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Examples Of Greed In Beowulf

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Samantha Quezada Ms. Vance English 4 Honors 1 September 2014 Vices and Virtues 7-12 Greed: Greed is an intense longing desire for something. This desire to have something more can lead people to strive to conquer their greatest obstacles in order that they may be their best. However, desire usually does not stop at just wanting the best for oneself; this desire never seems to stop. As seen in Beowulf, greed fuels unnecessary actions such as the Dragon’s reaction to the thief. A thief enters the treasure tower and steals a cup; however, when he hears the noise, he drops and cup and flees proving that he really didn’t mean to steal the cup. This regret goes unseen by the Dragon and his judgment is clouded by the greed that fuels his anger and forces him to terrorize the Geats. No one is allowed to have any of the gold and treasure except him; it all belongs to him. This strong sense of greed drives several characters in Beowulf and ultimately is one of the reasons why the Dragon terrorizes the town. Envy: Envy, one’s feeling towards another person and his or her possessions, can show true …show more content…

These expressions can lead to the creation of a masterpiece or the creation of a brilliant concept; however, most often this wrath fuels vengeance that leads to the destruction of a person. Wrath fuels the forcing hand in Beowulf, as seen with Grendel’s mother. Grendel’s mother comes from the sea and attacks the town and Beowulf in order to avenge the death of her son. This hatred was burning in her soul giving her almost superhuman abilities as she was almost able to defeat Beowulf. Her anger and her strength caused Beowulf to worry as he began to doubt his abilities, “Wildly tearing at him, he was weary that the best and strongest of his soldier” (618-619) could not defeat her. This vengeance gives Grendel’s mother a superhuman strength, however, it leads the destruction of various men and

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Boasting today is viewed very differently than it was during the time of Beowulf. In Beowulf’s day, boasting was thought of as informative. A person during that time would often boast to tell people about their characteristics and qualifications. In Beowulf’s boast, he was notifying people that he had the ability and skills to defeat the beast, Grendel. During Beowulf’s time, boasting typically incorporated stories of ancestors and the intentions of the boaster.

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In Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon poem, written about a hero named Beowulf who aids the King of Danes to battle monsters. With his powerful strength, he was able to slay Grendel and Grendel’s mother. However, in his last journey, fifty years later, to battle the dragon, he succeeds but dies in the process. Throughout the whole poem, it is apparent that one important theme present is the display of pride and strength of the people in that society at the time. One of the first displays of pride and strengths in Beowulf can be seen in the first battle with Grendel.

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Being greedy can lead us into a lot of trouble. We are often tempted to want the best shoes or the newest gadgets; in turn, this causes us to not make the best decisions. We will beg our parents to buy us something, or even worse, steal. Some of us may even get angry or sad if we don’t get what we want. From seeing this, we can tell that greed is not a very great thing to possess.

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it was felt that the airline had lost ten times the amount of jet fuel as the ticket. Even though most of the monsters were unable to get revenge on Beowulf, all of them were okay with that since the goal was the going out fighting with a purpose. As Bryce Nelson, the author of Revenge: Sweet, Universal and Self-Destructive: [Home Edition] wrote, “the adult who desires revenge is often aware that he may get himself killed, land in jail or hurt the lives of people he cares about while trying to obtain satisfaction” (Nelson 1). This is the case for the monsters since all of them realize that by trying to get revenge it could end up as death for them.

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Lastly, in Beowulf, he showed greed when he went into the cave to defeat Grendel’s mothers by stealing from her cave. Beowulf shows signs of an epic hero but he let greed get the best of him. He had his mind set on just killing Grendel and being done with his work. But once he killed Grendel, he had to defeat Grendel’s mother. When he went into the cave to defeat Grendel’s mother, he saw treasures everywhere.

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