VOCABULARY
This word means a place where a wild animal or dangerous creature lives or hides.
What is a lair?
This Geatish warrior travels across the sea to help the Danes defeat Grendel.
Who is Beowulf?
This great mead hall becomes the main target of Grendel’s attacks.
What is Herot?
Beowulf possesses extraordinary strength, courage, and a desire to accomplish great deeds. These qualities identify him as this type of character.
What is an epic hero?
Beowulf willingly travels to Denmark to confront a monster that has terrorized others for years. This action most clearly demonstrates this heroic quality.
What is courage?
This word means followed or moved toward someone or something quietly and secretly.
What is stalked?
This king of the Danes built Heorot and suffers for years because of Grendel’s attacks.
Who is Hrothgar?
Beowulf chooses not to use one of these when fighting Grendel because Grendel does not use one either.
What is a weapon?
Beowulf’s incredible physical abilities go far beyond what an ordinary human could accomplish. This characteristic of epic poetry is called this.
What is superhuman strength?
Grendel’s repeated attacks on Heorot create a conflict between civilization and this opposing force represented by the monster.
What is chaos or evil?
This word means to eat a very large amount of food, usually quickly.
What is gorge?
This monster terrorizes Heorot and attacks Hrothgar’s warriors at night.
Who is Grendel?
Beowulf defeats Grendel by using his extraordinary strength to tear off this part of Grendel’s body.
What is Grendel’s arm?
(shoulder and claw)
Many years after defeating Grendel and his mother, an older Beowulf faces this final enemy.
What is the dragon?
Herot represents community, celebration, and human connection, while Grendel lives isolated from others. This creates this type of literary contrast.
What is a contrast between community and isolation?
This word describes something extremely unpleasant, shocking, or frightening, especially because of violence or injury.
What is gruesome?
After Grendel is defeated, this character seeks revenge for his death.
Who is Grendel’s mother?
Beowulf must travel to this dangerous underwater location to fight Grendel’s mother.
What is Grendel’s mother’s lair?
When Beowulf describes his previous victories and accomplishments before fighting Grendel, he participates in this Anglo-Saxon tradition of formally declaring one’s achievements.
What is boasting?
Beowulf’s decision to fight Grendel without weapons helps characterize him as courageous, but it can also cause readers to question whether his confidence has become this.
What is arrogance or excessive pride?
This word describes twisting or moving your body around, usually because of pain.
What is writhing?
This young warrior remains loyal to Beowulf during the battle with the dragon when the other warriors flee.
Who is Wiglaf?
After the warriors fails to defeat Grendel’s mother, Beowulf discovers this weapon in her lair and uses it to kill her.
What is a giant sword?
(imbued with magic)
Beowulf repeatedly accepts the possibility that he could die in battle while suggesting that the outcome has already been determined. This reflects the Anglo-Saxon belief known as this.
What is fate?
Beowulf begins the epic as a young warrior seeking glory but later fights the dragon as an aging king protecting his people. This change demonstrates his development from a glory-seeking warrior into this.
What is a responsible and self-sacrificing leader?