Beowulf Comprehension Question Answers

I had the great opportunity to collaborate with Jacob Fowler, Kylie Sagisi, Colter Knight, and Lesther Venezuela on these comprehension questions. This made the process of understanding Beowulf and completing the questions easier on everyone. The main resource I used was this website. To get a better understanding of the text I used the website shmoop.

Beowulf and Grendel

[Prologue]

1.  The way Shield became ruler of the Danes was unusual because he was an orphan. Although he came from rags, his funeral was one to be admired. It was on a ship at sea with his most loved companions and filled with treasures. Shield is Hrothgar's grandfather.
(Credits to Lesther)

[Heorot is Attacked]

1.       The magnificent work that Hrothgar undertook was the construction of the spectacular mead hall, Herot. The monster Grendel attacked Herot, killing thirty warriors; unable to fend for themselves. The attacks lasted twelve years. The Danes did nothing and continued to suffer.
(Credits to Lesther)

[The Hero Comes to Heorot]1.       When Beowulf hears of Hrothgar's problems with Grendel, he sails out with 14 of his bravest warriors to Herot.
2.       When the Geats arrive in Denmark they first meet a Danish watcher. The watchman asks what business they have in this specific area. Beowulf explains their intentions are not to harm the Danes, but to bring peace by slaying Grendel.
3.       The name of Hrothgar's herald is Wulgar, a messenger. He asks the Geats their business, impressed with their appearances and manners, relays the message to Hrothgar who realizes he had known Beowulf prior to this meeting. I am not surprised Hrothgar knew Beowulf so well because he was well-known across many people for his bravery and nobility.
4.       When Beowulf enters, he tells Hrothgar that he is ready to fight and kill Grendel to protect the kingdom. Hrothgar settled the dispute Beowulf started with the Wulfing’s by paying with old treasure.

(Credits to Lesther)

[Feast at Heorot]

1.       Unferth accuses Beowulf of being too proud, and that Beowulf cannot handle battling against Grendel. Beowulf replied back by describing his perspective of the story Unferth told. He also told about how he killed the sea beast that pulled him down to the bottom of the sea. This episode is relevant to the poem as a whole because the whole poem is about Beowulf battling in different situations. Beowulf accuse Unferth of not participating in any battle.

2.       During the feast, Queen Wealhtheow attended to everyone in the banquet hall and welcomed the Geats.

(Credits to Lesther)

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[The Fight with Grendel] 

1.)  Beowulf prepares for his fight with Grendel by disarming himself which is different because heroes are usually described to have prepared themselves to fight by arming themselves.

2.) When Grendel enters Heorot, Beowulf watches Grendel attack the vulnerable. Beowulf fights Grendel by gripping Grendel’s hand first. When Grendel tries to leave, Beowulf’s men tried to slash Grendel with their swords, but their swords didn’t do much. Grendel escapes to his lair, critically wounded. He left his shoulder and arm behind.

(Credits to Lesther)

[Celebration at [Heorot] 

1. Both Beowulf and Sigemund have defeated a dragon and shown their fearless attributes. Beowulf and Heremond differ in the way that they treat their people. Heremond was a cruel and heinous king and eventually turned on his own people.
2. Hrothgar showers Beowulf in numerous and lavish gifts, and he says that it will bring him happiness. Beowulf proves that he is not mentally weak against Unferth.
3. When the Danes lose against their battle with the Frisians, they propose the idea that the Danish princess will marry the king of the Danes, Finn. This arranged marriage happened often in old times for political reasons rather than attraction and love. They did for the well being of both their kingdoms. For instance if one were to be attacked the other kingdom could help them and vice versa
4. Wealhtheow asks Hrothgar not to give the throne to Beowulf. He wants him to give to his biological son.
5. Beowulf's uncle, Hygelac, receives the necklace, and Wealhtheow asks Beowulf to serve as a guardian figure to her sons.
6. The various men's downfall is when they choose to remain in the hall because they want to continue celebrating Beowulf's victory. This gave Grendel's mother the opportunity to spot them in the hall, and kill them to get back at them for Grendel's death.

(credits to Kylie)

Beowulf and Grendel's Mother 

[Another attack]

1.) Grendel's mother comes to Heorot to avenge her son's death, she comes with an intent to kill and murders one of Hrothgar's closest friends. This is much different then Grendel's reason for killing, because he was so angry at all the noise and celebration.

2.) Hrothgar's response is to tell Beowulf all about the two monsters and their lair, he is so upset because Grendel's mother killed his friend.

3.) The mere (or lake) was a terrible place and Hrothgar was barely able to get through his description. It was a dark, cold place where the "heavens weep", however the moonlight shines on the lake to make it appear that it is on fire.

 (Credits to Jacob)

[Beowulf Fights Grendel's Mother]

1. Beowulf doesn't want Hrothgar to worry because he thinks that it is useless to mourn over a friend. So he will seek revenge by killing Grendel's mother.
2. Beowulf see's a head floating on the shore of the lake. It turns out to be the head of one of Hrothgar's friends, Aeschere.
3. He uses his new armor from Hrothgar and Unferth gives his sword, Hrunting, to Beowulf.
4. Grendel's mother pulls him into her underwater layer. As they are traveling down, he sees numerous monsters down there that are trying to attack him as well. Beowulf's armor protects him from the she wolf's vicious claws. It's weird how long it takes to get to the bottom of the lake because it takes over a day.
5. When Beowulf goes to strike Grendel's mother, the sword is shattered.
6. His armor saves Beowulf from being killed. He uses his strength to over power Grendel's mother.
7. Beowulf slits Grendel's mother's throat with the Sword of Eotens. When she's dead, Beowulf decapitates her head. Her blood is so toxic that the sword disintegrates and only the hilt of the sword is left.
8. Nobody is at the surface at the lake because everyone thought that he would be killed by Grendel's mother.
(Credits to Kylie)

[Further Celebration at Heorot]

1.) Beowulf gives Hrothgar the sword.

2.) Hrothgar tells Beowulf about a hauteur king that let his pride in his own wealth lead to his demise. He tells Beowulf about this king, named Heremod, to warn him about the danger of trusting in your own power and that Beowulf needs to be concerned about the afterlife and not about this world.

3.) He remembers at the last second that he needs to give back the sword named Hrunting back to Unferth before he leaves.

(Credits to Jacob)

[Beowulf Returns Home]

1.)  Hrothgar predicts that Beowulf will help the Danes by protecting them.

2.)  Hygd is the noble queen of Higelac and daughter of Hæreth. She’s not vain like Modthryth because she won’t kill people for a simple look at her.

3.)  Hrothgar plans to marry his daughter to Ingeld so she can mend the relationship between The Danes and Heathobards and bring them peace. Beowulf expects that it will not be successful and the relationship wouldn’t seem genuine. Beowulf thinks the peace will be broken by wars because of the treaty. This is a new side of Beowulf because he usually thinks unconscionable and thinks more about himself and what he can do then putting thought into others.

4.)  Beowulf reports about his adventures in a very fustian way to boost his self image and glory. But he doesn’t leave any details out and is accurate about the report.

5.)  Beowulf gives his gifts to Hygd and Hygelac. Hygelac gives Beowulf 7,000 hides, a jeweled sword, land, a hall and throne for himself.

Beowulf and the Dragon

[The Dragon Wakes]

1.Part 2 takes place 50 years later. Hygelac and Heardred have died.  Now there is the danger of a dragon.

2. The dragon is angry because a cup was stolen from its treasure.  A man stole the cup to exchange it for his freedom.  The dragon was protecting the treasure for an ancient civilization that had died out.

3. The dragon destroyed the homes of the kingdom.

4. Beowulf believed his home was burnt because he angered God.  He orders a new shield because he knows wooden ones would be useless against the fire-breathing dragon.  He fought this battle armed and felt no shame in doing so.  He will bring the dragon with him to the end of his days.

5. Hygelac died fighting the dragon.  Beowulf swam home after his death.  When he returned home, he was offered to be king and he served as a regent.

6. Heardred was killed by Onela.  Beowulf planned to avenge him by assembling an army to hunt down Onela.

7.  Twelve other men accompany Beowulf.

8. Herebeald was killed accidently by his brother Haekythn.  This depressed King Hrethel and made him focus less on the kingdom and more on his sorrow.  After his death, the Swedes and the Geats waged war.  Haethcyn was killed in battle.  Beowulf avenged Hgyelac’s death by killing the dragon.

(Credits to Colter)

[Beowulf Attacks the Dragon]

1.)   Beowulf being his hauteur self, instructed his companions to let him kill the dragon alone and wait outside.

2.)   The first time Beowulf attacks the dragon, his weapons fail him again which left him with nothing except his bare hands for combat. Wiglaf is different because he is kin to Beowulf and does not flee from the dragon like all the rest of Beowulf’s companions. He reminds his companions of the promise they made to Beowulf and his accomplishments to show them how cowardly they were being. He then joins Beowulf into battle.

3.)   The second time Beowulf encounters the dragon, he fatally wounds himself with the dragons poison. Both Wiglaf and Beowulf kill the dragon but Beowulf ultimately had the last strike.

4.)   The dying Beowulf asks Wiglaf to plunder the dragons treasure and bury him in it to keep status of who he was. Beowulf becomes super excited to see the treasure. Beowulf asks Wiglaf to be buried with the treasure and on a hill so his people know his importance.

[Beowulf's Funeral]

1.       When the companions return, they see Wiglaf trying to revive Beowulf.  Wiglaf scolds the company for not standing by the great Beowulf in his last battle, and he predicts that the Geats will be terrorized by rival clans once again.

2.       The messenger tells the city of Beowulf’s death, and begins to predict things that will happen due to the death of their king.  Overnight, Ongentheow’s army verbally terrorized the Geats, and the next morning, Hygelac returns with a Geat army.  Ongentheow killed a man named Wulf, whose brother, Eofor, ended up killing Ongentheow to avenge his brother’s death.  The messenger tells the Geats to put the gold on Beowulf’s funeral pyre as to melt with his burning body.  The final image of the messengers’ speech is the freshly slain dragon, from Beowulf’s last stand.

3.       Wiglaf tell the crowd that comes to see the dragon and Beowulf? Wiglaf tells the crowd that it is bad to sacrifice yourself on your own will, and warns that doing this will hurt many.

4.       The dragon is left alone, but its hoard is taken by the Geats to use in Beowulf’s funeral pyre.

5.       While Beowulf and all of the treasure from the burrow burn on the pyre, a woman sings a song about the fall of the Geats, and the Geats build a tower over Beowulf’s pyre over the next ten days.

6.       “Said he was kindest of kings under heaven,

Gentlest of men, most winning of manner,

Friendliest to folk-troops and fondest of honor.”

In these lines, the Geats talk of Beowulf’s kindness, friendliness and gentleness.  These are odd words to describe military heroes, at least by today’s standards, because today, military men are portrayed as manly men who do not show much emotion, just stoically save people

(Credit to Lesther's Blog)