Beowulf Revision

Anthony Scalia

            Throughout the history of literature, evil creatures are often described as mystical and inhumane, but are they simply metaphors for the evil made by real people? While the official author of the poem is unknown, it written by an Anglo-Saxon poet, who most likely lived the experiences of having incompetent kings rule over much poorer areas. In the classic poem, Beowulf, the titular character is a hero who travels to slay a monster, Grendel, who has killed thirty people. While it is never specified in the poem, the monster is often referred to a “beastly” and “inhumane,” which leads the reader to believe that he is not a human, a descendent of magical beings. While battling, Beowulf does not kill the monster, but instead takes off his shoulder and arm so the monster can suffer.

            It is quite possible that Grendel is strictly a metaphor for these kings who lived in wealth while watching others in poverty. In history, Beowulf was recited for kings for entertainment purposes, which is ironic because if the metaphor connection is true, kings would hope for the hero’s victory while not noticing that they were the monsters. In the poem, the monster slays thirty people after he is disturbed by their noise, representative of decisions that kings would make if they were disturbed by the common people. When Beowulf only takes part of the monster’s arm, it is symbolic demonstrating that you cannot destroy true evil completely. The character takes his arm as a sign of victory and hangs it up. It represents the power one has when they obtain a small victory. Yet, evil is still alive, no matter what form it is in. Even if you destroy one evil person, (Grendel) another one (his mother) comes along, and so forth.

Beowulf Essay

Anthony Scalia

            Throughout the history of literature, evil creatures are often described as mystical and inhumane, but are they simply metaphors for the evil made by real people? In the classic Anglo-Saxon poem, Beowulf, the main character with the poem’s title name, is a hero who travels to slay a monster, Grendel, who killed thirty people. While it is never specified in the poem, the monster is often referred to a “beastly” and “inhumane” which leads the reader to believe that he is not a human, and a descendent of magical beings. While battling, Beowulf does not kill the monster, but instead takes off his shoulder and arm so the monster can suffer. While the official author of the poem is unknown, it written by an Anglo-Saxon poet, who most likely lived the experiences of having incompetent kings rule over much poorer areas.

            It is quite possible that Grendel is strictly a metaphor for these kings who lived in wealth while watching others in poverty. In history, Beowulf was recited for kings for entertainment purposes which is ironic because if the metaphor connection is true, kings would hope for the hero’s victory while not noticing that they were the monsters. In the poem, the monster slays thirty people after he is disturbed by their noise which could be representative of decisions that kings would make if they were disturbed by the common people. When Beowulf only takes part of the monster’s arm it is symbolic that you cannot destroy true evil completely. The character takes his arm as a sign of victory and hangs it up, which represents the power one has when they obtain a small victory. Yet, evil is still alive, no matter what form it is in. Even if you destroy one evil person, (Grendel) another one (his mother) comes along, and so forth.

            Evil cannot be destroyed, it will always exist. It can only be explained as the other half of one’s feeling because all human obtain the power to be evil; it is the person’s choice to use it.

Imperial Adam

In A.D. Hope’s poem, Imperial Adam, the poet suggests that man created woman with a portion of a rib. The poem concludes that God is a doctor, and surgically removes his rib to create the female race. The tone of this poem is affectionate, because the recently created man begins to feel for the female he has just laid eyes on. In the line, “Turning once more he found Man's counterpart in tender parody breathing at his side. He knew her at first sight, he knew by heart, her allegory of sense unsatisfied.” The male immediately feels connected to the woman, and he soon notices her breasts, which leads to sexual intercourse. By the end of the poem, a child is born, but the role of a female in this poem is easily understood. The poem hints that females are less than men because it is through a small portion of them that another gender is created. The man puts his arm around the woman and protects her, which gives a sense of women being helpless without men. It seems as though their purpose is to please men and create children, which is not seen as beautiful. They call the child a murderer, and it comes from the woman’s womb which indicates that a part of evil which is brought onto the world is part of the female.

Invisible Man Response

                        In Ralph Ellison’s 1947 novel, The Invisible Man, the nameless narrator experiences life as a struggling African American living in the South. After obtaining a scholarship to a black college, he is expelled, goes to Harlem, and become part of a political group called The Brotherhood. However, by the end of the novel, he feels no need to be with him because they are traitors, so he stays in a sewer. In the novel’s epilogue, we learn that the narrator contemplates about his life while in the sewer and has dreams with various people who have hurt him in his life. Therefore, he reaches conclusions such as not assigning himself a rank in society, and he believes that even before he has finished something, he has failed it.

            Due to the narrator’s experiences in the novel, one can understands why such conclusions have been drawn to. For social reasons, it is because the narrator has always been uncared for; boxing blindly, bringing a white man to a forbidden black community, failing at his paint job, and discovering that the Brotherhood is working against themselves. The narrator begins to feel that everything he touches turns into ash, yet he believed that his rank was going up. He believed that by being part of the Brotherhood, he was of a higher position than when he was boxing in the South. However he was still viewed the same way and became a tool for the political party. Since he failed at all of his professions mentioned above, the narrator now believes that he fails at everything, even if he has not done it yet.

            These feelings are completely justified by what the narrator has seen throughout his life. In the South, he is humiliated, blindfolded, and forced to blindly box around nine other black men. While in the Brotherhood, he is only used as a speaker to bring people into the party, and he notices that the entire idea is just a show for those willing to watch. His rank in society will be decided by someone else, regardless of what the narrator doe, thus leading to his invisibility.