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Beowulf: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum,
''þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
''hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
|Opening lines of ''Beowulf''}}
''
And did we mention that it's a [[Narrative Poem|poem]]?
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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.
* [[Due to the Dead]]: An important motif in the story, especially Beowulf's funeral at the end. He's buried with the gold he rescues from the dragon because the Geats feel he deserves no less.
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** Better yet - he actually just stood there holding Grendel's hand, not even budging, while Grendel, the wimp, kept thrashing away. In a sense, Grendel ripped his own arm off.
** Toward the end, it is said that Beowulf constantly breaks his swords - he could never find one sturdy enough to long withstand the force with which he could swings them.
* [[Trope Maker]]: The dragon in this story was likely the first dragon in literature who [[Breath Weapon| could breathe fire]], which started the trend.
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]/SchmuckBait: All the would-be Grendel slayers who show up before Beowulf think it's an excellent idea to get drunk and party at Heorot knowing full well the monster attacks at night when everyone is drunk and asleep. Beowulf stays with them, knowing damn well this is the perfect way to lure Grendel in.
* [[Viking Funeral]]: The funeral of King Scyld Scefing of Denmark. This is quite possibly the [[Trope Maker]], even though Scyld's funeral boat is not set on fire.
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