Beowulf’s Mistake in a Nutshell Beowulf is a story of a hero’s adventure in protecting the and eventually ruling over the land of the Danes. Throughout the story, he fights many battles, and surprises everyone, even against the odds he makes a way to come out on top. Yet, in his journey, he makes a great mistake. Beowulf allows his pride to get the best of him, and what really matters. Which is why ultimately he is already doomed, even from the beginning. For example, Beowulf is shown to be a strong leader and an overall charming guy. Often, he uses this to his advantage to get what he wants. On page 44 line 155 the coastguard to the Land of the Danes is suspicious of Beowulf so he tell’s him of his previous “victories” saying, “I drove five great giants into chains, chased all of that race from earth.”. Beowulf’s pride is so high he doesn’t realize that chasing a whole race from earth might be impressive, but not a thing to boast about. This is building towards Beowulf's spiral downwards if he cannot distinguish right from wrong in that situation then how will he distinguish it in an even more serious one? However, this isn’t the only instance Beowulf has done this. Beowulf does not only battle Grendel, but also his mother. Any person willing to fight two dangerous creatures must really want to protect their people, correct? No, not for Beowulf, the King of the Geats Hrothgar asks him to defeat her for taking one of his men so Beowulf accepts the challenge. Not to stop her from hurting anyone, but because his pride is too high to possibly deny it. In the story on page 58 line 490 “If weapons were useless, he’d use his hands, the strength in his fingers. So fame came only to men who cared to win it …show more content…
And his glory will live on thanks to the destruction caused by his