One of the
central themes in Beowulf is revenge, almost every major event in this book is
directly connected to revenge or wergilds, which is payment for the worth of a
person being injured or killed. Revenge is the driving force behind every
battle, feud, and raid in this story, so I believe it deserves the most
attention. I will now give examples of revenge in Beowulf and how it drives the
story.
Long before Beowulf fights Grendel,
there were two brothers named Cain and Abel they both gave an offering to God
hoping to please him. But when God favored Abel’s gift over Cain’s, Cain became
jealous and vengeful then murdered his own brother. As punishment God put a
curse on Cain making it so no mortal could kill him and he was banished.
Cain fathered a large monster named
Grendel, already born with hatred inside him, despised the joyous singing and laughter
that came from Hygelac’s mead hall So he would go every night and kill whoever
was in the hall. Hygelac gets revenge by having Beowulf fight and ultimately
kill Grendel by ripping his arm off. Because of this Grendel’s mother goes to
the mead hall and kills one of Hygelac’s friends and takes her son’s arm back.
Beowulf then followed her back to her underwater lair, after a struggling
battle he manages to cut her head off.
Many years later after Beowulf
returned to Geatland and became king, an unknown man stole a golden cup from a
dragons treasure hoard. This causes the dragon to go out in search for the cup
and while doing so wreaked havoc on the Geats. Beowulf and Wiglaf killed the
dragon and collected its treasure, but Beowulf died in the process.
What I have noticed from this story
is that revenge Is not about getting even, The two sides will continue to fight
until one side is wiped out. Because of the nobility system during this time no
wrong deed went unpunished, even if it made things even. They continue to bunt
heads until one comes out ahead. For example Grendel killed many people in the
mead hall, so when Grendel died all the people he had killed were avenged. But
because his mother came to the mead hall and killed again it was unbalanced,
and if they left it at that she would have come out ahead. Beowulf couldn’t let
that happen so he killed Grendel’s mother thus ending the feud.
Throughout the story, revenge can be
seen, every deed is met with an equal or greater deed until one side is destroyed.
Nobody ever truly wins but someone always comes out a little ahead.
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