Sahil Bhanderi

Mrs. White
Honors English
October 23, 2013
Beowulf Dichotomy: Hero and Villain, the Contradictory Duo
The dichotomy of Hero and Villain is apparent throughout the poem Beowulf especially
in the three major battles. In these three major battles, the famous warrior Beowulf fights first
against Grendel, then Grendels mother and third against the dragon.
In the first of these three battles, Beowulf fights Grendel, the villain, as described in this
quote: grim demon haunting the marches, marauding round the heath and the desolate fens
(Beowulf 9). Grendel attacks the Danes in Heorot out of anger and jealously because it seems to
him as if they are always celebrating and have no worries in life. Hearing of Grendels attacks,
Beowulf, the hero, sets out to avenge his people. Despite Grendels magical powers, Beowulf
triumphs in defeating him by viciously ripping Grendels arm from its socket and as a result
fatally wounding him.
In the second battle, Beowulf is up against Grendels mother, the villain in this battle,
who seeks revenge of her son Grendel. This battle takes place at the bottom of the lake near the
cave where this feminine fiend lives. Beowulf, the hero who wants to prove himself yet again,
nearly loses this battle due to the fact that he gets somewhat cocky and throws away his sword
because he thinks he can defeat Grendels mother with his bare hands. He ends up just barely
fighting hard enough to kill the mother of Grendel. He then goes and finds Grendel motionless
and cuts his head off to present to King Hrothgar. This quote from the poem helped to create an
image of the villain, Grendels mother: the one who haunted those waters, who had scavenged
and gone her gluttonous rounds for a hundred seasons (Beowulf 105).
In the last of these battles, Beowulf battles the dragon, who is guarding a treasure-trove.
The dragon is looked upon as the villain in this battle in this quote from the text: the outlandish
thing writhed and convulsed and viciously turned on the kingthe serpent looped and unleashed
itself (Beowulf 123). This encounter does not end well for Beowulf, the hero of the Danes, as
he ends up getting fatally wounded and dies. The treasure that the dragon is guarding serves as a
symbol for a prize people have died for in the past and now Beowulf has sacrificed his life for in
order to gain this impressive wealth for his people. This battle is different from the others in that
it is the first battle where Beowulf is defeated, but not until he kills the dragon first. Part of the
reason he dies after slaying the dragon is because his comrades desert him except for Wiglaf,
who stands by his lord, Beowulf, although they are still not enough of a match for the dragon.
Another aspect that has changed in the third battle compared to the first and second ones is that
Beowulf is now King of the Geats and not just an immature warrior. This means that he has led
an important life and has accomplishments to look back on before his last breath.
Lastly, Beowulf has transformed from an immature warrior that saved a group of Danes
to a courageous king that sacrificed his life for the well-being of his people. The dichotomy of
Hero and Villain in the poem Beowulf serves to convey to the reader that the Hero will never
back down in the face of the Villain, and will always sacrifice himself/herself in defeating the
Villain for the greater good.



Works Cited
Heaney, Seamus, trans. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. New York: Farrar, Straus, and
Giroux, 2000.