Beowulf

Question 1

What are the motifs in Beowulf?

Answer 1

Monsters, The Oral tradition and The Mead-hall.

Question 2

What are the symbols in Beowulf?

Answer 2

The Golden Torque, The Banquet.

Question 3

Talk about the foreshadowing in Beowulf.

Answer 3

The funeral of Shield Sheafson, with which the poem opens, foreshadows Beowulf’s funeral at the poem’s end.

Question 4

What does Grendel and his mother embody?

Answer 4

Grendel embodies evil and jealousy, his feelings come from the fact that he got excluded. Grendel’s mother embodies an ancient Northern European society’s tendency toward unending bloodshed.However, this is not true, since we get ti hear the story of Hildeburh, a princess, who looses all her male relatives because her brother’s family is feuding with her husband’s. Grendel’s mother represents the dangers that await anyone who seeks comfort in the unknown, either the world or themselves.

Question 5

What does the dragon embody?

Answer 5

The dragon embodies death itself.