Fire Dragon Fall Near Me Again Summary

The story of Beowulf's fights with Grendel and Grendel's Mother would brand a consummate ballsy on their ain. Having saved the Danes from Grendel and Grendel's Female parent, our hero's work seems complete. Nevertheless, his life'south purpose is not achieved until he fights the Burn Dragon.

Allow'south accept a wait at that fight so consider some of the bigger lessons at play.

PLOT SUMMARY

Exposition – The Background

Many years have passed since Beowulf defeated Grendel and Grendel's Female parent. After the death of his father, he becomes Rex of Sweden and rules for fifty peaceful years.

Inciting Incident – The Trouble

All of that changes when ane of his people breaks into the chamber of a sleeping dragon, aka the Fire Dragon, and steals a goblet from his vast treasures. The Fire Dragon awakens, prowls over the land, scorching the globe with his fiery jiff, and seeks revenge.

Ascension Activeness – The Buildup

Beowulf cannot let the Fire Dragon decimate his kingdom. Though he is an old man, he suits himself for battle all the while recalling the glory of his youth. His retentiveness is similar a mirror into the by and the future. He knows he is not every bit potent every bit he once was, merely he likewise knows he must fight, come what may. He has a duty to protect his people.

And so he sets forth with his army. Equally he nears the Fire Dragon, Beowulf tells them all to stand dorsum. This fight is his lone. Shortly, all the same, he is about consumed by the flames. As well scared to step in and assistance, all but a warrior named Wiglaf, a kinsman of the male monarch, abandon Beowulf in his hr of need.

Wiglaf cries out for them to return, however his cries are met with silence. The Fire Dragon smolders on, and Wiglaf turns his attention to Beowulf, encouraging him to get back up and fight.

Climax – The Breaking Point

He does, just in fourth dimension, as well. The dragon breathes hot fire at Wiglaf, just Beowulf houses him nether his atomic number 26 shield. Rousing his strength, Beowulf strikes the Burn Dragon. His sword shivers to pieces from the strength of his efforts. It turns out Beowulf is still the warrior of his youth.

Merely reeling in rage, the Fire Dragon rushes upon a caught Beowulf and sinks his teeth into his neck. Wiglaf, full of dear for his rex, drives his sword into the Fire Dragon. Beowulf does the aforementioned with a knife he had tucked away, and the Burn Dragon falls downwardly dead.

Falling Action – The Unraveling

Sadly, Beowulf has been mortally wounded. He makes Wiglaf his heir and commands him to bring the Burn Dragon'south treasure—one last trophy—then he can look at it before he dies. Upon seeing it Beowulf cheers God for granting information technology to his people.

And then saying, Beowulf dies a hero.

Resolution – Long Live Beowulf!

Wiglaf laments Beowulf's decease and cries out in anguish, again rebuking the Geats for abandoning their king. He buries Beowulf with cracking ceremony in a mound on tiptop of the Burn Dragon's treasure, denying it to the other warriors considering of their disloyalty. It turns out Beowulf'due south life is the real treasure, so that is what they get. Or rather, that is what they squandered.

Though Beowulf has died, as all men must, his fame volition live on through the minstrel's vocal. Mightiest of warriors and about virtuous of Christians, his glory has at last become eternal.

PLOT ANALYSIS

This final fight in Beowulf feels worlds abroad from the earlier ii, not to the lowest degree because the storylines are separated past more than than fifty years and take place in different kingdoms across the sea from one another. That lonely is enough to make Beowulf'south fight confronting the Fire Dragon feel oddly disjointed from the remainder of the epic. What's more, its tone feels every bit foreboding and biting as the others' feel heady and uplifting.

In a sentence, Beowulf dies.

After I read his death scene with my students, I always interruption to browse their faces. Whether they are broad-eyed with disbelief, downcast in disappointment, or busy re-reading to brand sure they understood what actually happened, they all seem to ask, "Why? Why did he have to dice?"

I find myself asking the same question. It seems unfair that the mighty Beowulf dies for his people, especially after they abandon him. Their selfishness and disloyalty are then evidently wrong. They have not just broken some ancient Germanic code of loyalty, they have betrayed the lawmaking of righteousness imprinted on the human heart. In doing then, they have betrayed their human nature.

Remind you of anyone, or should I say whatever monster?

Therein lies the choice for Beowulf's warriors. They can follow the path of Beowulf and glorify not only humanity merely its Creator, or they can follow the path of Grendel, a descendent of Cain, who so distorted human nature that he became one of the world's most infamous monsters.

Now I'm not saying the warriors are going to of a sudden grow hairy arms and start eating people, but they take taken a dangerous kickoff step in that direction. Luckily, they have Wiglaf to phone call them dorsum and assistance them repent just as the apostles repented after abandoning Jesus during His passion and death.

But wait! Isn't this part of the story virtually the Fire Dragon, not Grendel?

Let's go dorsum and review the Burn down Dragon's graphic symbol clarification. We said he represents an fifty-fifty older evil dating back to the fall of the angels. He is a trickster, not merely taking pardonable vengeance on a thief merely actually tempting the human being to become a thief in the offset place. The Fire Dragon wants an excuse to scorch the world. He wants an alibi to kill Beowulf. And he wants an alibi to scatter Beowulf's men and make more Grendels out of them. All the while, he also wants to fob people into thinking he was simply fighting dorsum.

No, he started the fight, but Beowulf finishes information technology. The rest is upwards to his men—and u.s.a..

Epitome from Siegfried, the Hero of the North, and Beowulf, the Hero of the Anglo-Saxons (1900)

In order to sympathize any story, you lot take to spend time getting to know its characters. From their personal groundwork and concrete characteristics to their words and actions, every item has meaning.

Beowulf is no dissimilar. Though the characters may at beginning seem similar a motley cast of barbarians and monsters, each is highly complex, rich in symbolism, and teaches much about the mindset of the early Scandinavian and Germanic peoples they reverberate.

Beowulf – "Mightiest yet Mildest of Men"

Let's begin with our championship hero. Most people accept heard of Beowulf fifty-fifty if they skipped British Literature 101, not to the lowest degree considering he's fought his fashion across the big screen so many times. Stylized as a valiant barbaric from the lands of the Geats (aka Sweden), he is somewhat of a contradiction.

Ian Serraillier, my favorite Beowulf writer, calls him the "mightiest nevertheless mildest of men." His "might" comes from his great strength and superior battle skills. Such would take been a prerequisite for a barbaric leader. (If you lot can't win an arm-wrestling lucifer against the whole clan, not to mention a giant, flesh-eating monster, have a hike!)

Just Beowulf'southward character is not only about flexing his muscles; he'south also "mild." Serrailier uses this discussion to describe the barbarian hero's spirituality, which blends the traditions of Germanic paganism with Christianity. Beowulf is both truthful to the Germanic lawmaking of loyalty, called comitatus, and the ideals of Christian virtue. He ultimately gives his life for his people in a very Christ-like way, but he does and then at the point of a sword, fighting like a warrior should. We tin call back of him every bit a Christianized barbaric who still knows how to win a fight.

Hrothgar – "Giver of Treasure"

King of the Danes, Hrothgar is also a Christian barbarian warrior. He is so glorious in battle and cares so much for his people that he gives them an abundance of gifts and builds them a keen hall, called Heorot. He provides them with all the comforts of armed peace he can—that is until Grendel shows up and starts eating his men. Even Hrothgar, who had been then fearless in the past, finds himself unable to confront Grendel. Instead, he slinks away in defeat every night before the monster's feasting hour.

Poor Hrothgar! His hair turns gray, and his eyes lose their luster during the twelve years of Grendel'south attacks. It is only after Beowulf arrives at Heorot that Hrothgar gets his step back. Hrothgar is a good king to his people, always trying to give them his best. It'southward simply that his best is no match for Grendel and certainly nothing compared to what Beowulf has to offer.

Unferth – "A Grovelling Jealous Man"

In the character of Unferth, we acquire that non all barbarians are skilful. He is Beowulf's foil, or contrary, being equally weak and selfish as Beowulf is potent and selfless. Nonetheless, he has an inflated opinion of himself and challenges Beowulf—but only in words! At the conclusion of his "fight" with Beowulf, Hrothgar dismisses him as a wimp. Actually in Serraillier'south version, he calls him "an envious, wayward homo, unworthy of notation," which is much worse.

If not for the part he plays in attacking Beowulf's reputation, he would have no office in the story. Still, his character is a proficient reminder of how important fame was to the barbarian people he represents. Beowulf is famous; Unferth is non. It is that which makes him most jealous. He does not seem to actually care about beingness tougher than Beowulf. If he did, he would have faced Grendel. What he desires is unearned glory.

Grendel – "The Grim Monster"

At terminal we come to Grendel. To simply telephone call him a monster is to misunderstand him. He is a descendant of Cain, every bit in the Cain who slew his brother Abel from the Bible. As punishment, God marked Cain with a sign of his sin and bandage him out of his "association." Like Cain, Grendel is marked with sin. His "arms of hairy gorilla" and "ruby ferocious eyes" and "ravening jaws," amidst other things, are signs of his evilness.

No longer looking similar a man, his oldest ancestor, Cain, was yet created as i. That means their family line has gone against its man nature. Information technology is that which makes him unlike from say, a lion, who might also attack and eat people. A panthera leo would not be sinning to eat a person, but Grendel is. What's more, he loves eating humans, and it's not just because they taste adept! He eats them out of vengeance. Like the sin he represents, he has an insatiable appetite. Put differently, he is beyond redemption and must be killed.

Grendel's Mother – "The Tyrant Queen"

Information technology turns out even Grendel has a female parent who loves him—in her own distorted style, of course. Flesh and blood bind them together, so nosotros can pretty much moving picture a female person version of her son, complete with his massive, hairy size and strength. She, too, hates mankind, merely her vendetta is more personal. By the time nosotros encounter her in the story, she wants payback for her son'southward death, and she really wants to kill Beowulf.

When put in the context of motherhood, Grendel's Mother is somewhat sympathetic, but that doesn't alter the fact that she is evil. She and Grendel lived together in an eerie lake, symbolic of Hell, over which she reigns supreme. Though her son may accept been the one who killed and then many humans at Heorot, she most certainly was an cohort if not the instigator.

The Fire Dragon – "Twilight Foe"

Terminal just certainly not least of the monsters comes a fearsome, burn-animate dragon that lives in Beowulf's own kingdom of Sweden. If the thought of Grendel and Grendel's female parent harkens back to the autumn of mankind, the Burn Dragon takes united states back even farther to the fall of the angels. With his long coiled body, he looks like a serpent but with wings and legs, drawing an obvious connection to the devil.

And the similarities don't stop there. His is the kind of evil that sleeps in the shadows, ever hoping for a chance to trap an unsuspecting human into doing something foolish, aka sinning. He lures them with an aboriginal treasure tucked beneath a burial ground, reminding us that he is an musical instrument of death. The treasure proves besides not bad a temptation for 1 of the Geats. He breaks in, wakens the sleeping dragon, and thus ignites a fiery binge. Though Beowulf kills the Fire Dragon, he needs help doing then and dies in the end. This last monster is the strongest and about evil of all.

Wiglaf – "Shut Kinsman of the King"

Enter Wiglaf. He alone stands past Beowulf to fight and defeat the Fire Dragon. They share many of the same qualities, peradventure partially because they are related. He, too, is a powerful warrior, though presumably not equals in their prime. More importantly, Wiglaf knows the value of loyalty and was prepared to give his life for Beowulf just as Beowulf was prepared to give his life for his people.

It is Wiglaf who shames the other warriors for abandoning Beowulf. It is he who obeys Beowulf's dying wishes and builds his burying mound on the Fire Dragon's treasure, refusing to take any of the spoils even for himself. Fittingly, he becomes the next king of Sweden.

Conclusion

That'south about all nosotros can say nigh the characters without getting into the whole story. Although y'all can piece it together hither, you will desire to wait at each of the subsequent plot analyses to get a fuller picture.

Please note the taglines for each character and quotations are derived from Beowulf the Warrior retold past Ian Serraillier.

Paradigm Credit: Rockwell Kent,Beowulf,1931, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum

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Source: https://classicalteachersjournal.com/tag/the-fire-dragon/