Beowulf: Key information of Beowulf | Learning The Easy Way

 


Key information of Beowulf:

Full Title: Beowulf


Author: Unknown


Type of Work: Poem


Language: Anglo-Saxon


Time of Written
The time is approximately between 700 and 1000 A. D


Place of Written: England


Form of Publication: 
The original poem exits only in manuscript form.


Narrator: 
A Christian narrator telling a story of pagan times.


Point of View:

The narrator narrates the story in the third person point of view. He also used the objective method. The narrator has access to every character's depths. The narrative also moves forward and backward in time with considerable freedom.


Tone:
The poet is generally enthusiastic about beowulf's feats. But he often surrounds the events he narrates with a sense of doom.


Tense: 
Past tense is used. we also find, the distant past and predictions of the future with digressions.


Setting(Time): 
The main action of the story is set around 500 A.D.


Setting(Place): 
Denmark and Geatland ( At present, Southern Sweden).


Protagonist: Beowulf


Characters list:
Beowulf, King Hrothgar, Grendel, Grendel's Mother, The Dragon, Shield Sheafson, Beow, Halfdane, Wealhtheow, Unferth, Herthric, Hrothmund, Hrothulf, Aeschere, Hygelac, Hygd, Wiglaf, Ecgtheow, King Hrethel, Breca, Sigemund, King Heremod, Queen Modthryth


Major Characters:
Beowulf, King Hrothgar, Grendel, Unferth, Wiglaf.


Major Conflict:
There are three central conflicts in this poem. One is Grendel's domination of Heorot Hall. Another is the vengeance of Grendel's mother after Grendel is slain. And last one is the rage of the dragon after a thief steals a treasure that it has been guarding.


Rising Action:
Grendel's attack on Heorot. Beowulf defeat of Grendel.


Climax:
Beowulf's encounter with Grendel's mother constitutes the moment at which good and evil are in greatest tension.


Falling Action:
Beowulf's glorious victory over Grendel's mother leads King Hrothgar to praise him as a worthy hero and to advise him about becoming king. It also helps Beowulf to transform from a brazen warrior into a reliable king.


Themes:
The main themes are the importance of establishing identity, tensions between the heroic code and other value systems and the difference between a good warrior and a good king.


Motifs:
Monsters, the oral tradition, the mead-hall.


Major Symbols: 
Heorot, The Cave, Grendel's Claw and Head, The Dragon's Treasure- Trove:


Related Posts:

Character list and Short discussion of Beowulf

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