Importance Of Weapons In Beowulf

Heroes need weapons to defeat their enemies, and it is no different for the hero Beowulf in the epic poem Beowulf. Beowulf uses all sorts of weapons throughout his many battles with monsters. Each weapon that he uses there is attached a cultural significance. There is a cultural significance attached to each weapon that he uses, ultimately aiding him in his survival and his killing of the beats. As he grows older, he needs to wear more armor and fight with stronger weapons to be able to kill his enemies. This attests to his aging and the stronger forces that he is facing. Beowulf uses different and progressively stronger weapons that carry a cultural attachment of his people, enabling the hero to to defeat his enemies even though he is getting older and his enemies are getting stronger.

With knowledge from his previous fight, Beowulf realizes that he must wear armor and have a weapon in order to have a fair fight against the beast’s mother. Hrothgar’s wife, Wealhtheow, supplies the hero with chain mail armor. The armor signifies the Danes’ belief in Beowulf’s victory. “The mesh of the chain-mail/saved him on the outside,” or else the monster’s claws would have killed him instantly (1503-1504). Beowulf then obtains the sword Hrunting from a coward named Unferth. Though the sword “had gone through many/ hand-to-hand fights… the fabulous powers of that heirloom failed” to harm his opponent (1524-1528). The sword is not powerful enough nor is it worthy of use by Beowulf, since it came from a man who is too cowardly to fight the monster himself. While Beowulf is unable to wield Hrunting, he uses another sword he finds during the battle to chop off the monster’s head. The latter sword happens to have a cultural connection since it has previously been fought with men of the Danes’ serving Beowulf well in the fight. Compared to the fight against Grendel, Beowulf needs a better way to defend himself because the mother’s strikes injure Beowulf while Grendel could not put up much of a fight. The fight with Grendel’s mother is much more violent than the fight with Grendel, for she is stronger than the previous enemy, so Beowulf changes his battle tactics to compensate for her