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Theme Of Tone In Beowulf

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In the poem Beowulf, the narrator uses several types of tone for several different scenes. The tone is a manner of speaking or writing that shows a certain attitude on the part of the speaker’s scene. Throughout this story the narrator is super formal. Beowulf shifts between three or more specific tones. Although everything is spoken in a calm, stiff, and stern formality; the author still uses the various examples of the tone throughout this epic poem. Throughout the poem Beowulf, there are several types of tone being exploited. At the beginning of Beowulf, lines 15-17 states, “So Hrothgar’s men lived happy in his hall till the monster stirred, that demon, that friend, Grendel, who haunted moors, the wild.” The tone in this section changes from happy to frighten. Hrothgar’s men are portrayed as happy and peaceful until they are disturbed by the beast Grendel. Hrothgar enters in the Great Hall of Herot where the men are having their celebration. As a result, he is very vicious and angry with the people of Denmark and begins to lash out. He grabs the men, rips their bodies apart, throws them everywhere, and is killing everyone in his sight. …show more content…

Lines 263-265 states “He came to; ripped him apart, cut his body to bits with powerful jaws. Drank the blood from his veins and bolted.” This scene is very dismaying because what seemed to be a joyous celebration turned into a beast brawl very quickly. Grendel takes his anger out on everyone because he does not want to see them happy. He is very evil and is the spawn of Cain. Whenever he hears a celebration, he becomes jealous and upset. Although Grendel is seen as a creature filled with bloodlust and hatred, he should not lash out on the act of jealousy. Most people think that he is this way because he lacks tender love and

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Grendel has changed from a impressionable and inquisitive cynical monster in the beginning, to a grieving child of Cain, longing for purpose. From this, he then transitions into a very aggressive monster, attacking ruthlessly but not without thought. After Grendel meets Beowulf, another character that his once again influenced his thought killing him, he slowly dies and finally understands everything he’s gone through. His last lines “Poor Grendel's had an accident," (He) whispers. " So may you all.”

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Some may believe Grendel goes on his rampages because it’s what monsters do; however, there are numerous pieces of evidence suggesting that Grendel chooses his own actions. To begin, Grendel enjoys terrorizing the people of Herot. He breaks into the mead hall at night and eats the people for his own amusement. In the novel Grendel by John Gardner, Grendel says that he is “swollen with excitement, bloodlust, and joy” as he walks into the mead hall (Gardner 126). Grendel becomes “mad with joy” when Beowulf arrives (Gardner 151).

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Grendel in the novel is very different from the monster in Frankenstein because Grendel wants to and enjoys to humiliate and kill people, the monster in Frankenstein wants to be able to socialize with people without them getting frightened by his appearance. They are alike because they are both alone, they both frighten people with their looks, and they are not welcome in the human world. Grendel in the novel knows he is a fright to people, he is danger. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with that, but at the same time is not proud of it, either. He does like the pain of others, preferably king Hrothgar and his men.

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(Diamond). Thus, the root of Grendel’s violence is likely his loneliness. He is viewed as a monster and therefore he has become one in the eyes of the people. The people who follow God also shun Grendel due to being from Cain’s blood, leading back to God’s

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Beowulf is an Old English poem. Throughout the poem, Raffel uses figurative language and rhetorical devices that create certain tones. His use of imagery and metaphor aid in provoking emotions and settings for the audience. Including allusions and the narrator's point of view informs the audience of things the characters don’t know or a way to connect events to emphasize on certain ideas. Through metaphors and imagery, these lines create an astonished tone.

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Grendel begins attacking the humans, “I eat and laugh until I can barely walk, my chest-hair matted with dribbled blood... my belly rumbles, sick on their sour meat” (Gardner 12). Grendel went from crying for his mother when his foot got stuck in a branch to killing and eating dozens of people. Seeing the events that lead up to this how Grendel did helps us further see the transformation he is making. It’s the isolation from the humans that transforms Grendel, “Not, of course, that I fool myself with thoughts that I'm more noble.

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He resents the fact that they have other people of their kind who understand their language and beautiful music. Gardner shows Grendel resenting that the humans don’t understand his version of the same language and his efforts to be friendly are taken as aggression due to his monster like appearance. While it’s thought that Grendel is cruel simply because he’s a monster, the unfair treatment towards him is what truly causes his outbreaks and anger. In chapter two Grendel has his first encounter with humans while trapped in a tree. At first the humans believe Grendel is a hungry spirit and they send someone off to fetch him a pig.

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To begin with , Grendel seemed to be a creature of free will, there are a number of things to take into consideration ,the first and most important being a matter of his birth .Being born a monster put him at a disadvantage where his appearance was put before almost everything else . Grendel was often judged on his appearance as seen with the reactions of almost everyone who saw him . He often tries to choose his own fate but seems to hold

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Just because she is considered a descendent of Cain it does not mean she lacks emotions and this is clearly shown by her desire for revenge. The blood-feud, which was common for the middle ages, was a way for families to get compensation for the death of a loved one, and if they were not paid back it would result in bloodshed. This compensation was something Grendel’s mother wanted for her son’s death and her desire for revenge is similar to that of pagans who wanted

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Characteristics such as having honor, bravery, and a sense of duty and loyalty is brought out by the story and diction of the poem. The home of the Anglo-Saxons is unraveled in terms of the cultural ideals they had imposed through the actions and thoughts of literary characters. Beowulf is truly an epic poem and the society behind it, in which the parts of Beowulf are sprung upon, is even more

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