Beowulf: the 3 Battles

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The 3 Main Battles of Beowulf In the famous epic poem, “Beowulf”, there were 3 main battles that took place. Each fight was able to test Beowulf in his strength and his loyalty. Throughout the poem, Beowulf starts to see that he is changing. These changes also affected his fights. His first battle took place with Grendel, an evil swamp-like demon who is terrorizing the town’s people inside King Hrothgar’s Mead Hall. The second battle involves Grendal’s mother who is seeking revenge at Beowulf for executing her son in the first battle. The last fight includes The Dragon, who is seeking revenge at the town’s people for a theft that took place inside the treasure hideout that The Dragon guards. There are obvious differences throughout the epic poem, for example, the fact that each battle is with a different beast. However, there are also similarities between these 3 fights. The first similarity of the 3 fights in Beowulf is that Beowulf didn’t use or was unable to use weapons against the 3 beasts. In the fight with Grendal, Beowulf and his leading men tried to stab Grendal with swords but were completely unsuccessful and Grendal was unharmed by the swords. This causes Beowulf to kill the beast with his own hands. In the battle with Grendal’s Mother, Beowulf’s mortal sword was also unsuccessful in killing this beast. However, prior to the battle, Beowulf was able to use a sword that had been made by Giants. This “blessing” on the sword is what abled Beowulf to defeat Grendal’s Mother. Lastly, in the fight with the Dragon, the fire from The Dragon melted Beowulf’s shield. Thus, leaving him with no protection. Also, during the battle, Beowulf’s sword was broken, this left Beowulf with no weapon. Though, thanks to one of Beowulf’s warriors, Wiglaf. The two were then able to slay The Dragon. Another similarity in the 3 battles is that Beowulf retrieved a prize from each

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