In the Grendel episode, light and dark imagery are very evident. Before Beowulf arrives in the Danish kingdom he hears stories of the powerful Grendel and how he "never dared to touch king Hrothgar's glorious throne." This is the first instance where light and dark imagery collide. Grendel wouldn't touch the throne because the throne represented glory, or light, and Grendel represented evil, or dark. The second occurrence is the actual attack of Grendel. "He moved quickly through the cloudy night...toward that gold-shining hall." In this imagery we see an obvious light and dark conflict but we also see a good vs. evil conflict as well. Grendel comes to attack the mead hall at night, which reveals that the dark, or evil, is attacking the light, or good, in which case the good overcame the evil. We notice this in the third example.

When morning came, "crowds surrounded" to "behold the monster's great staggering tracks" and watch as his great body was dropped "deep in murky darkness...as hell opened to receive him." Evil was defeated, and treasures were given in return. In this case, the death of Grendel is representative of darkness and the treasures Beowulf received is representative of light.

After Grendel's death, Grendel's mother seeks revenge against Beowulf for his actions. Beowulf dives into the lake, representative of the underworld, or hell. This symbolism of hell is one example of light and dark imagery in Beowulf. It's almost like a religious battle that Beowulf is taking on. Beowulf represents an ambassador from heaven to defeat the evils of hell. "Only Beowulf would risk his life in that lake...but Beowulf and fear were strangers." Like light and dark, Beowulf and fear were strangers, or opposites-unknown to each other. In the midst of the darkness was but a glimmer of light, being a sword. This is the second illustration of light and dark imagery. The sword, portraying light, was "blessed with [the giants] magic" and was used to conquer Grendel's "mighty" mother, portraying dark; once again, good has defeated evil.

In the last episode with the Dragon, both of the examples of light and dark images are manifested through the archetype of the tower. The tower is the place of residence of the Dragon and is representative of a place of evil or isolation of oneself. "That tower was heaped high with hidden treasure...[and] left in the darkness." Here, Beowulf approaches the darkness of the tower

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Approximate Word count = 1081
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)