readers of the fate after.
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* [[Lock and Load Montage]]: The extensive description of Beowulf donning his armor in a ritualistic fashion may be among the earliest examples of the trope.
* [[Made a Slave]]: is just hinted at in the queen's [[Backstory]], because her name means "foreign slave".
* [[Mama Bear]]: Beowulf's mother reveals herself when she seeks revenge for her son's death.
* [[Missing Episode]]: What modern scholars know of the poem comes from ''one'' surviving original copy that belonged to its first known owner, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Nowell Lawrence Nowell], and that copy was damaged due to a fire in 1791, making the text of the third chapter (often called "The Burnt Pages") incomplete. As a result, the full story may never be known.
* [[Ten Movie Plots|Monster in the House,]] or [[The Seven Basic Plots|Over Coming the Monster,]] depending on whose perspective you take. Beowulf the Geat (one of the baddest of the [[Big Damn Heroes]]) comes over to fight the monster Grendel that has been ravaging the Dane's house for 12 years, i.e. he comes over and they've got a monster in their house.
* [[Meaningful Funeral]]: Beow's funeral at the beginning echoes Beowulf's at the end, which in turn signifies the end of the Geat's hegemony and the rise of the Swedes.
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* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]: Wiglaf gives one to the troops [[Dirty Coward|who fled from the dragon]] rather than help their king.
* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: When the lake that Grendel's mother lives in is described, we know it's a bad place because it's described as being infested with all kinds of reptiles, including, but not limited to, sea dragons, serpents, and wild beasts.
* [[Riddle for the Ages]]: Who was the author? When specifically was it written?<ref>Most likely around 1000 CE, but that is only conjecture</ref> What was the original title? Due to the above-mentioned damage to the original manuscript, all three facts may never be known.
* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: Of course, kings in that era [[Asskicking Equals Authority|became kings by proving themselves in combat]]. Hrothgar is capable, but can't do anything, because ... he's not a hero. (No, seriously.) Of course, there is also Beowulf himself.
* [[Short Story]]: Compared to other poetry at the time - which tended to [[Wall of Text|bore readers with endless descriptive narratives of even the smallest plot points]] - ''Beowulf'' is rather concise and gets to the point very quickly.
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