An Essay "Life Lessons of Beowulf Poem"

Beowulf is the oldest epic poem in the english language and the earliest piece of vernacular European literature. The author of Beowulf is unknown, as is the exact date of the composition of the poem. In its present form, Beowulf was possibly composed as early as the seventh century. It was written in Old English, the language of the Anglo Saxons. The story embodies the values and morals of the Anglo Saxon society.

There are some life lessons or morals that we can learn and take from the epic poem, Beowulf. Some of the morals are related with the goodness and the evil. In this context, many of them talk about the story of the great hero.

The first life lesson is if we want to be the winners in a fight, we have to be fair in it. It is reflected when Beowulf and his men slept in the mead hall and everybody laid awake because of their afraid about Grendel's arrival possibility. Unfortunately, Grendel really came by crashing the great door of the mead hall. He grabbed one of the Beowulf's men then threw him to his mouth. When Grendel came to Beowulf, he immediately knew which one Beowulf was and before Grendel could grab him, Beowulf got holding him firstly. Beowulf fought Grendel fairly, without weapon, because Grendel did not have a weapon. Beowulf would be shamed if he slew Grendel with a sword. After Beowulf killed Grendel by tearing off his arm, Grendel fled and died. The great arm of Grendel was hung above the mead hall. This part of the story teaches us that if we fight fair, we are destined to be the winners.

            The second life lesson is we have to be loyal. In this story, it was written in Wiglaf’s characteristics, Wiglaf who became Beowulf's successor. When all of the other soldiers left Beowulf in his fatal battle against the Dragon, Wiglaf did not. He showed his courage and loyalty in helping Beowulf defeated the Dragon. That was why he is named the next leader. It was also written in Beowulf’s characteristics. It was true that Beowulf fought these monsters to help his tribe and the Danes, even though he also did so for fame and glory and hopes to be remembered for what he had done. That was why, on his deathbed, he requested that a monument be built to remember him and how great he was. In seeing this monument, future generations will remember Beowulf and the qualities that he had embodied, reminding them to fight evil forces with courage and strength and to always be loyal. It was for Anglo Saxon culture that did not have value humility.

            The other life lessons that I got in Beowulf poem are, we have to fight for the good of mankind, does not just for ourselves. It provides lessons in morality, bravery, civility and selflessness. It also teaches us to be brave to do a sacrifice to get what we want. It was reflected in what the main character, Beowulf, had done from the beginning of the story until the end, until his death in his own sacrifice. He killed Grendel for the peace of the Hrothgar's castle even though he wanted to do it also for his fame. Then with his bravery, he also killed the mother of  Grendel. Until he became the king there replacing the king before, Hrothgar. He wanted took a revenge for the death of the king, Hrothgar. Hrothgar was killed by the Dragon who suddenly came to the Hrothgar's castle and burned it all. He wanted to save all the people that maybe would killed too so he came to the Dragon’s lair to kill it. He came out all of his effort to kill the Dragon until he succed killing the Dragon. He sacrificed himself by cutting his arm to kill the Dragon. The Dragon dead and him too.

            In conclusion, after reading Beowulf, the life lessons that consisted in the poem are if we want to win in a fight we have to be fair in it, we have to be loyal and we have to be brave to fight the evil in our life. This story also teaches us to believe that as long we are in a right way, we will be helped by our God againts the evil.