BEOWULF, THE GREAT WARRIER 4 As Beowulf is essentially a record or heroic deeds, the concept of identity. These two prinicipals components are self-reliance and courage. These are clearly central to the poem. Beowulf encounters three difficult conflicts with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. Grendel is a demon descended from Cain who prays on Hrothgar’s warriors in the King’s mead hall, Herot. Grendel’s mother is a unnamed swamp-hag, is very protective …showed first 75 words of 950 total…

…showed last 75 words of 950 total…death strictly as a personal failure, however, is to neglect the overwhelming emphasis given to fate in the last portion of the poem. The conflict with the dragon has an aura of inevitability about it; rather that a conscious choice, the battle can also be interpreted as a matter in which Beowulf has very little agency at all. Additionally, it is hard to blame him for acting according to the dictates of his worrier culture.