Beowulf: good versus evil
...dition, everyone looks to Beowulf for hope, like the people of today look to the Lord. He was a hero; a savior in the time when paganism was ruling and Christianity was just coming into being. Heroes like Beowulf were the only hope people had in a dark and hateful time. Another example that gives Beowulf a Christ-like manner is how Wiglaf was the only one of his followers to stay with him. Like the apostles abandoned Jesus, Beowulf’s men left him in his time of need. Wiglaf was the only one true to his lord and savior. Therefore Beowulf was the hope for the Anglo-Saxon people as Christ is for people of today. Grendel was the evil of the Anglo-Saxon period. For example, Grendel had super-human strength, like Beowulf, but he used his for evil. He killed every man in his path and in his way, sparing no lives. He would get excited when he approached the mead hall and saw all the sleeping men that were about to become his dinner. In addition, the story states in lines 20-21 that Gredel is born “ of Cain”. For Cain’s murder of his brother Abel, everyone that was a descendent of Cain, was banished to hell by God. Grendel, being of Cain, proves that he has pure evil running through his blood. Furthermore, the story also states that Grendel lives in a hell on Earth. He li...