Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Beowulf Argumemtative Paragraph

In Beowulf, it seems that violence and vengeance are rewarded with gifts and hospitality. In the book, when Beowulf was able to kill Grendel, and subsequently his mother, he was lauded with gifts and hospitality from the Danes. Beowulf did not do this for those gifts, but rather for pride and fame. This is proven as when he arrives back in Geatland, he gives all those gifts and treasures back to Higlac without languishing. The end of the book also rewards violence with treasure, because for killing the dragon, Beowulf was buried with his treasure after he coalesced with Wiglaf to kill the dragon. Beowulf was very erudite and knew he was probably going to die in this battle, but he did it so he could have that treasure and save his people from the dragon. This bravery should be rewarded and it was a very appropriate reward to be buried with all the treasure that he won in his last battle. But in real life, violence should not be rewarded as the rules and goals of the world are very different now then they were back then.

1 comment:

Brian said...

Very interesting argument you set forth with your topic sentence. In the last sentence of the paragraph change 'but' to 'however' Nice use of vocabulary throughout the paragraph especially incorporating 'lauded'; I like that you explain how in Anglo-Saxon culture, violence was the norm. Incorporate a little bit more variety to the beginning of you sentences

Late(One day)- 22/25