Beowulf Essay - Grade: A PDF

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Essay about the Beowulf myth and exploring the similarities and key differences between the ethics of a warrior and ethics of a king. ...

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The Warrior v. The King In Beowulf, you get the sense that the ethics of a warrior and the ethics of the king mostly overlap. However, are a few key differences that separate a warrior from a king. Here, I will be exploring the ethical code that a warrior and a king are bound to. In laying them out, Beowulf’s change in social position will display the difference between them and show how some qualities between the two ethical codes are incompatible. In Norse culture there are many qualities that attribute to the ethics of the warrior code, such as courage, strength, loyalty, and glory through deeds. Throughout the epic, we see various examples of a warrior’s courage displayed by both Beowulf. One example is just the action of Beowulf heading to the Danes in order to help Hrothgar defeat Grendel shows a great amount of courage needed to face such a terrifying monster. Beowulf continues to reinforce this courage when he gives his formal boast: “I had a fixed purpose when I put to sea. As I sat in the boat with my band of men, I meant to perform to the uttermost what your people wanted or perish in the attempt, in the fiend’s clutches. And I shall fulfil that purpose, prove myself with a proud deed or meet my death here in the mead-hall” (B, 43). This formal boast by Beowulf displays the courage and confidence he has in fulfilling his boast by defeating Grendel. In the end, he does in fact fulfills his boast and gains the glory of winning against Grendel (B, 55). The glory earned by fulfilling his boast by defeating Grendel is a clear example of earning glory thorough battle in Norse warrior ethics because their goal before death is to earn glory. The strength of a warrior is shown by Beowulf when he battled Grendel with no weapons or armor. The physical strength he displayed cemented how strong of a warrior he was and it was

so strong that he was able to keep Grendel locked in a handgrip. Beowulf even defeated Grendel by ripping his whole shoulder and arm off and it was described as “sinews split and the bonelappings burst” (B, 55). Another example of Beowulf’s awesome warrior strength is when he fought the dragon past his prime as a warrior. Even though the dragon gave Beowulf a fatal wound on the neck, he was still able to muster enough strength to “[draw] a stabbing knife he carried on his belt, sharpened for battle. He stuck it deep into the dragon’s flank. Beowulf dealt it a deadly wound” (B, 183). Throughout the epic, a warrior’s loyalty is shown in many ways. One example of a warrior’s loyalty to their lord is when Beowulf refuses to take the throne in place of his prince. The epic says that after refusing to take the throne, Beowulf “did provide support for the prince, honoured and minded him until he matured as the ruler of Geatland” (B, 161). Beowulf’s loyalty to his lord caused him to refuse to take the throne because the next rightful heir to the throne is the prince and taking the throne would tarnish his loyalty. In doing so, his loyalty is further shown when he decided to support the prince and advise him until he became ruler of Geatland. Unlike the warrior, the ethical code a king is bound by requires them to be a protector to his people, put priority in their role as a king than a warrior and not seek out conflict, be generous with their treasures and be represented as a powerful force to his enemies. As a king, there many ways for them to be a protector to his people. One way is for a king to tie nations together in hopes creating an alliance. An example of this is when Hrothgar adopts Beowulf “in [his] heart as a dear son” and tells him to “nourish and maintain this new connection” (B, 63). By adopting Beowulf, Hrothgar is creating a connection between the Geats and the Danes, essentially creating an alliance between the two nations. With this alliance, Hrothgar has added additional protection for the people under his rule.

Placing priority in their role as a king than a warrior and not seek out conflict is another thing that a king is bound by their ethics. Hrothgar demonstrates this when he refrains from retaliating against Grendel when he continues his slaughter in the halls of Heorot. Hrothgar is obviously a warrior and warrior ethics demands that he seeks the man-price and deal with Grendel himself. However, his role as a king takes priority because if he goes into battle and perishes, then the nation of the Danes is left kingless and without the protection that a king grants his people. A bad example of this is when Beowulf’s pride as a warrior overwhelms his role as a king and causes him to challenge the dragon alone. He even declares that “[he] shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning, if the evil one will only abandon his earth-fort and face me in the open” (B, 171). As said before, a king is not supposed to go into battle because in the off-chance he perishes, then the kingdom they ruled will be defenseless. Even Wiglaf predicts that “enemies will now attack the Geats” once news of Beowulf’s death spreads (B, 195). It is here, Beowulf failed in following the ethics of a king. Being generous with one’s wealth is one of the biggest attributes of the ethics of a king and both Hrothgar and Beowulf demonstrate this clearly. With Hrothgar, one of the first things he did was building the mead-hall, Heorot Hall. He built Heorot because it was “meant to be a wonder of the world forever; it would be his throne-room and there he would dispense his Godgiven goods to young and old—but not the common land or people lives” (B, 7). As you can see, he obviously thought of his people and shared his wealth through the creation of the mead-hall. Beowulf also displays a king’s generosity when he first sees the treasure after felling the dragon. Wiglaf describes Beowulf’s first gaze at the treasure had not been selfish (B, 207). As a king you need to be represented as a powerful force to his enemies and this quality ties in with being a protector of those under his rule. During Beowulf’s fifty-year reign as king of

the Geats, “no king of any neighboring clan would dare face me with troops, none had the power to intimidate me. I took what came, cared for and stood by things in my keeping, never fomented quarrels, never swore to a lie” (B, 185). Here you can see that Beowulf was a good king overall. He became this powerhouse that no enemy nation would dare trifle with and being this powerful acted as a sort of protection for those under his rule. Beowulf the Warrior and Beowulf the King share similar qualities in their ethical codes they were bound to by their roles. However, there are major differences that make a warrior distinct from a king. As a warrior, his ethical code required Beowulf to be courageous, strong, loyal to one’s lord, and desire glory through deeds. As a king, Beowulf’s ethical code needed him to be a protector to his people, place priority in his role as a king than a warrior and not seek out conflict, be generous with his wealth, and be represented as a powerful force to his enemies. As you can see, some qualities of being a warrior and being a king conflict with each other. An example of this is a warrior’s desire for glory though deeds, and a king’s priority to stick to being a king and not seek out conflict disagree with each other.

Work Cited Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: a New Verse Translation. W.W. Norton & Co., 2001....