Reading Notes: Beowulf, Part A

"Kei's Beowulf" by HerryLawford is licensed under CC BY 2.0

    I like the introduction to Beowulf and his bravery that we get right from the very beginning. If I'm being perfectly honest, I feel like Disney may have based their interpretation of Hercules (however loosely) on Beowulf. Obviously, the actual story of Hercules came from a long time before Beowulf, but I think that the character as very strong, disliked because of his strength, and known to be kind of clumsy fits right in with the character I have in my mind of Hercules. That being said, I think that Beowulf has a lot of dignity and honor that he brings to this role. It's perfectly exemplified in the way that he responds to Unferth's words. After being accused of being a clumsy coward, he doesn't respond to Unferth in anger, but calmly. He explains the ways that he knows he is right and doesn't allow what he knows to be unfair criticism rooted in jealousy to bother him. There's a lot to respect in that.

    The other thing that I just think is really interesting is the referral to the monsters in the sea. It makes me think of Odysseus and the Odyssey. I haven't read enough epics to know if this is the case, but I do wonder if this is a common theme throughout epic poetry, that the sea and its monsters represent a challenge every epic hero must face. I don't know, that could be complete nonsense, but I thought the parallel was really interesting.

    The last thing that I want to touch on is the fact that I really wish we knew more about the common folk. For example, we hear and see just how hard the past twelve years have been on the king, but he probably had it a lot better than the regular folk in his kingdom. Sure, it must be hard to lead during those times, but at least he had plenty of food and supplies. He was at risk of being attacked by the monster, but who wasn't. And he was much safer within the castle than the people on the outside. I just wish we knew a little bit more about what it must have been like for the average person. This could be a source of story inspiration for me this week.

Bibliography: The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs (1993), illustrated by Henry Pitz.