Aidan Campbell Mrs. Sadler Ap Lit 8/18/2024 Heorot: The Great Mead Hall Beowulf, an epic poem and an essential piece of Anglo-Saxon literature, is a complex narrative that details the adventures of a great hero from the Great Nation. Central to this story is the great mead hall, Heorot, that was built by the Danish king Hrothgar. Heorot is symbolically important as a house-like structure in Beowulf because it symbolizes the achievement of the Scylding’s civilization, it is the site of Beowulf’s first battle, and it represents light versus dark in a battle of good versus evil. The first way Heorot contributes to the plot of Beowulf is the function of itself as a symbol of the Scylding’s civilization and achievement. Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, was well regarded among the Danish people and was a warrior king, earning respect among his kinsmen. …show more content…
“So his [Hrothgar] mind turned to hall-building; he handed down orders for men to work on a great mead-hall meant to be a wonder of the world forever; it would be his throne-room and there he would dispense his God-given goods to young and old” (Beowulf lines 67-72). As the excerpt states, the hall was, “meant to be a wonder of the world forever”, and although that did not happen as buildings of this era were made almost strictly out of wood, it was remembered through the poem Beowulf and is still commemorated to this day. Another extract from the epic states, “Far and wide through the world, I have heard, orders or work to adorn that wallstead were sent to many peoples” (74-76). These lines explain how Heorot was a collaboration of many different people from around Denmark and the world to work on the monolith that would become the great mead hall and symbolize the greatness of the Danish