The stories of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are littered with monsters that have to be dealt with. The monsters range from Beowulf’s Grendel, Grendels’ mother, and a fire breathing dragon to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’s woodwose, forest creatures and the Green Knight. There is also a monster that doesn’t fit the description of a monster, in the way we would see one today; something tangible, something …showed first 75 words of 2706 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2706 total…mental and moral endurance. Each time, the presence of time is evident, as was how strong time was at chaffing away at the heroes. Today this monster stands strong, even against our medicines and technology, which enable us to be superhuman in many ways as Beowulf once thought he was. But in the end, we will lose as Beowulf and Sir Gawain did, to the monster because nothing can surpass, nor defeat, nor outlive time.