Plot Summary
A monster called Grendel has created havoc in the kingdom of Scyld, ruled
by Hrothgar. Hrothgar is old and unable to stop the
atrocities of Grendel, as are his warriors, and Grendel’s menace continues for
twelve years as he attacks and kills Danish warriors in the Hall of Heoret.
Beowulf, a thane at the court of Hygelac, the king of the Geats, is famous for
this prowess and upon hearing of Hrothgar’s distress, resolves to sail to
Scyld to fight Grendel.
Beowulf is welcomed by Hrothgar and his wife Wealhtheow and is granted
permission to fight Grendel. Beowulf sleeps that night in the Hall and, when
Grendel makes his nightly raid, fights with Grendel in a hand-to-hand combat and
mortally injures him. Grendel escapes to the marshes and dies soon after.
Grendel’s mother, who lived with him in the marshes resolves to revenge her
son’s death, and when the warriors are asleep in the Hall after a day’s
revelry over Grendel’s death, she attacks them and carries away one of
Hrothgar’s favorite warrior, Aeschere. Hrothgar
implores Beowulf to kill Grendel’s mother too, in exchange for a rich reward
and Beowulf concedes. He seeks Grendel’s mother in her underwater lair, which
she inhabits with sea-monsters and sea-beasts. After a long fight, during which
his own sword (lent to him by Hrothgar’s thane Unferth) fails him, and he has
to take the help of a sword hanging in the lair, he succeeds in killing
Grendel’s mother. He carries back the hilt of the same sword
(its blade having melted from the heat of Grendel’s mother’s blood)
and Grendel’s head to Hrothgar, and is richly rewarded by the latter. With
oaths of friendship on both sides, Beowulf takes leave of Hrothgar, and sails
for home.
In Geatland, he is welcomed warmly by Hygelac and his queen Hygd. Beowulf
presents the gifts given to him to his king and queen, and in turn is rewarded
with gifts and an estate. Hygelac is killed in a war with the Frisians, and Hygd
offers the throne to Beowulf, as her son, Heardred, is too young. Beowulf
declines the offer and offers to serve as liege to the young prince till he
comes of age. Heardred becomes the king in time, and too is killed in battle.
Beowulf then succeeds to the throne and rules peacefully for fifty years.
Beowulf is now old, and he hears of a fire dragon, which has created havoc in
his kingdom by burning houses and circling Geatland in a wall of fire. For three
hundred years, the dragon had been guarding a treasure that had been buried in
the earth by a nobleman, and the dragon’s ire had been roused when a thief
stole a flagon of gold from his treasure.
Beowulf feels a premonition of disaster, but resolves to fight the fire
dragon. Armed with a shield of iron to counter the fire of the dragon, he sets
out with twelve warriors. He reaches the dragon’s lair, issues a challenge,
and a fight ensues. Fate is against Beowulf this time, however, and both his
sword and shield are unable to withstand the heat of the dragon’s fire. The
dragon digs his claws into his throat, making him bleed profusely. Seeing
Beowulf on the verge of defeat, all but one of the warriors abandon the king and
flee into the forest. Wyglaf, however, remains and comes to the aid of Beowulf,
and together they kill the dragon, with Beowulf dealing him the final blow that
cuts him in two.
Beowulf is mortally wounded and after having a glimpse of the treasure
that Wyglaf brought to him, and giving instructions for his burial, he dies.
There is widespread grief at his death, as well as a foreboding that Geatland
will be beset by disasters in the form of invasions by the Frisians and Franks,
who had so far been held in abeyance because of Beowulf’s might. Beowulf is
cremated and as per his instructions, a massive mound is built on the Cape of
the Whales, where Beowulf’s ashes are buried along with the treasure captured
from the dragon.
