The Once and future king pg. 201-311

King Arthur wins the battle of Bedegraine, establishing his kingship over the dissenting nobles. He forms the round table to control the ruling class who have been abusing power and taking advantage of the serfs. He discusses his ideas about might and right with Merlin, eventually deciding that just because someone has the power to potentially do something, doesn't necessarily mean they should. This idea is central to the round table, and most of this part of the book is spent discussing it.

Beowulf assignment 4

Beowulf is accepting of his death rather than bitter or spiteful. Because he believes he lived well, being just and upright, and died for in the cause of defending his people from the dragon, he is at peace in death. "I awaited my destiny well: never did I plot a quarrel, never did I swear an unjust oath. I take joy in this, despite a mortal wound. The Ruler of Mankind will not charge that I murdered a kinsman when my life departs this body." Here he even says that he "takes joy" in this; I wonder how Beowulf's people viewed the afterlife.

It's appropriate that both Beowulf and his great adversary, the dragon, die in battle. There is a sense of general dimishment in this; where Beowulfs fight's were against ancient demons and great monsters, the battles will now be fought amonst men over their land disputes and petty feuds. The messanger bring the news of Beowulf's death predicts war and hardship, saying "Now shall the spear be raised, clasped in hands, many a cold morning; now no sound of harp shall wake the warrior, but the voice of the dark raven, eager over the doomed, speaking to the eagle of how the meals are, how he rifles corpses beside the wolf." Even before his battle with the dragon, Beowulf has begun feel tired in life, saying: "Sorrow is in the home, the wine-hall abandoned, bereft of joy. The riders sleep, warriors in the grave; there is no harp song, no joy in the court. Not as there once was. Comes then from the bed stead a song of sorrow. The house and fields seem too large."

Beowulf assignment 3

Beowulf is portrayed as almost God-like. He was brought up from childhood to be a warrior, he is always fearless, self-assured, and nearly undefeatable. "But a warrior of Hygelac's heard of Grendel's doings; he was the strongest of men alive in that day, mighty and noble." This sets him apart considerably from the ordinary people. In contrast, the heroes in our culture are very human; at times nearly to the point of incompetence. In most of today's stories, hero's ordinary people before they became superheroes, generally by unwittingly stumbling into some drastic and life changing chain of events. Spiderman is probably the archeotype of this kind of modern hero. Before being bitten by a genetically altered super-spider, he was Peter Parker, an unpopular and somewhat nerdy high school student living with his aunt and uncle. People identify with these heroes because of their weaknesses, their imperfections give them humanity.

As he grows old, Beowulf becomes tired and disillusioned with his kingship, saying "Sorrow is in the home, the wine-hall abandoned, bereft of joy. The riders sleep, warriors in the grave; there is no harp song, no joy in the court. Not as there once was. Comes then from the bedstead a song of sorrow.The house and fields seem too large" The same thing happens to many modern superhero's, such as Batman, who eventually considers giving up his role as a hero.

Beowulf assignment 2

The most obvious anglo-saxon belief illustrated in Beowulf is the strong warrior culture. Most of the story revolves around this, Beowulf being their archeotypical warrior. Because of this Hrothgar shows revrence for Beowulf, saying

"Now, Beowulf, best of warriors, I love you as a son:have from this moment a new kinship. Nor will there be any lack of earthly things I have power over.Often I have given gifts to a lesser warrior, weaker in fighting. You have, by your deeds, achieved fame forever."

Beowulf doesn't seem to reflect the religious views held by the Celts at this time; most of the references to religion have a Christain tone. For example, God is only refered to in the singular; though the celts were pluralistic in their religion. "It was well known among men that, if God willed it not, no one could drag that demon to the shadows." It may just seem this way because of the abridged translation. Also the mention of Grendel being a descendent of Cain, though this isn't explicitly Christian; I think he appears in several religions. Christianity was spreading, but not widely accepted.

The bard in the story, who sings after Beowulf slays Grendel, tells about the Danes feud with the Jutes. This was an ongoing conflict for the Anglo-saxons.

"He sang of Finn's offspring and how Hnaef of the Danes fell in a Jute battlefield.Indeed Hildeburh did not have much cause to praisethe good faith of her in-laws,the Jutes: though blameless, she was deprived of dear ones by the shield play, both her son and Hnaef, her brother, in fate fell to spear wounds."

Beowulf assignment 1

While I liked the concept of the story, Beowulf seemed one dimensional as a protaganist. The monster Grendel attacks, he kills it, another monster, Grendel's mother attacks, he kills her as well. I find him dull for the same reasons I never really liked superman. He's like the little kid on the playground who comes up with new super powers for himself every five minutes; except in this case he had already claimed them all at the start. No one really expects him to fail, his victory is inevitable until he arrives at his fatal last battle in his old age; at which point his death is likewise inevitable. Becuase of the this it sometimes becomes a bit dull waiting for his inevitable success. Even so, the original can't really be considered clich'e, as it created the clich'e.

Some of Beowulf's reasoning is odd, particularly when he decides to fight Grendel without a sword or shield. I guess the idea behind this is that it would be less honorable, or at least less noteworthy, to kill an unarmed monster while armed. Even though this turns out to be beneficial, it seems that the question of honor is less important against a monster which was eating innocent people. He could have potentially failed against Grendel by refusing to use a sword, allowing the monster to continue feeding on the townspeople; which in my opinion would have been more dishonorable than using a sword. I also find it kind of funny that he allows Grendel to eat several of his sleeping men before challenging him.

The text gives the impression that the people in these regions were almost constantly involved in bloody fuedal wars over issues of honor or property. This being the case, it's ironic that Grendel was considered a major threat. Even though he was obviously unpleasant and malicious, his rampages seemed to be limited to eating a few unfortunate individuals sleeping in the mead hall. It may be more the intrusion of on the mead hall that caused the indignant reaction, as this was considered a major cultural icon, symbolizing the wealth and power of their kingdom.

The multiple religious references were interesting to find here; most of these have an orthodox Christian tone, especially since God is always refered to in the singular. This seems inconsistent with the beliefs of the region in the time the story takes place, Christian doctrine was probably still being introduced to the region and was not widely accepted, or at least not promoted as it is here. On the other hand some elements such as the ambigious view of Beowulf's afterlife are contrary to the church at the time; this makes you wonder who was writing down the story.