The Epic Poem “Beowulf”: Arms and Armor Essay (Critical Writing)

The authors of epic poems and heroic ballads have always drawn attention to arms and armor, using them for pictorial and symbolic means. Beowulf is not an exception, depicting a warring and savage heroic world. Beowulf uses all manner of tools to slay and protect himself from being slain, and the poet constantly compares the hero to the monsters he fights. Beowulf’s three great battles are the most prominent: the fight against Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. The author vividly describes these battles, not leaving out a detail. Every battle is more challenging than the previous one, and Beowulf’s arms and armor point that out. I believe that what Beowulf wears and carries is used to show his progression as a hero and inevitable aging as a human.

In the poem’s first part, Beowulf comes to King Hrothgar’s aid and fearlessly brawls Grendel, a coarse and violent giant, naked. The hero is young and powerful and sees Grendel as equal in terms of strength, boasting of his ability to fight the giant ‘without edges.’ Grendel is not skillful in the art of war; thus, weapons and shields would give an apparent advantage against him. It seems, however, that the decision to fight barehanded is not made out of honor or chivalry. The battle is an ultimate show of Beowulf’s power and courage. While Beowulf and Grendel are grappling, Beowulf’s band tries to finish the giant off with their weapons but cannot do so because Grendel’s skin repels all steel. In the end, Beowulf rips Grendel’s arm, and the giant runs away mortally wounded. The remark that weapons do not harm Grendel makes the hero appear absurdly strong and hardy.

Preceding the second battle, Beowulf tracks Grendel’s mother to the moors, where he prepares for the one-on-one fight. Interestingly, he wears some armor this time and uses a weapon, which indicates that Grendel’s mother is more fearsome than her son. Her sheer will to kill Beowulf out of vengeance gives her strength, and the moors are filled with lesser monsters as well. The hero wears a hand-woven breastplate and a chain helmet and carries a sword gifted by King’s retainer. Such preparations suggest that Beowulf is not as confident that he will survive and show that he is not reckless and can strategically assess the upcoming battle. True enough, the breastplate saves his life, although the blade that supposedly has not failed anyone till this time proves to be useless against Grendel’s mother. Again, Beowulf shows his power and cleverness by using a giant sword from the layer’s walls to kill the monster.

The third battle occurs many years later when the dragon ravages Beowulf’s land. Beowulf prepares to slay the beast, ordering a wholly iron shield, dressing in a full chain-mail armor, and carrying a couple of swords and a dagger. Beowulf shows his tactical mind yet again as the dragon is the strongest foe he has ever fought. The shield will protect him from the beast’s fire, while several weapons will be necessary if any of them breaks. Surely enough, the swords fail him one after another, and ultimately Beowulf uses the dagger to kill the dragon. Beowulf knows that he is old, and the preparations make it clear, but the hero’s fatal mistake has been to think that he can slay the dragon alone. No matter of armor could replace Beowulf’s youth, and he dies because of his prideful nature, trying to prove that he is as strong as he has been.

Warriors battle their foes using weapons and armor, and the same goes for heroes, the best warriors known. Beowulf’s equipment in his major battles progressively improves with the increasing strength of his foes. It shows that Beowulf is a clever but boastful hero who loves to prove his power to others. He always wears and carries a bare minimum needed to slay the monster, leaving no advantages to himself. Beowulf believes the combatants must be equal; therefore, Beowulf always strives for this equality. In the end, it kills him because he overestimates himself.