Monthly Blog-November

When I was reading through this Beowulf article, one part that stood out to me was when Lerer was talking about how Beowulf doesn't really have any "dark thoughts" but instead he just makes jokes about different situations. One such instance was when Beowulf is retelling the story of how Grendel killed the warrior, to his king and queen at home, and he turns it from a gruesome act to something less frightening. I thought it was interesting how Beowulf always looked at things in a good way and was never really pessimistic or had any "dark thoughts." But even thought Beowulf jokes about different events, his jokes do tend to be a little gruesome. For instance, when Beowulf jokes about how if Grendel wins then Hrothgar will not have to feed his guest because Grendel will be feeding on his guest. He is joking about if he loses this battle then he will be eaten himself instead of feasting at the mead hall. Another place where Beowulf jokes around is after the battle when he says that Grendel escaped but left his arm and shoulder to save his life. Beowulf's jokes about death and ripping off limbs kind of show that he is arrogant in his power. He is basically saying to everyone that there is no way he could have lost the battle with Grendel because he is so heroic. But I did think it was really interesting that he does acually joke about these different things.