What makes beowulf didactic

The strong and powerful Beowulf defeats two extremely murderous demons in very different ways before he sadly meets his end with a third monster. Every book has at least one character that learns lessons throughout the whole story, regardless of the setting and the intention of the book. The epic poem Beowulf is not an exception. Having a didactic characteristic, the book tries to teach the characters lessons and morals through different approaches.

Written by an unknown author, the story takes place in Denmark and Geatland, nowadays Sweden, during the early 6th century. Beowulf, the main character as well as an epic hero, learns numerous lessons during his adventure to Denmark. The author uses didactic digression, a method of teaching a moral by moving away from the main story, to teach the main character about different morals in different situations.

The stories regarding pride of Siegmund and Hermond, the lesson about revenge of Finn, Hnaf, and Hengest, and the advise on women and marriage of Thrith all show that the book Beowulf is didactic by teaching the epic hero important lessons in various aspects.

Beowulf, a Geat warrior who succeeds in killing Grendel, the monstrous creature that haunted the Danes, learns a lesson by listening to the stories of Siegmund and Hermond. Siegmund, a generous and honorable king known for killing a dragon, brings back innumerable treasures after his journey.

Siegmund shares the treasures with his warriors and rewards them with sufficient amount of jewels and. Show More. Leadership In Beowulf Words 3 Pages He also brought riches to his people through the help of the generous Hrothgar. Read More. The Importance Of Storytelling In Beowulf Words 3 Pages Stories could paint ideas and portraits of certain characteristics, even as either heroic or cowardly so as to manipulate civilians.

Similarities Between The Odyssey And Fahrenheit Words 3 Pages The main characters in both literary piece must overcome challenges by using their knowledge. The Wife's Lament And Beowulf Comparison Words 2 Pages Anglo-Saxon is a culture that has a lot of belief in fate, treasure is their success, and where loyalty to a leader is crucial. The Lightning Thief Analysis Words 7 Pages By applying the Hero Cycle, we can understand The Lightning Thief as a description of the evident evolution of Percy 's, leadership through the tests and challenges he endures.

He fights courageous battles against unthinkable monsters. Beowulf would like to live a heroic life by battling these creatures. Beowulf is set in the Anglo-Saxon period. Beowulf has great courage. He fights these horrific monsters to help the greater good.

Beowulf defeats these monsters single-handedly without help from his soldiers. Beowulf comes from a noble line.

Essays Essays FlashCards. Browse Essays. Sign in. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. Show More. Read More. Words: - Pages: 3. Words: - Pages: 6. Evil So it is only natural that conflict would arise between the virtuous hero and the dangerous villains that around him.

Words: - Pages: 4. Beowulf ': Hero Of The Year' As depicted in the excerpt from Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel, the qualities found in Beowulf that were most admired by his society include courage, personal valor, and his boastfulness. Much of Beowulf is devoted to articulating and illustrating the Germanic heroic code, which values strength, courage, and loyalty in warriors; hospitality, generosity, and political skill in kings; ceremoniousness in women; and good reputation in all people.

Traditional and much respected, this code is vital to warrior societies as a means of understanding their relationships to the world and the menaces lurking beyond their boundaries. Thus individual actions can be seen only as either conforming to or violating the code. The poem contains several stories that concern divided loyalties, situations for which the code offers no practical guidance about how to act.

For example, the poet relates that the Danish Hildeburh marries the Frisian king. When, in the war between the Danes and the Frisians, both her Danish brother and her Frisian son are killed, Hildeburh is left doubly grieved.

The code is also often in tension with the values of medieval Christianity. While the code maintains that honor is gained during life through deeds, Christianity asserts that glory lies in the afterlife.

Throughout the poem, the poet strains to accommodate these two sets of values. Though he is Christian, he cannot and does not seem to want to deny the fundamental pagan values of the story. Over the course of the poem, Beowulf matures from a valiant combatant into a wise leader.