Beowulf Part II

So, Beowulf dies at the end. I knew that there had to be a twist to the story because it would have been pretty boring if all he did was have glorious battles. However, I expected him to maybe lose a battle but not actually die (which kind of means that he lost anyways).

In my opinion, Beowulf is what a hero should be. He isn’t interested in fame and reputation like Gilgamesh, because he is more concerned about the wellness of his people and defeating the evil monsters. He as confident as it gets and without too much hesitation goes into the battles, with the belief that God will choose his destiny and that God will either let him win or lose. However, I think that he should have done more than just leave his destiny in God’s hands.  Then also comes a question, what if he did something yet he was destined to die in the end anyways?

I don’t see the significance of Wiglaf towards the end of the story. Although I admire him for his bravery and loyalty to Beowulf, I am wondering if there is more significance to this character other than that he just helped weaken the dragon. Does that mean if Wiglaf wasn’t around to stab the dragon and weaken him, Beowulf would have been dead long time ago and the dragon would have lived on and continued harassing people?

Although I did not expect Beowulf to die the way he did, I think that some kind of tragic death was waiting for him eventually, because let’s be honest; he was asking for it. I am not saying that this is a bad thing; it’s a really good thing actually because if it wasn’t for his bravery we would have still been stuck in the first part of the story for a long time where Grendel would have still been killing people left and right. However, I think that he might have gotten carried away thinking that God will save him in every battle, and with that thought he just went into any battle without much preparation, plan or weapons. This is as brave as one gets, however I think that he got a little carried away and stepped into the battle with the dragon without much of preparation which could have potentially saved his life.  It’s kind of like what we do on every day basis. We do certain things and we get good at doing them, and right when we think we got it and we assume the next time will be as easy we are wrong. He should have known that it should take some planning or some back up if he was old and going against a strong beast. Instead, it seems as if he either wanted to die or hoped that God would save him.

Now I am connecting the dots from many readings we have had so far and realizing that heroes and warriors had really high standards to live up to.  These guys are amazing and even when they died, they weren’t looked upon as losers, yet they were pronounced even bigger heroes. I enjoyed reading Beowulf and I could see why Mr. Bahlmann likes it so much.