Themes: Revenge

Revenge shows up in Hralf Kraki between King Helgi and Queen Olof. The revenge starts when King Helgi decides he wants to marry Queen Olof. When he goes to ask for her hand in mairage he gets too drunk and is tarred, shaved, and stuffed into a bag and sent back to his ship. He arrived home, but soon set went back to see Olof. Knowing that Queen Olof was extremely greedy, Helgi dressed as a begar and made her follow him to some treasure in the forest. He then raped her and went on his way. They had a daughter named Yrsa who lived with Olof and was treated like a dog and had to work out in the field. She was never told who her parents were. Helgi paid another visit to Olof, but saw Yrsa and fell in love with her. They went back to Helgi's kingdom, had a child together, and were very happy. This was unacceptable to Olof, so she soon went to Helgi's kingdom and told Yrsa that that was her father. Yrsa got upset and went back with Olof. Olof was very happy because she caused Helgi to be unhappy and depressed for years.

Characters from Hrolf Kraki

Halfdane: mild-mannered, easygoing, quiet, good natured. He had three kids. One was a girl named Signey, and two sons named helgi and hroar. He was killed by his brother Frodi.

Frodi: harshest and greediest of men. Killed his brother Halfdane. He took control of the Danish Kingdom. Killed by Helgi and Hroar because they set fire to his hall.

Helgi: Halfdane's son, Killed Frodi and rules over Denmark. He hears about Queen Olof, and wants to marry her so he goes to see her and gets embarassed and is sent away. He then comes back and rapes her and has a child named Yrsa and marries her and has a kid named Hrolf with her. A strange woman (Elfin Woman) shows up at his house one night and they have a kid named Skuld. Killed by the Beserkers.

Hroar: Halfdane's son, Killed Frodi. Marries Ogn. Got the ring from his brother, and shortly after, Hrok comes asking for the ring, but he doesn't allow him to have it, but says he can look at it. Hrok then throws the ring into the water and it is lost for some time. He chops off is leg and sends Hrok home with a stump. He has a kid named Agnar who eventually finds the ring. He is killed by Hrok when they invade.

Signy: Halfdane's daughter. Marries Jarl Saevil and has a kid named Hrok.

Regin: Helgi and Hroar's step father and loved the boys very much. He helped the boys get away from King Frodi.

Vifil: a freeman who lived on an island just the ways off of Halfdane's land, and was life long friends with Halfdane. He had two dogs, named Hipp and Ho, and he was well versed in the arts of magic.

Agnar: Ogn's son who finds his fathers long lost ring. He is a great warrior

Heid:

Olaf: She is the Queen of Saxland. She is like a warrior king, beautiful in looks, yet cruel and arrogant in temperament. Embarrasses King Helgi and has a daughter with him named Yrsa and disowns her until she finds out that she married Helgi and sees that they are happy then she ruins their happiness by telling Yrsa that her husband is her father.

Yrsa: King Helgi's and Queen Olof's daughter. She is disowned and is sent to work in the field by her mother. She marries her father and has an offspring with her. She returns home with her mother once she is informed that she married and had a kid with her father.

Hrok: Signy's son who kills Hroar and trows Hroar's ring into the water. He is captured later by King Helgi.

Adils: King of Sweden, powerful and greedy. He wants to marry Yrsa

Skuld: Helgi's child and grows up with Helgi and shows a vicious temperament at an early age.

Berserkers: They are sort of Adils warriors. They go into battle without armor and can be productive or out of control. They are sent to hide in the woods to kill King Helgi when he returns to his ship.

Svipdag: Svip's son. Wants to go see Adils because he thinks they will be more enterprising if they went to see King Adils. A battle broke out between him and the Beserkers and at the end of it King Adils wanted Svipdag to stay with him, but he wanted to go, so he did.

Svip (his advice to his son): He was a farmer who lived in Sweden and had been a great champion. He knew of magic. He had three sons named: svipdag, Beygad, and Hvitserk. He warns Svipdag that Adils is not trust worthy. He has a dream that Svipdag is in trouble so him and his other two sons go to help him. His advice to Svipdag is: "Do not envy others and avoid arrogance, for such conduct diminishes one's fame. Defend yourself if you are attacked. It is becoming to be humble, yet at the same time you must make a bold showing of put to a test."

Bjalki: He is the one who Svipdag and his brothers sat next to at the feast at King Hrolfs.

Bera: She is young and beautiful and is in love with Bjorn, and is the daughter of a freeman. She has three sons named: Elk-Frodi who was part elk on the bottom, Thorir who was man with dogs feet, and Bodvar whom she loved the most.

Bjorn: King Hring's son, and his mother dies. He is in love with Bera and gets turned into a bear by day and man by night by Queen Hvit and has to eat his fathers cattle. He hunted down and killed and leaves Bera with three sons.

Bodvar Bjarki: He is the most perfect of the three boys from Bera, not a blemish on him.

Drifa:

Elk-Frodi: He is the son of Bera and Bjorn, and his bottom half is Elk. He left his mother and went to the road where he built a hut and killed people as they went by for money.

Haki:

Hakland:

Hardrefil:

Hjalti: He is Hott. King Hrolf names him this after he becomes a better warrior.

Hott: The one in the bone pit who continuously gets bones thrown at him. Bodvar goes and saves him and makes him into a strong warrior.

Hjorvard: Married Skuld, Hrolf's sister and is a very powerful king. Hrolf tricks him into holding his sword while he took off his belt, which made it so Hjorvard was the lesser of the two.

Hring: King of Norway. Bjorn's father. Marries Hvit. Puts a curse on Bjorn to be a bear.

Hromund:

Hvit: Marries Hring. She was set up to marry a powerful king, but she didn't want to so they were in hiding. Then King Hring asks to marry her and she accepts.

Storolf:
Vogg: The servant that Queen Yrsa gives King Hrolf to look after him and his men. King Hrolf gives him a golden ring and he says that he will avenge Hrolf if he were to live longer, but it doesn't really say much because there are higher ranked men who would better fit the job.
Vott:

Words of the day 2

Floppy discs are obsolete now that the zip drive has been created.

The paucity of the school caused the funding to go down.

When the kids visited the village, they acted like philistines because they did not respect their culture.

The girl was very meticulous about how she arranged her room.

The officious girl kept persisting that she be the one to do the announcements in the morning.

The kids perused the handout before going on their school trip.

The teacher mitigated his punishment for late homework.

The perfidy of the students caused the teachers to lock all the doors in the school.

The morose girl was mourned the death of her father.

Beowulf Study Questions

1) I don't think Beowulf is a good king. He was too focused on himself and self glory instead of defending his country. His job was to raise exceptional worriers to defend his country, but he didn't. Instead he tried to take on the responsibility of fighting and defending the country all by himself between the age of 80-90 and failed. He didn't realize that when he would come to die without a good army, he would leave the country very vulnerable for attack from the Swedes and not strong enough to protect themselves.

2) I think the most important part of part 3 is when the narrator is talking about the Treasure that Beowulf has at his funeral. This shows that Beowulf, all the way through life and even into death, wanted glory. That his main focus in life was self glory, success, heroism, and being a great worrier.

3) To me the most interesting part in Beowulf is how this is a Pagan text translated through the eyes of Christian. It brings different religion and thought to the text in all situations. It shows the same story through the eyes of different people, which opens up the book for all sorts of interpretation.

4) The dragon symbolizes Beowulf's tragic downfall and that he wasn't a good king because he wanted self glory, but lost which would lead to his nation falling to pieces.

Beowulf part 2

Themes- Role of Women- When Grendel’s mom does the job of a man by completing wergild. It’s not the women’s nature to kill people or to seek revenge. – Modthryth- She was a bad queen. If anyone looked her in the eye then she wanted to kill them, but once she got married to Offa. Queens are supposed to bring peace.

Hospitality- After the feast of Beowulf killing Grendel’s mom, the house-guard kindly showed Beowulf out and to where he was going to rest for the night. Hygalecs whife- when Hangest, Hygalec’s wife comes into the hall with a mead-jug, filling the cups that the worriers held out.

Peace pledge-- Freawars, Hangest's daughter, is given the hand in marriage to Ingeld as a peace pledge.

Ambush- Beowulf attacks Grendel's mother in her own home, but ends up getting attacked himself.

Pagan vs. Christianity- The monk appears when Beowulf is fighting Grendel's mother and is saved by his chain-mail, that holy god had decided the victory. When the narrator says "Bear up and be the man I expect you to be," This usually isn't found in the bible.

Allusions-When Grendel's mother's home is being described, how the water burns, it alludes to daughter of llyr, how the giants come from the lake. It also alludes to hell, because it's "burning" and the animals won't even go in it.

Heremod aludes to a type of Uther character. Not a good ruler/worrier and brought little joy to their people.

Motifs- Stories- Beowulf retelling his story about Grendel, and how he is a great worrier. Boar-shaped helmets. The giving of swords/armor as honor. Epic Boasts- Beowulf gives a little epic boast before he goes to fight Grendel's mother.

Parallels- When Beowulf goes to Ambush Grendel's mother, but she has allies and is on her home turf, Parallels Heorot when Beowulf went to Heorot and had help from his worriers to fight Grendel. Also when Hrothgar gives Beowulf the chain-mail and he is supposed to give it to his king parallels that there is going to be a fight between the Danes and Geats.

Appositive- When Hrothgar is explaining Aeschere. He says that he was a soul-mate to him, a true mentor, and his right hand man when it came to tasks.

Litotes- When Grendel's mother's home is being described so horribly, the narrator says "That is no good place."

Wyrd and Wergild- After Withergeld died and his men were doomed, the Shieldings quickly claimed the field. Also when Hengest says he suspects the good faith of the Heatho-Bards the truth of their friendship and the trustworthiness of their alliance with the Danes.

Symbols- Hrothgar talks about the hilt, and he said how the flood destroyed the tribe of the giants, which symbolizes noah and his arc.

Foreshadow- When Hrothgar gives Hengest through Beowulf the treasure suggests that they are going to go to war.