The Motivations of Each Character in the Beowulf Epic (The Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations of Each Character in the Beowulf Epic) In the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, the hero, Beowulf, goes on a journey to the land of the Danes accompanied by the bravest of his men to kill a murderous monster, Grendel. Grendel is a horrible creature that has been slaying the soldiers of Hrothgar in the land of the Danes to bring fear to the people, the kingdom, and Hrothgar. When Beowulf arrives, Hrothgar and the people of his land are hopeless, for nothing or no one had been able to kill Grendel.
But Beowulf, a rave, courageous, and confident warrior, is almost excited to fight Grendel and kill him just for the reward. Once Beowulf slays Grendel, there arises another monster in seek of revenge for Grendel, his mother, the she-wolf. Beowulf takes the challenge to fight and kill her as well, therefore he travels to the lake where she and many other monsters live, dives in, sinks to the bottom, and fights the battle. During the battle, the lake was restless and it began to fill with the sight of more and more blood, so the Danes that had accompanied him gave up hope that Beowulf was alive and returned to the Herot.
All the while, Beowulf’s men waited at the surface of the lake for their leader, and he finally surfaced with the head of Grendel and the assurance that he had killed his mother, along with many other monsters of that lake. In the of the epic, Beowulf, as an old man, picks a battle with a fire-breathing dragon, and the reward for Beowulf then is the treasures which the dragon was guarding. Beowulf, as an old man, has the heart of a warrior, but not the strength, therefore, one of his soldiers, his cousin, Wiglaf, rushes to Beowulf’s side to assist him, and they slay the dragon.
The otives of each important character of this epic are different, some are intrinsic and others are extrinsic, and they can be witnessed by the readers throughout Beowulf. In the beginning of Beowulf, the first two monsters that Beowulf battles must be fought because of their behavior that is acted out from their intrinsic motivations. Grendel, the first monster mentioned in the epic, is on a killing spree, murdering Hrothgar’s soldiers and men, bringing horror and fear to his land and to his people.
In lines 30-33, Grendel’s intrinsic motivation seems to only be curiosity when it is written that, “Then, when darkness had ropped, Grendel/ Went up to Herot, wondering what the warriors/ Would do in that hall when their drinking was done” (Beowulf). And then in lines 39-40 in Beowulf, Grendel’s thoughts of his first murders are stated as, “The blood dripping behind him, back/ To his lair, delighted with his night’s slaughter” (Beowulf), leading his victims to be his extrinsic motivations because they are like rewards for murder.
But then again, Grendel’s motivations become intrinsic again and is exemplified in lines 50-53, “Grendel came again, so set/ On murder that no crime could ever be enough,/ No savage assault uench his lust/ For evil” (Beowulf). From these lines, we can conclude that Grendel’s intrinsic motivation to murder again was evil. From lines 66-72, it can easily suggest that Grendel’s motivations continue to be intrinsic, of hate, because it writes, “… ow Grendel’s hatred began,/ How the monster relished his savage war/ On the Danes, keeping the bloody feud/ Alive, seeking no peace, offering/ No truce, accepting no settlement, no price/ In gold or land.. ” (Beowulf).
Grendel’s motivations throughout the epic are intrinsic, only for his internal emotion, for no physical reward of any kind, for he would not accept any. Grendel’s mother, in Beowulf is motivated by intrinsic means just like her son was, only her’s is out of revenge, as well as hate. After Beowulf kills Grendel, Grendel’s mother responds by killing Hrothgar’s closest friend and taking her child’s claw from the Herot.
Once Hrothgar tells Beowulf of this, there is another battle to be fought. Grendel’s mother is ready as ever for such a battle because she will fight out of hate for Beowulf, and for revenge for her son. The battle was fierce and lengthy, but in the end the she-wolf was not mighty enough, for Beowulf found the word that could pierce her skin, it states in lines 530-542, “Then he saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy/ Sword, hammered by giants, strong/ And blessed with their magic, the best of all weapons/ But so massive that no ordinary man could lift/ Its carved and decorated length.
He drew it/ From its scabbard, broke the chain on its hilt,/ And then, savage, now, angry/ And desperate, lifted it high over his head/ And struck with all his strength he had left,/ Caught her in the neck and cut it through,/ Broke bones and all. Her body fell/ To the floor, lifeless, the sword was wet/ with her blood, and Beowulf rejoiced at the ight” (Beowulf), and the battle was over. Beowulf is different from both Grendel and the she-wolf, his motivations are extrinsic, all he cares about throughout this epic is the reward he gets after each battle.
The first battle that Beowulf had with Grendel, he fought after he was assured he would be rewarded in some way, money, even though it seems he went to the land of the Danes to help Hrothgar, he was interested in the physical reward he would be given when and if he defeated Grendel. The battle Beowulf fought with Grendel’s mother, the she-wolf, was a hard fought battle because so many other monsters of the ake joined in just because it’s within their nature to do so. Once Beowulf defeated the she-wolf, we went in search for Grendel, although he was dead, Beowulf wanted his head.
And along with the monster’s head, he was still rewarded in riches from Hrothgar. The best example of Beowulf’s extrinsic motivations in this epic is found in his last battle. His own words in lines 624-628 show this when he says, “I’ve never known fear, as a youth I fought/ In endless battles. I am old, now,/ But I will fight again, seek fame still,/ If the dragon hiding in his tower dares/ To face me” (Beowulf). Out of these lines, the main words to point ut it when Beowulf states that he still seeks fame, making fame his extrinsic motivation to battle the dragon.
At the end of the battle, after Beowulf and Wiglaf slay the dragon, Beowulf is fatally wounded and very near death, yet he still asks to see the treasure that the dragon had been guarding. So even at the very end of life, Beowulf is only concerned with the rewards from battle. In the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, the hero, Beowulf, goes on a journey to the land of the Danes accompanied by the bravest of his men to kill a murderous monster, Grendel. Grendel’s motivations throughout the epic are intrinsic, only for is internal emotion, for no physical reward of any kind, for he would not accept any.
Grendel’s mother, in Beowulf is motivated by intrinsic means just like her son was, only her’s is out of revenge, as well as hate. Beowulf is different from both Grendel and the she-wolf, his motivations are extrinsic, all he cares about throughout this epic is the reward he gets after each battle. The first battle that Beowulf had with Grendel, he fought after he was assured he would be rewarded in some way, money, even though it seems he went to the land of the Danes to help Hrothgar, he was interested in the physical reward he ould be given when and if he defeated Grendel..
Once Beowulf defeated the she-wolf, we went in search for Grendel, although he was dead, Beowulf wanted his head. At the end of the battle, after Beowulf and Wiglaf slay the dragon, Beowulf is fatally wounded and very near death, yet he still asks to see the treasure that the dragon had been guarding. So even at the very end of life, Beowulf is only concerned with the rewards from battle. The motives of each important character of this epic are different, some are intrinsic and others are extrinsic, and they can be witnessed by the readers throughout Beowulf.
