Beowulf - the Hoard-Guardian

The Hoard-Guardian

Beowulf is an epic poem written by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon. In Beowulf the dragon is a very powerful character because he can represent both good and evil. It depends on the perspective you look at him in. He's either standing for his culture and his dead race, or terrifying all the Geat people. The dragon represents protection, fierce, anger, fire, and past culture. Whenever the dragon appears in Beowulf, it stands for terror, anger, fear, and culture of his people.

In Beowulf, the dragon, first of all, represents terror because he is a symbol of fear, and manslaughter. He frightened the people of Geatland and made them think there race was about to be terminated. A dragon is a scary image, when anyone thinks of it they think of terror and being fearful. The people did not want to die and didn't want there gorgeous land to be destroyed. They wished for Beowulf to come and rescue them all from the dreadful fire-breathing monster. "until one began/ to dominate the dark, a dragon on the prowl/ from the steep vaults of a stone-roofed barrow/ where he guarded a hoard; there was a hidden passage,/ unknown to men, but someone managed/ to inter by it and interfere/ with the heathen throve . He had handled and removed/ a gem studded goblet; it gained him nothing,/ though with a thief's wiles he outwitted/ the sleeping dragon; that drove him into rage,/ as the people of that country would soon discover." (Heaney) Page 151 line 2211. The dragon destroyed many Geats land and houses. He might have overreacted a little on having only one gem stolen from him out of all that treasure he has in his subterranean passage. The dragon murder all these innocent people that have nothing to do with his treasure bring stolen. Why does he have to penalize them? Only if the dragon could understand that this slave had nothing. The man thought the dragon would not notice if he steals one little gem. "the slick- skinned dragon, threatened the night sky/ with streamers of fire. People on the farms/ are in dread of him. He is driven to hunt out/ hoards under ground, to guard heathen gold/ through age-long vigils, though to little avail." Page 155 line 2174. The dragon obviously does not care that only one person has done the misapprehension. He is searching for the people to extinguish. He has inflamed himself so much that all he wants to do is go into battle.

The dragon also represents anger and fear because he has so much anger in him by reason of the man stealing his treasure that he wants to let out his anger by punishing people by the actions of there fellow Geat. No one felt string enough, or have the courage to kill the dragon. They were all cowards in a way by being too scared to fight something that could abolish all there people. "his own home/ the best of his buildings, had been burnt to a cinder,/ the throne-room of the Geats." Page 157-158 line 2325. The dragon in return burnt down a building that was important to the Geat people. The dragon is not being the better person. He's not letting it go and in result one steals from the other, then the other is going to steal from that one, and it's never going to stop until one dies. "The hoard-guardian/ scorched the ground as he scoured and hunter/ for the trespasser who had troubles in his sleep./ Hot and savage, he kept circling and circling/ the outside of the mound. No man appeared/ in that desert waste, but he worked himself up/ by imagining battle; then back in he'd go/ in search of the cup, only to discover/ signs that someone had stumbled upon/ the golden treasures. So the guardian of the mound,/ the hoard-watcher waiting for the gloaming/ with fierce impatience; his pent-up fury/ at the loss of the vessel made him long to hit back/ and lash out flames. Then, to his delight,/ the day waned and he could wait no longer/ behind the wall, but hurtled forth/ in a fiery blaze. The first to suffer/ were the people on the land, but before long it was there treasure-giver who would come to grief." In this passage I thought it was intriguing how the dragon was so anxious to kill a human being. The "hoard-watcher" looked and looked outside of the mound, but could not manage to find the man that happened to take his treasure. He was extremely worked up now and could not let the slave go. So, the dragon then decides to go to the town, inside the walls and torment the people for the fault of the slave. "The dragon began to belch out flames/ and burn bright homesteads; there was a hot glow/ that scared everyone, for the vile sky-wringer/ would leave nothing alive in his wake./ Everywhere the havoc he wrought was in evidence./ Far and near, the Geat nation/ bore the brunt of his brutal assaults/ and virulent hate. Then back to the hoard/ he would dart before daybreak, to hide in his den./ He had swinged the land, swathes it in flame./ in fire and burning, and now he felt secure/ in the vaults of his barrow; but his trust was unavailing." Page 157 line 2312. The dragon is appalling; by just reading these lines it makes me grieve for the Geat people. He's bloodthirsty for anything he comes across, no matter who, or what they are, if they're in his presence they will be fortunate not to be burnt to death. The "hoard-giver" is ruthless, and has no heart for the people.

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