"Beowulf" is an amazing tragic yet heroic poem. I loved this early writing! My favorite part was the dragon. I think that this poem has to have some inspiration on reality in the society at the time. Therefore, what does the dragon signify? Does the dragon signify the justice system? Hence, killing the thief for taking a cup from his (founded) treasure. I believe that the dragon was serving justice on the thief who interrupted his sleep. Hence the saying, "You get what you deserve."
I looked up some dragon myths and I find some of these very interesting and I am stretching the connection between the two. However, I find these links interesting. In the first link, http://www.polenth.com/myth/asia/dragonking.html, it states, "Angering [a] dragon could cause bad things to happen, such as floods (or in this case war). Making sure the dragon is happy, such as giving them offerings (for example, we do not know how the dragon obtained this treasure, only that he found it and claimed it to be his), is the way to ensure this does not happen." Even though,the author of "Beowulf" probably was not familiar with Chinese myths, he was familiar with Scandinavia. For example, Beowulf was said to be a scandinavian ruler. With this said, the second link, http://www.polenth.com/myth/europe/fafnir.html, states that the king of the dwarves leaves equal amounts of treasure to his three sons. When the mountain threatens to cave in, two of them hide their treasure under a dragon stone (the stone is a dragon). After five years and a day, the dragon takes on human form, allowing Siegfried to take the treasure." I believe that the author knew of these different tales of the dragon and how the dragon is surrounded by treasure, sets things on fire, and guards possessions, and he uses these myths to his advantage to attract a wider audience. (possibly?)
However, I also believe that a great warrior such as Beowulf has to go out with a bang and on top and there's nothing scarier than a dragon that is "slick-skinned, " shoots out fire, and an enormous creature. The author has a way to manipulate the readers into liking Beowulf as a human being, a warrior, and a gentleman. Personally, I did not want Beowulf to die, even though, he was 70 years old. And even though, Beowulf was cocky, arrogant, and eager to obtain fame (with a price of course such as gold, jewels, etc.), I considered him to be confident, loyal, and a nobleman. I did not even realize he was arrogant until in class today. Whoever the author of "Beowulf" is he knew how to use language to manipulate, stories to entertain, and mythical creatures to make his main character seem extremely tough, brave, and unstoppable.
No comments:
Post a Comment