Throughout time people have written down and told stories to teach lessons and to tell about great heroics. Each culture has there own heroes, the Greeks with Hercules, the Jews with David, Arabians with Aladdin and the Anglo-Saxon people with Beowulf. Beowulf is like most common epic poems in essence with the similar idea of good verses evil, with the battles against Grendel and the fire-breathing dragon both are the symbols of absolute evil, these battles represent the eternal, universal, and the predestined struggle between the two.
The first time the reader encounters the great hero Beowulf is when the Danes ask him for his help with a great and powerful monster, Grendel. With fierce claws, this demon eats men whole, and casts spells. One of which is cast on the Danes so their swords won't do any harm towards him. Beowulf meets Grendel and fights him hand to hand, Beowulf then rips off Grendle's arm and then the monster flee to the swamp and dies.
The Old English epic poem Beowulf is written in al...
An illustration of Grendel by J.R. Skelton from St...
English: An illustration of Beowulf fighting the d...The reference to magic and claws in this section is a sign of evil. There is also a Christian reference to Grendel being a son of Cain, who was one of Adam and Eve two sons that killed his brother Able.
Once Beowulf killed both Grendel and his mother, Beowulf ruled his kingdom peacefully for fifty years. When one of Beowulf's subjects steals a golden chalice from the fire-breathing dragon, the next foe comes into play with the great hero Beowulf. The fire-breathing dragon attacks the kingdom of the Geats; killing and ravaging all that come in its path. After the long and grueling battle with the dragon Beowulf dies and Wiglaf takes Beowulf's place as king of the Geats. The dragon is a natural sign of evil in...