Beowulf, on the surface, shows a young warrior's way to kingship and their culture in general. But if you look closer, on a deeper level, Beowulf faces an internal struggle. Beowulf decides to take his call to action when he hears of the mighty Grendel. In every action+ movie, the hero has to answer the call for action, without it there would be no plot. Like most heroes do, (like Luke in Star Wars, the Avengers in the Avengers or basically hero in any action film) Beowulf decides to answer his call to action. Upon hearing of a murderous monster, time after time again, Beowulf volunteers to fight. Beowulf could choose to sit by and wait for another young warrior to take his place but instead, he confidently takes upon the challenge. Beowulf shows the audience through his actions that in order to accomplish something he, (we) must get up and do it ourselves.This has a deeper message than the surface of a young fellow fighting the monster. On his way to becoming king, young Beowulf needs to find his place in society as young people do. Beowulf wants to prove himself to society and to himself. I think by answering the call to action Beowulf conquering the internal struggle within himself. Beowulf's end goal is for him to accept himself for who he is and we see that happen as the story progresses. As a mighty, self-confident warrior,mostly everyone in his land of Geatland and even Daneland respect and look up to him for his braveness. Beowulf steps out of his comfort zone when he claims that "he will “renounce / sword and the shelter of the broad shield” during his battle with Grendel, something even the bravest of warriors would never do (lines 436 – 437)" Everyone is scared of something and maybe that is our internal quests but Beowulf conquers this quest as he steps forward and does what many are too afraid to do even think about to further prove himself. Beowulf pushes aside his fears when battling the monsters as we should learn to do with our monsters. One thing I believe that Beowulf never conquers is sense of self accomplishment and self pride. His self pride is what I believe to be his most tragic fall and it leads to his ultimate doom. Beowulf shows us that even the most invincible of heroes will come to an end as they cannot escape their inevitable doom. But it is important that even they, like us, must find their way.
Sources used:
http://skywinger.weebly.com/beo-blog/beowulfs-internal-quest
Sources used:
http://skywinger.weebly.com/beo-blog/beowulfs-internal-quest