In Beowulf, the first time we are faced with a monster, is when Beowulf faces Grendel. The fight between Grendel and Beowulf is the medium through which the author chooses to express Beowulf's youth and superhuman strength.

"Grendel is no braver, no stronger /Than I am! I could kill

The fight starts off poorly for Beowulf, as the dragon sees him nearing in; it lets out a murderous flame from its mouth. Beowulf quickly slices at the dragons' throat with his ancient sword, which slightly cuts into the dragon and draws blood and pain. But, the blade breaks and Beowulf is deserted by his one and remaining friend, for all his men by now have ran to the woods. He has let his hubris get the best of him. This happened once before and it was a representation of how Beowulf as a strong man, was breaking at the edges. He no longer had the once amazing youthful strength he once held. There are more similar representations that signify that Beowulf really had gotten old, and has lost his strength. His shield begins to melt away at the edges, slowly making it smaller and less effective. When Beowulf fought Grendels' mother, right before it was over for him, he grabbed a sword from off the wall, utilizing some outside help. Something along these lines happens again, but this time even outside help isn't enough. A young soldier of Beowulfs' Wiglaf runs to Beowulf and gets behind him. He follows each of Beowulf's strokes of his sword, and movements of his feet as if they are his own. Wiglaf delivers a fatal blow to the dragons neck, that weakens the dragon enough to allow Beowulf to deliver the dragons final death blow, and slit the dragon from head to toe, down the belly.

Sir Gawain out of courtesy succumbs to her plea, and grants her a kiss. Sir Gawain, over time, was pressured into giving the lady a kiss. Through time he lost. Though he does keep his knightly word, and tells the lord of the castle the precedings of the day.

Beowulf's last battle, is against the most powerful medieval beast of all; a dragon. On page 101, Beowulf says farewell to his men and followers alike. He speaks to them about his fight with Grendel and how he fought and killed it barehanded without armor. "I feel no shame, with shield and sword/ And armor, against this monster: when he comes/ to me/ I mean to stand, not run from his shooting/ Flames, stand till fates decides/ Which of us wins." (101) Here, Beowulf finishes his speech about killing Grendel. He then tells his men, he bears no shame at all, to fight this monstrous dragon, with shield, armor and sword. Beowulf sets off to fight the dragon, that's in a nearby tower built to guard an enormous pile of treasure. This fight does not go as well as his other ones and he pays for the price of fame and the gold guarded by the dragon with his life.

This is a great speech composed by Beowulf himself, as he speaks to Hrothgar, and the rest of the men. Within this speech, he shows his youth and his strength. To fight a beast that has been killing strong honorable soldiers for such a long time, with shield and armor and sword alone would be crazy; to do it with no armor or sword would be labeled suicide. The idea would be to gather a strong group of men, and kill the beast at his lair. But Beowulf wouldn't have any such plan, for he was a strong believer in wyrd. His bread and water was fame, and he was going to get it any way he could. This was a great opportunity to spread his great name even further across the lands, by fighting and defeating a beast that had killed so many soldiers beforehand. Not only would he defeat it, but he would do it with no weapons or armor. Beowulf soon confronts the beast and as planned, he fights Grendel and tears off one of his arms, ridding the great Danes king of this problem. His actions though impose a new problem on them. Now Grendels mother seeks revenge.

In Beowulf time, brings about Beowulf's demise. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, it brings about, the demise of a full court of men. Sir Gawain goes on a journey, to find a knight and repay his respects. Gawain had played a game where each man took had the chance to deliver a fatal blow to the other man using a giant axe. This game was titled appropriately "the beheading game" Gawain swung th

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sir Gawain, Grendel Beowulf, Beowulf Grendel's, Green Knight, Beowulfs' Wiglaf, sir gawain, Sir Gawains, Sir Gawain/, King Arthur's, green knight, Grendel Grendels', gawain green, Gawain Green, sir gawain green, lord goes hunting, lord goes, beheading game, grendel's mother, fight grendel, grendels' mother, lord castle, goes hunting, gawain green knight, kiss sir gawain, soon sir gawain,
Approximate Word count = 2669
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)