Beowulf
Part Two
EPIC
Chapter 1, Grade 12
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California Standards
Reading Standard 3.6
– Analyze the way in which authors through
the centuries have used archetypes drawn
from myth and tradition in literature.
Copyright © 2008 Sacramento County Office of Education
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Direct Teaching
Reading Skills
Tracing Recurring Motifs
– Beowulf insists upon going
into battle alone.
»When has he done
so in the past?
– What does this motif
suggest?
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Direct Teaching
Vocabulary Development
Anglo-Saxon Affixes
– The words unscathed (I. 307) and unburdened
(I. 310) share something as Anglo-Saxon as the
story in which they are used:
» They share the Anglo-Saxon prefix un-, which means
“not,” “lack of,” or “the opposite of.”
– What do these two words mean?
– What are other un- words that you think describe
Beowulf or this battle?
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
Philosophy: Fate
– An important element of the Anglo-Saxon
worldview was the concept of fate (wyrd).
– Specifically the Anglo-Saxons believed that a hero
could postpone death through personal bravery but
that fate eventually would win out.
– How does fate play a part in this battle?
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
Culture: Comitatus
– According to the Anglo-Saxon
code of the comitatus, warriors
must defend their lord to the death.
– Some critics see the failure of
Beowulf’s men to come to his
aid – a catastrophic breach of
comitatus – as an ominous forecast
of the demise of the Geats.
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Direct Teaching
Literary Focus
Epic Hero
– Under the Anglo-Saxon code of
comitatus, a leader rewarded his
followers with gold and riches and
expected loyalty in return.
– Based on this code, do you think that
Wiglaf has the makings of an AngloSaxon epic hero?
» Why or why not?
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
Culture: Comitatus
– In a first reading, one wonders how Beowulf’s
request to see the treasure relates to the fact
that he is thinking of his people.
– When you read on to II.411-418, the relationship
becomes clear:
» He wants to see the treasure to assure himself that he
has provided for his people’s welfare after he is gone.
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
Culture: Comitatus
– Remember that it was important
to dispense treasure as a
symbol of the loyalty between
a king and his people, according
to the Anglo-Saxon code.
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
Culture: Barrows
– A barrow can mean a hill as it does
in I.288 of the epic, but it can also
mean a mound of earth or stones
that is erected over a burial site.
– The statements that the barrow will loom
on the horizon (II.423-425) and visible
from sea (II.423-425) mean that “Beowulf’s
Barrow” will be immense indeed.
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Direct Teaching
Literary Focus
Epic Hero
– The early Anglo-Saxons did not
believe strongly in the afterlife but
in the glory or fame that lived on
after death.
– According to this belief, how
should people remember a
hero who has died?
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
History: Viking Raids
– Violence and widespread
destruction were the hallmarks
of a Viking raid.
– The warriors raped women,
slaughtered monks and children,
and often killed men by slitting the
backbone so that their ribs sprang
out, exposing their heart.
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
History: Viking Raids
– The Vikings were greatly feared and hated by
the early people of what is now Great Britain.
– Their main targets were monasteries.
– The Vikings first attacked the monastery in
Lindisfarne in A.D. 793 and moved quickly onto
the church at Jarrow:
» By A.D. 795, they had also plundered Columba’s
monastery on Iona.
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
History: Viking Raids
– The Vikings preyed upon
these settlements because the
monasteries had accumulated
great treasure.
– Until A.D. 851, most Viking raids
were hit-and-run.
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
History: Viking Raids
– In that year, according to the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, 350 ships
destroyed Canterbury and caused
more carnage than had every been
heard of.
– The Vikings remained in Canterbury
throughout winter.
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Direct Teaching
Content-Area Connections
History: Viking Raids
– Although ruthless and violent,
the Vikings had a softer side.
» They loved their eddas or epic sagas, so
much that they often brought their skalds,
or court poets, to their battles to read
verses for luck.
» They also created beautiful gold
and inlaid jewelry and fine tapestries.
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