Beowulf Questions

1. Shield became ruler because he was such a fierce and fearsome warrior, some clans had to yield and pay him tribute. At his funeral, he was placed in his ship with many treasures and armour then sent out to see. Hrothgar was Shield's great-grandson.

1. Hrothgar undertook the work of building a great mead-hall, Heorot. It was attacked by Grendel for 12 years. The Danes responded by moving out of the mead hall.

1. When Beowulf hears of Grendel's attacks, he decides to go and rid the Danes of the beast.
2. The Geats first meet a watchman in Denmark, who meets them with his spear and questions their business there. The Gears ask to see their leader, so they might drive Grendel out.
3. Hrothgar's herald, Wulfgar, tells Hrothgar that the Geats have requested to see him. Hrothgar says he knows of Beowulf and was his father's friend. I suppose I'm not surprised, seeing as Hrothgar and Ecgtheow were close and stories of Beowulf's strength had been spread.
4. Beowulf tells Hrothgar of past battles with giants, and claims that he shall fight Grendel unarmed. Hrothgar had sent treasures to the Wulfing tribe to make amends after Beowulf's father killed one of their members.

1.Unferth accuses  Beowulf of losing a contest with Breca in the ocean. Beowulf responds by saying he killed a sea monster after it dragged him underwater, then 8 more monsters. This might be relevant to the rest of the poem because we don't know whose side of the story is true--Beowulf could just be arrogant and exaggerating. He accuses Unferth of being drunk.
2. Queen Wealtheow passed around the ceremonial goblet and thanked God for Beowulf's arrival.

1. There is no "arming" scene, for Beowulf has chosen to fight unarmed. Instead, there is an unarming scene.
2. When Grendel arrives at Heorot, he finds the floor packed with "sleeping" warriors; he kills one. Beowulf grabs Grendel's arm with all his strength, and Grendel tries to flee. His arm is torn off and left at the hall; he returns to his lair to die.

1. Beowulf is like Sigemund, for they both slayed beasts (they both fought giants and a dragon, though Beowulf has yet to get to the dragon). Beowulf is obviously unlike Heremod, who was an evil king that turned against his own people.
2. Hrothgar thanks God for his riddance of Grendel. He tells Beowulf that he will be rewarded with gifts of treasure, and he holds Beowulf in his heart as a son. Unferth is humbled after Grendel's defeat.
3. In the story of Finn, the Danes had lost in battle to Finn and the Frisians. The Danish leader Hnaef is killed, and they strike a truce with the Frisians. Finn's wife, the Danish princess Hildeburh, wants her brother Hnaef and her Frisian warrior son burned together on the same bier. After a winter of Frisian rule, the Danes rise up and defeat Finn. Hildeburh is returned to Denmark. She was married to Finn in an attempt to end the feud between the peoples, but it obviously did not work for long.
4. Queen Wealtheow asks Hrothgar not to promise his throne to Beowulf, for his real sons were supposed to inherit it.
5. Later on, Beowulf gives the necklace that Wealtheow had presented to him to the warrior Wiglaf, just before Beowulf dies. Wealtheow had asked Beowulf to treat her sons kindly and to help guide them in life.
6. Many men remain sleeping in the hall that night because they assumed they would be safe with Grendel finally dead. It is a huge mistake, for Grendel's mother returns that night to seek revenge for her son.

1. Grendel's mother comes to Heorot for a different reason than Grendel: she is seeking vengeance.
2. Hrothgar asks Beowulf to find and kill the monster, for she killed his close friend and battle counselor, Aeschere.
3. The mere was a swampy moor with bloody water and a magical quality to it.

1. Beowulf tells Hrothgar that if he does not succeed in this fight with Grendel's mother, his armor should be returned to Hyglac, the Geats must be ruled over fairly, and Hrunting (the sword) should be returned to Unferth.
2. Before Beowulf enters the mere, he kills on e of the sea dragons within it with an arrow.
3. Beowulf arms himself with full armor; he brings the seasoned, poison-edged sword, Hrunting, that had never failed in battle.
4. Beowulf dives into the mere and finds an underwater hall with no water inside and torches to light the way. (Grendel and his mother's lair)
5. For the first time, Hrunting fails to do any damage to the monster.
6. Beowulf manages to escape because his armor protected him for Grendel's mother's dagger.
7. Beowulf escapes from under her and uses a giant's sword that was hung on the wall to behead her. He finds Grendel and takes his head with him, along with the giant sword's hilt. Grendel's mother's blood had dissolved the blade.
8. His men had lost hope and did not expect Beowulf to return; they saw him and rejoiced, thanking God, and carried his helmet and armor for him. 

1. Beowulf gives Hrothgar the head and the sword hilt.
2. Hrothgar tells Beowulf that he had united the Danes and Geats. Hrothgar tells the story of Heremod, who "ruled by slaughter of both enemy and ally;" he says that cruel and selfish rulers lose the approval of their followers. He warns Beowulf to guard his soul against greed, fame, the devil, and selfishness in general. Heremod died when he was banished by his subjects.
3. As he leaves, Beowulf returns Hrunting to Unfterth.

1. Hrothgar predicts the Beowulf will be a great king in the future.
2. Hygd is Hygelac's wife; she is the queen of Geats. She is unlike the legendary Queen Modthyrth, who tortured and killed her own innocent subjects. Hygd is young, beautiful, and wise.
3. Beowulf tells Hygelac that Hrothgar plans to wed his daughter, Freawaru, to Ingeld, so their clans may get along better. Beowulf does not see this working out: he feels that seeing each others' possessions (gained through plundering) might incited fighting between the Danes and Heathobards again. We might be seeing a new side of Beowulf during this report. So far, we have not witnessed him giving out thoughts like these, having little faith in others' decisions and predicting poor outcomes.
4. Beowulf reports his battles with the giants to Hygelac, particularly emphasizing the monsters' ferocity, the fact that Grendel had sought them out, and the magnificent treasures he had been rewarded with. His reports about the adventures weren't particularly inaccurate, but he did choose to emphasize certain parts that might have made him appear a fiercer warrior.
5. Beowulf  gave much of his treasures to Hygelac and Hygd, and in return, Hygelac gives Beowulf a sword prized among the Geats and his own land to preside over.

1. Part two takes place fifty years later; Hygelac and Heardred have passed. A new danger now exists: an angry dragon has been awoken.
2. The dragon is angry because a man was caught going through his treasure, and he ended up taking a cup. The man took the cup because when the dragon woke, he was startled, and accidentally kept the cup as he ran. The treasure came to be in the burrow because the lone survivor of a doomed ancient race had buried the treasure, for it was no use to him.
3. The dragon destroyed Beowulf's throne hall along with many other homes and villages.
4. Beowulf believes his home was destroyed because he must have broken some law that angered God. He orders a new shield because he feels he is the warlord, therefore he must retaliate. He will fight the dragon  without an army. Beowulf knows he will die, but he is going to take the dragon with him.
5. Hygelac died in battle in Friesland. After Hygelac's death, Beowulf returned home, where Hygd offered him the throne, feeling that her son Heardred was not ready to assume the position. Beowulf declined and instead served as regent by Heardred's side.
6. Heardred died in a fight with the Swedes (he had given some exiled men shelter and others responded). Beowulf planned to avenge Heardred by befriending one of the exiled men he had taken in, and they assembled an army that defeated the man that killed Headred.
7. Beowulf takes only eleven men with him to confront the dragon.
8. Hygelac's brother Herebeald was accidentally killed by their brother Haethcyn. Hrethel was immensely saddened by his son's death, and also the fact that he had to avenge his death by sending his other son to the gallows, which he couldn't bring himself to do. The fact that he couldn't avenge his son made him feel even worse. Hrethel cared less and less about his kingdom, and no happiness or reveling happened in his court until he died. After Hrethel's death, the Swedes and Geats fell into war. Haethcyn died in the feud.

1. Beowulf tells his men not to interfere; this battle was his own.
2. The first time Beowulf and the dragon engage, his sword fails, and he is set on fire. Beowulf's companions all fled but one, Wiglaf, the most brave and loyal warrior. He scolds the other men, telling them that they had discussed how they would all be brave when Beowulf needed them, then rushes in to help Beowulf.
3. The second time around, Wiglaf stabs the dragon in the stomach, but it burns his hand. The dragon bites Beowulf on the neck, and both men kill the dragon together.
4. The dying Beowulf asks Wiglaf to show him the treasure they had released from the dragon's clutches. Beowulf thanks God for the treasure that his people would have now, and for being able to see the gold before he died. Beowulf wants the barrow named "Beowulf's Barrow" so he may be remembered. He wants to be burned with the treasure. 

1. When the companions return, Wiglaf rebukes them. He tells them that Beowulf's generosity had been wasted on them, that they had failed him, and they were better off dead. He feels that their nerw treasures and land will be useless when others find out about their cowardice.
2. The messenger tells the city that the Frisians, Franks, and Swedish will now almost certainly attack the Geats. Ongentheow had taken the queen, Onela's mother, and Ongentheow retreated after Hygelac's army started after him. The messenger claimed that none could touch the treasure without the will of God.
3. Wiglaf tells the crowd that cost of the treasure was their king, and he was to carry an armful of the treasure to his liege.
4. The dragon's body was tossed into the sea.
5. The widow sang of imminent doom caused by the battles that would surely come, and they built a massive fire and monument for their king. The treasures were again buried.
6. In the last lines of the poem, Beowulf was described as the mildest, most beloved, kindest, and most deserving of praise. These terms are not what we would usually expect of a military hero; we usually expect words such as "brave," "fierce," "tough," etc.