Beowulf – Cheap Research Essays

Beowulf

1. Treasure takes many forms in Beowulf and serves many functions. For example, armor is passed from father to son (Beowulf has no son, so he offers his to Wiglaf) or from king to king (Hrothgar gives Beowulf the armor of his uncle, who failed to give it to his own son, to give to Hygelac); swords are loaned (Unferth loans his sword, Hrunting, to Beowulf as the latter prepares to fight Grendel’s mother) or given (Beowulf gives a sword with gold fittings as a noteworthy gift to the Danish coast guardsman as the Geats leave Danish soil) or used to trigger revenge (the sword Dazzle-the-Duel is given by Hunlafing to Hengest to remind him that the Danes should revenge the killing of their king, Hnaef); a splendid gold torque is given to Beowulf by Wealhtheow, who gives it to Hygd who gives it to her husband, Hygelac, who dies wearing it in a raid on the Frisians; Shield Sheafson’s funeral ship is loaded with treasure and sent out to sea and the funeral pyre of Hnaef and Hildeburh’s son (by Finn) is heaped “with boar-shaped helmets forged in gold”; Beowulf’s bier is “hung with helmets, heavy war-shields/ and shining armor” and his remains are buried with “torques…and jewels”; good kings give treasure away, bad kings (Heremod) and monsters (Grendel’s mother and the dragon) hoard it.
Can we make any cohesive generalizations about the role of treasure in Beowulf? How is it acquired? Is it in any sense inherently “evil,” a symbol of king-thane bonding or alliances between tribal nations, merely war booty—the prize of battlefield victory–some of these and more, or are its uses and abuses simply too complicated to generalize about? If your conclusion is the last point, you should not write on this subject! However, you may use treasure in support of an essay on topic two. Do not treat Grendel’s arm, his head, peace brides or Heorot as treasure.