Before entering the lair of Grendel's mother (odd she doesn't have a name) Beowulf makes an impassioned speech about what to do for his men if he should happen to die. He doesn't tell him men, "I got this", yet none of them follow him into the sea. In this battle he almost lost his life as well, had his chain-mail (or God in the Christianized version) protected him he would have been toast.
Was Beowulf's overconfidence his undoing? Did he think that because he had survived Grendel and his mother he could survive anything? Before fighting Grendel's mother, Beowulf tells the king, "with Hrunting I shall win honor and fame, or death will take me." Ironically, he didn't win fame with Hrunting, Hrunting failed him in battle. Is this symbolic of his pride failing him?
Before fighting the dragon, Beowulf proclaimed, "It is not your way, nor proper for any man except me alone, that he should match his strength against this monster." Here is the climax of his pride. His final speech, wherein he dooms himself. Of course, we also once again see his weapon fail him, this great sword which is spoken of so highly, breaks because "his hand was too strong.(he)... overtaxed every blade with his mighty blows." Perhaps the teller of the tale thought Beowulf could use a little more finesse. Perhaps the point was that men needed to use their minds and not just blindly destroy everything in sight?
It has been theorized that the last battle of Beowulf was added in much later than the first two, which make sense as the story doesn't flow quite as smoothly as one continuous tale, rather two tales about the same character. Was the first author trying to teach the lessons of strength and the second the lesson of restraint?
Finally, I just wanted to share this, to bring a little levity into your day:
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| Sometimes timing is everything |
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