Theme Of Fear In Beowulf

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Sarah Strasz Mrs. DeLong Honors British Literature and Composition 25 October 2011 Connecting Fear to An Epic One of the strongest emotions within the epic Beowulf is that of fear, signifying that even the most unlikely of characters, from heroes to villains, still infrequently feel dread and terror. In Part One of Beowulf, the people of Herot are being savagely attacked by the voracious fiend, Grendel. A belligerent murderer that only lurks in the hours of darkness comes to kill for reasons only known by God and his powerful wrath Reword. May make readers confused. (Raffel 42). What loathsome fear his victims must feel Word differently. The horror of helplessness and vulnerability; making Grendel’s control seem interminable. However,…show more content…
Not only does he conquer the two most hated villains in the history of Herot, but he also stands up for himself in situations such as those with Hrothgar and Unferth. Many people look up to the brave conqueror even more than before. On the contrary, he still needs to defeat the strongest and most difficult of the villains; the dragon. The vaguely ominous plot at this point in the epic is foreshadows the conclusion of the poem. As he fights with the dragon, he is now aware that he is going to die. One can only imagine the fear that overflows one when encountering this information. He stares at death without his sword; the dragon is now in control (Raffel 57). However, one of his bravest followers, Wiglaf discovers the treasure that is held within the dragon’s castle. It is all Beowulf needs in order to die happy; to know that his death is worth the people of Danes acquiring treasure. Undoubtedly, the followers of the great Beowulf need solace. Yet, the treasure of his death may be an eccentric way of consolation. In this epic Beowulf, the strongest of emotions, fear, can be seen in almost all of the characters, including heroes and villains, showing that nearly everyone feels a bit afraid from time to

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