Reading Notes Part A: Beowulf: The Young Beowulf

The story that I focused on was about a Young Beowulf.  I really enjoyed this story because it gave detail into the life of a young Beowulf.  Whenever I have heard the stories about him it was always about the middle of his life when he was fighting Grendel.  I enjoyed that this story allows us to get further backstory on who Beowulf exactly is.  One question I do have is why he was alone so long and why his parents gave him up.  I feel that this is never adequately explained throughout the story I read.  All that is said is that, “So, his mother and father gave him up.”  It is kind of hard to comprehend that just because someone is born different that their family would not want them around.  Also, I really liked that we got to see a different side of Beowulf that we normally don’t see.  We fully get to see that he became silent and a loner because of how people treated him.  That part of the story really does show that words and actions can have long standing effects on people. This story has a overall good cohesion with fitting into the Beowulf narrative as well.  They do not show him as weak yet show that he longs to be accepted and understood while not compromising his hero image.

Beowulf fighting a dragon.  (1908)

Henrietta Marshall.  Source: Wikicommons

Bibliography:Gibbs, Laura. Beowulf:The Young Beowulf.Beowulf:The Young Beowulf.