Topic > The Importance of Beowulf to Modern Society

The story of Beowulf dates back long before the Migration Period. The actual events of this epic are said to have occurred around 500 AD, and many of the characters described in this story, members of the Swedish and Danish royal families, represent real historical figures. The time period in which Beowulf was created had a lot of historical background that influenced the outcome of the poem. Around this time, "...the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian peoples had invaded the island of Britia and settled there several hundred years earlier, bringing with them several closely related Germanic languages ​​that would evolve into Old English" (Sparknotes ). Beowulf was and still is a traditional pagan story, but was later told by a Christian narrator, which poses a problem because most of the plot of this poem is Scandinavian. It is very rare to find a pagan story told by a religious narrator. This story also originated in a bygone era and essentially refers to how the values ​​it originally represented have disappeared in subsequent eras. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay This era consisted of heroic codes, warrior culture, strong kings, courage, and loyalty. For many centuries, Beowulf was not considered a poem for fun or entertainment, but simply a source of information about what happened in that era; most people watched it for strictly historical purposes. Heroism is one of the main themes of this epic poem along with the Germanic heroic code. The heroic code implies important values ​​including “…strength, courage and loyalty in warriors; hospitality, generosity and statesmanship in kings; ceremoniousness in women; and good reputation among all people” (Sparknotes). These cultural views and values ​​are expressed heavily throughout the story. For example, Beowulf demonstrates his courage in almost everything he does. Before facing Grendel, Beowulf "took off his helmet and handed the fashioned sword to his attendant" (lines 672-673). This shows that he believed that using a weapon or protection would make the fight between the two too easy. He then goes on to say that "When it comes to fighting, [he] considers himself every day as dangerous as Grendel" (lines 677-678). The fight between Grendel and Beowulf alone shows Beowulf's courage and how this aligns with his values, but his actions demonstrate this even more. Not wearing protection or using any type of weapon is the height of courage along with courage. It is argued that we as a society have grown very far from what we were in the days when violence, alcohol and superiority were important. part of the way we lived. But the more I look at Beowulf and how we are today as humans and different races, we haven't changed at all. The only major difference between this society and Beowulf's is technology. Virtually every other characteristic of this poem, I can find a characteristic in our society that is closely related to it. The concept of drinking dates back to 4000 BC when wine was first created. In Beowulf, King Hrothgar built a “mead hall” to host Heorot celebrations. Honestly, Heorot was just a huge bar that was used to celebrate anything. Throughout Beowulf, drinking is an important part of bringing people together, both for better and for worse. In modern society we use alcohol for a number of things; birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and even just spending a more relaxing evening with friends has become quite a normal thing these days, especially among younger people. It is just as present today as it was thousands of years ago. It seems that iWarriors of Beowulf's era spend most of their time in a local bar or pub. In the United States alone, as a nation, we spend more than $23.4 billion in bars, taverns, and nightclubs (Statista). If that doesn't demonstrate how prevalent alcohol is, I don't know what would. There aren't many good things I could say about alcohol and how it has changed our nation for the better. In fact, I'd say the negatives completely outweigh the positives. Alcohol can help you relax and have fun and it really brings people together, but would we have a law if it wasn't the least bit dangerous? In Beowulf, alcohol seemed to bring people together, but in our world today it seems to make many situations worse. We've taken this great thing and turned it into something as bad as drinking and driving and drunken sex and violence in general. Speaking of violence, this was another similarity I found. Beowulf wouldn't be an epic without violence, but that's just one of those things that is an underlying factor in most things in our world today. The only way to be respected and maintain a status of dominance is for Beowulf's warriors to be violent and not back down when someone tries to break down one of these qualities. The only way for a warrior to prove his worth is to win a battle or just violence in general. In this particular poem, the character Unferth could not win battles, so none of the other warriors respected or admired him. So instead of learning to fight or attempting to become stronger, he attempted to find the flaws in Beowulf to increase his own morals and self-confidence. He never engaged in battles that ultimately led to anyone liking him or following him. In our modern society, violence is everywhere. Most of us probably don't even realize how much there is. It's really unfortunate, but we see violence in schools (colleges, high schools, and even elementary schools), in the workplace, and even at home. The worst part is that we also see these kinds of violent acts in our media which, in some cruel way, makes people believe that it is okay to do the same in our daily lives. The frustrating part is that it's harder to find a movie that doesn't contain violence than it is to find one that contains violence. Some of the most violent films in recent years include all of the “Kill Bill” movies, “City of God,” “13 Assassins,” and “Inside.” Violence doesn't just appear in movies. Music, games, and all types of media contain at least some type of violence. Whether it is rap music accompanied by vulgar lyrics or obscene videos or video games created to allow teenagers to walk around a virtual world and kill other human beings to score points, it is obvious that our society thinks that this type of violence goes Well. But is it really wrong to have this kind of thing in our media, or are we doing it wrong? I don't think violence should be one of the most important factors in what we do and say as a culture, but I think it affects our original upbringing as human beings a little bit. Beowulf could only prove himself based on how he won battles. So if this is the case in our society, we could honestly say that violence is not bad, but I believe it has changed us for the worse. It seems to have caused a lot more crimes and violent things because it is so widespread in our nation. If people see it on a daily basis, it makes sense why people think it's ok. The last similarity I found was superiority. In Beowulf there are many examples of the relationship between a king and the subordinates he has under him. This is seen very clearly in.