After fighting and winning many battles, Beowulf’s life enters a new stage when he finally becomes king of his homeland, Geatland. Even in his old age, his code of honor still obligates him to fight against an evil, fiery dragon. For fifty years he has governed his kingdom well. While Beowulf is governing, the dragon “…kept watch over a hoard, a steep stone-barrow” (Norton 55). Under it lays a path concealed from the sight of men. Over centuries no one had disturbed the dragon’s kingdom until one day when a thief broke into the treasure, laid hand on a cup fretted with gold, which infuriated the dragon. “The fiery dragon had destroyed the people’s stronghold, the land along the sea, the heart of the country” (Norton 57).
Beowulf is an epic poem that was written in the late tenth-century, at the kingdom of the West Saxons. The two main characters are Beowulf, a young man; and Grendel, a furious dragon. Beowulf’s world is a very violent society with wars as a dominant part of daily life. Dragons and monsters are a constant threat to the Danes and the Geats. Warriors are a necessity to this war-like society. Beowulf is a hero as well as a great, and honorable, warrior.
After fighting and winning many battles, Beowulf’s life enters a new stage when he finally becomes king of his homeland, Geatland. Even in his old age, his code of honor still obligates him to fight against an evil, fiery dragon. For fifty years he has governed his kingdom well. While Beowulf is governing, the dragon “…kept watch over a hoard, a steep stone-barrow” (Norton 55). Under it lays a path concealed from the sight of men. Over centuries no one had disturbed the dragon’s kingdom until one day when a thief broke into the treasure, laid hand on a cup fretted with gold, which infuriated the dragon. “The fiery dragon had destroyed the people’s stronghold, the land along the sea, the heart of the country” (Norton 57).
Beowulf prepares to fight a dragon with his thane, Wiglaf. Beowulf has no fear of the dragon, because he has fought many enemies that were much more ferocious. One example of Beowulf’s great battles is the fight with Grendel. No one other than Beowulf is brave enough or strong enough to volunteer to fight Grendel.
Comparing Frankenstein and Paradise Lost
Frankenstein and Paradise Lost
Mary Shelley has created a subversive and grotesque God/Man relationship in “Frankenstein.” Shelly sets up Frankenstein and, at times, Man in general, to be the monster’s God. Shelley’s integration with Paradise Lost creates opportunity for making such comparisons. When the monster gives his book review of the found classic, he states, “It moved every feeling of wonder and awe, that the picture of an omnipotent God warring with his creatures was capable of exciting.” This is reminiscent of the war he has with Frankenstein when his wishes are refused. He then goes on to relate the story’s characters to his own situation.
The plot of the monster’s life follows a mutated version of Adam’s as he read it in Paradise Lost. At one point he relates, “But it was all a dream; no Eve soothed my sorrows nor shared my thoughts; I was alone. I remembered Adam’s supplication to his Creator. But where was mine?” The monster relates himself to Adam and expects the same treatment from his ‘God.’ The full realization of the mockery of Adam and Eve is barely missed when Frankenstein decides to relieve Man of the burden of his monster race by refusing to create the monster’s bride. Just as he has the power to create, has he the power to destroy. Yet, in the end, the monster is the one in control, and ultimately triumphs in the final chase, outliving his creator.
Just as with Adam, the monster’s role is also compared to that of Satan in Paradise Lost: “Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me.” The monster is like Satan in that he is rejected by the beings of which he was once a member. While he does not remember, perhaps he feels his similarity, yet horrid mutation and punished rejection. The duality in the monster between Adam and Satan allows him to decide upon his plan of action. It is important to note that he takes upon himself the role of Adam before resorting to the methods learned from Satan.
In Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden for eating fruit from the tree of knowledge. Much the same way, Frankenstein’s happy and loving life is smashed to pieces upon the creation of the monster.