MM Sept 1

The last battle Hannah Mason

Today in class we talked about Beowulf’s last battle and we compared it to his past two battles with Grendel and Grendel’s mother. We found that the process of preparing for the battles was quite different between the first two and the last one. For the battle with the Dragon, we see Beowulf using armor and a sword, going into the battle with some hesitation. His boast before the battle is also very different. We noticed that Beowulf was less confident during his boast because he knew that this was his last battle. He knew that he did not retain the strength that he had once had as a young man. He was more strategic about his last battle, saying that he wanted the dragon to seek him in an open field, so as to die on his own turf. Beowulf is increasingly aware of the possibility of death throughout his last boast and his last battle, he knows the end is coming soon.

In class we also talked about the details of the dragon. We discovered that the narrator describes the dragon with more ferocious details, comparing him to a “serpent” (2568), but not quite an evil demon banished by God. The dragon is described as “slick-skinned” and “the burning one”. No one even dare look at its shadow. The dragon is out for revenge, and through class discussion, we agreed that the dragon’s motives are much clearer. It wants revenge for something that was stolen from it. Through our discussion, we also came to the conclusion that the dragon is greedy and only interested in the material things. There is no comparison between the dragon and Grendel and Grendel’s mother. The dragon is an equal, if not more difficult, match for Beowulf, and that is why it is Beowulf’s last battle.

At the end of class, we had a short discussion about why the narrator compares Christianity to Paganism. There were several suggestions; to promote Christianity, to prove that the Germanic era is irreconcilable, etc. In any case, we decided that the epic poem had a biased opinion because most likely, it was written by a Christian monk.