Here is a great home work response from Monday in which Lucas H. integrates the portions of Beowulf that we have read into The Hero’s Journey cycle.  Great job Lucas!

A monomyth is a cyclical journey taken by a mythical a hero and “from Beowulf” is a good example of this. The story has different sections, like a diagram of a Hero’s Journey, and these sections correspond to the parts of The Hero’s Journey. The first and second sections “The Wrath of Grendel” and “The Coming of Beowulf,” respectively, represent the call to adventure, the first part of the Hero’s Journey. At first, the people in Herot are in the regular world but this shortly ends. This is also when Beowulf learns of the menace, Grendel, and is called into action. Part two of the Hero’s Journey, the beginning of the journey, can be seen as the sections from “The Battle with Grendel” through “The Battle with Grendel’s Mother.” In these sections Beowulf faces many enemies and has to slay them. He crosses the threshold and goes into this life of fighting and goes underwater to finish this monsters. He gets his special weapon, a huge sword, in these sections and slays the monsters with it. “The Last Battle” can be seen as part three in the Hero’s Journey, transformation. In this section he has become king and has one last ordeal to face. He wants to prove his worth and slay a menacing dragon. He wants to kill the dragon and claim the riches as his own reward for his fighting. The final sections of the poem, “The Spoils” and “The Farewell,” resemble part four of the Hero’s Journey, the return. In these sections, much like in the monomyth diagram, Beowulf begins his “road back” after finishing the final menace and saving his kingdom. He is grateful for his soldiers bravery and gives one of his last family members all of his armor and jewels, this can be seen as his atonement. Finally Beowulf has his final return as he passes away and has a royal burial. His men build a huge tower and make his final return a good one as they praise his tomb with riches.

Don’t forget that the final over Beowulf is tomorrow.  Most of the questions are short response or essay questions that require you to integrate the reading into what we have learned about Epic Poetry and The Hero’s Journey.  Study tonight.