Beowulf is the first piece of English literature to present a dragonslayer. This depiction indicates the growing importance and stabilization of the modern concept of the dragon within European mythology. When the dragon wounds Beowulf fatally, Wiglaf attacks it with his sword, and Beowulf kills it with his dagger. He and his thanes climb to the dragon's lair where, upon seeing the beast, the thanes flee in terror, leaving only Wiglaf to battle at Beowulf's side. Beowulf decides to fight and kill the monster personally. When the angry dragon mercilessly burns the Geats' homes and lands, but it made a mistake in completely destroying Beowulf's home when Beowulf wasn't in it. On his return from Heorot, where he killed Grendel and Grendel's mother, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats and rules wisely for fifty years until a slave awakens and angers a dragon by stealing a jewelled cup from its lair. The final act of the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf includes Beowulf's fight with a dragon, the third monster he encounters in the epic. Beowulf battles his nemesis, the dragon, shown in a 1908 illustration by J.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |