18/12/ · Write down questions you have as you read the book, and then select the most interesting one and respond to it in your essay. Here are some questions my students have asked while reading Beowulf. Potential Beowulf Essay Topics Which of Beowulf's fights was most heroic?Author: Josh Wilmoth Suggestions for essay topics to use when you're writing about Beowulf Commonly Asked Beowulf Essay Questions While reading through the whole story, you may have encountered interesting parts that have questions you would like to answer or questions that sound intriguing. Some of the frequently asked questions include: What is the role of a mead-hall play in an Anglo-Saxon warrior tradition?
80 Beowulf Essay Topics - blogger.com
The author teaches humanities at a private school in central North Carolina, beowulf essay questions. His favorite topics are ancient and medieval literature. Should Beowulf have fought the dragon? This is just one of the many questions you can choose to answer in beowulf essay questions essay about Beowulf.
By Friedrich-Johann-Justin-Bertuch [Public domain]. Every year, my medieval history and literature students fall in love with Beowulf. This story captures beowulf essay questions imaginations; they love to attempt to draw Grendel and beowulf essay questions the fight with his mother.
However, like many students, they struggle to choose an essay topic once we have finished reading the poem. Choosing literature essay topics is difficult, because you have to narrow your focus to a single aspect of a book and then give a detailed analysis of it. The best advice I have found for choosing essay topics is to maintain an inquisitive mind. Write down questions you have as you read the book, and then select the most interesting one and respond to it in your essay.
Here are some questions my students have asked while reading Beowulf, beowulf essay questions. Beowulf emerged victorious from numerous fights throughout his life. However, Beowulf focuses its attention on his three greatest feats: the fights against Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. Each of the fights was unique. The demon Grendel was perhaps the most powerful foe, and he also possessed a magical hex which prevented swords from harming him.
Thus Beowulf had to fight Grendel in hand-to-hand combat. However, since Grendel invaded the Danish mead-hall, Beowulf got to fight him on friendly turf, thus giving him a slight advantage over the demon. Following Grendel's death, his mother raged against the Danes and sought to exact revenge. She too invaded the Danish mead-hall, but then she escaped to her underwater lair.
Though less powerful than Grendel, she was a vicious foe, and Beowulf had to fight her in her territory, beowulf essay questions, thus putting him at a disadvantage. Moreover, his sword the sword he had borrowed from Unferth broke during the fight, and he had to use a found weapon to kill her.
Many years later, Beowulf fought his last monster--a dragon which had been terrorizing his kingdom. Beowulf was an old man, but he was still a powerful warrior. The author reveals that fate was against him during this fight--as evidenced by his death following the combat--but he overcame these encumbrances and slew the dragon.
Beowulf's most heroic fight was his fight against the dragon, because he overcame both fate and the relative frailty of old age to protect his people from the fire-winged foe. Photograph by Ken Eckert [Public Domain]. Now let's consider Beowulf's leadership. Beowulf ruled the Geat people for 50 years before he died after defeating the dragon.
Beowulf does not give much insight into the protagonists' qualities as a leader or his specific actions while king, beowulf essay questions. Nevertheless, the author reveals that his people were extremely sorrowful at his death, and they repeatedly declared that he was a good king.
But perhaps Beowulf's virtues as a leader are not so cut-and-dried, for Beowulf's death left the Geat people in dire straits. During Beowulf's fight with the dragon, only one of his hand-picked warriors--the young Wiglaf--did not flee in terror. Could this indicate that Beowulf--relying on his own strength as a warrior--had done a poor job of training his mean to be valiant warriors themselves?
Moreover, beowulf essay questions, following his lord's death, Wiglaf lamented that the Frisians, Franks, and Swedes would probably now invade and conquer the Geats.
Beowulf had to have known that his death would embolden the Geats' foes, yet he chose to ignore the risk of death and fight the dragon anyway. Was he being a heroic leader by fighting the dragon himself instead of sending in his men, or was recklessly pursuing his own glory at the expense of beowulf essay questions kingdom's future?
Although Beowulf was valiant warrior, he was a poor leader because he put his own glory before the well-being of his kingdom. This topic relates to the previous one about Beowulf's qualities as a leader. Beowulf put his kingdom at great risk by fighting the dragon. We do not know what happened as a result of his death, but Wiglaf seemed sure that the Geat foes would conquer Beowulf's kingdom.
Nevertheless, beowulf essay questions, the dragon was a very real threat; it had terrorized the Geats and even razed Beowulf's throne-room. Beowulf essay questions Beowulf was trying to protect the lives of his men by fighting the dragon himself, rather than sending them to do his dirty work for him. Were his men skilled enough to defeat the dragon without his help? This is a controversial topic, and beowulf essay questions should prove fertile ground for you to write your Beowulf essay.
Here is a sample thesis:. Beowulf's decision to fight the dragon himself was correct, because he was the only warrior valiant enough to defeat this dreadful monster.
Hopefully this article has sparked your imagination and helped you choose a topic beowulf essay questions your Beowulf essay. In summary, here are the sample Beowulf essay topics and their corresponding sample theses.
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How to Write Beowulf Hero Essay (Taylor)
, time: 12:09Top 3 Beowulf Essay Topics - Owlcation
1/3/ · Beowulf is a poem about Beowulf, who is the nephew to the king of the Geats, Hygelac. Geats is located south of Sweden. It comes to Beowulf’s knowledge that there is a monster called Grendel that is terrorizing where also king Hrothgar dwells. Beowulf travels to Heorot, where the Danish king receives blogger.comted Reading Time: 3 mins 18/12/ · Write down questions you have as you read the book, and then select the most interesting one and respond to it in your essay. Here are some questions my students have asked while reading Beowulf. Potential Beowulf Essay Topics Which of Beowulf's fights was most heroic?Author: Josh Wilmoth Suggestions for essay topics to use when you're writing about Beowulf
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