For Tuesday: Beowulf, pages 51-95 (approx.)

For next week, try to ideally get through the battle in Grendel's Mother's lair, his victorious return to Heorot, and the aftermath of his Danish voyage. That's roughly the second part of the epic, with the third part racing ahead of time to when Beowulf is an old man/king, who has to face another monster (and one much more monstrous, this time).

Remember, we'll do an in-class response instead of normal questions in class on Tuesday. Some ideas you might consider as you read are...

* Why is Heorot punished with Grendel and his mother? How does Hrothgar undersatnd it, and possibly, how does Beowulf? Does the narrator agree with them?

* Look carefully at how Grendel and his mother are described around page 56. We'll look at other translations of this in class, too. What does the poet want us to see/understand about them?

* The other woman in the story thus far is Hrothgar's wife, Wealhtheow, who has an interesting scene on pages 52-54. What is her role in the story, and how might this strangely echo the role of Grendel's mother in the poem?

* On page 55, the poet writes that "they had no foretelling of Fate's fixed plans." Fate is capitalized in this translation, and this is another example of 'wyrd' in the text. If Fate has doomed several men in the hall to die at another monster's hands, what does this say about God's influence to the poet? Does the poet believe in both equally?

* Related to this, why does Hrothgar blame Beowulf when the mother returns for her vengeance? Aren't HE and his people the true cause of the murders?

* In this part of the poem, Beowulf's bravery seems to come from all his pagan armor and weapondry more than his faith in God or even his faith in himself. Indeed, when his sword breaks, he loses heart and almost runs for it. Why does he cut a different figure here than when he fought her son?

* What is Beowulf's true motivation in fighting all of these monsters? Is it loyalty to Hrothgar? Is it a mission from God? Or is it fame for himself? How does he talk about his mission to others?

* Anglo-Saxon poetry tends to be quite dark and realistic, with one of its great themes that of humility and memento mori (remember your own mortality). How does the poem stress this in an otherwise heroic, action-packed poem?