beowulf entry #3... i think

Lines 1448-1450 "To guard his head he had a glittering helmet that was due to be muddied on the mere bottom and blurred in the upswirl." Ties into the theme of severed heads like aeschere... Beowulf does not like this theme very much and prefers to keep it on EVEN THOUGH IM SURE IF SEVERED IT WOULD HAVE PROTECTED THE GEATS FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS! he knows he can serve them better off if he's actually alive. The line also suggests that beowulf will perish on the bottom, yet it can also mean that he will be wrestling on the bottom. Either way it definetly suggests that beowulf will at least make it to the sea-hag's lair

1458 "A rare and ancient sword named Hrunting..." Unferth the unloyal, dishonorable, kin killer gives Beowulf his rare and ancient, unfaliable sword?Nope unferth gives Bewulf a useless sword incapable of smiting the sea hag. Unerth is not only cowardly for not being able to defend Herot from Grendel, he is also afraid to dive alongside Beowulf to fight the she-wolf. As a last ditch effort to gain some fame, Unferth hands over his blade to beowulf so that if he had slain Grendel's mother with it, the sword would gain more value and bring him some honor when returned to him. Instead Beowulf is forced to use a giant's ancient sword. A sword from the underworld. The poem has repeatedly mentioned the giants and how they were forced to roam alongside God until he let them rest. They are also mentioned as having been wiped out by a great flood. Because in biblical times the flood was used to sweep the land of non believers and scalliwags in general, perhaps these giants suffered similar fates to Cain. The giants would have been forced to walk the Earth but rather than suffering that for eternity, they had to go out and defeat some evil, when Beowulf defeats Grendel with the giants sword, the giant can finaly rest.

1512 "because the hall-roofing...a gleam and flare-up, a glimmer of brightness."

ties the Sea-hags lair to Herot. Grendel was envious of Herot, he had designed and built this magnificent hall years ago, yet it lay empty aside from himself and his mother. Herot was new and inferior in the eyes of grendel yet it boomed with life, this helped to aggrivate him and led him to attack Herot. Ties into the theme of banishment

1630 "the lake settled, clouds darkened above the bloodshot depths"

The men waiting for Beowulf see a violent upsurge of blood and turbulence then stillness and the sky darkens, they take this as sign that Beowulf has perished and abandon him, if you look at the book as a succession of three monsters then in the first battle his men help him, in the second his allies leave him, and in the third everyone abandons him. This also helps to foreshadow beowulf's fate, the clouds darkening are a sign of death and evil, a sign that gods punishment 10fold for whoever killed Cain had begun.


1543 "The sure -footed fighter felt daunted"
again this relates to the progression of the three monsters, the easiest way of viewing the poem. With Grendel he knew he was going to win, his mother not so much. The dragon he knows hes screwed. Helps to not only show the progression of battles, but also to give insight into beowulfs character. Perhaps he is not the cocky idiot that brandy would make him out to be. perhaps he is confident in his abilities but not so much to a jesus like invincibility status.