'An Explication of Beowulf’s Monologue About His Past\r'

'Katie Taylor EH 215 Volf 4 February 2013 Beowulf’s ancient Beowulf is an epic meter that is filled with episodes and digressions that raise a better understanding of the poem as a whole. In peerless of the episodes, Beowulf speaks of his past, and the reader can learn astir(predicate) his upbringing as a nestling and how it has affected him as an adult. This monologue in addition gives some information a splurge office Hrethel and his sons. The main purpose of this anecdote, however, is to describe how and when Beowulf began his passage of combat and fame.Within Beowulf’s monologue, the author utilizes alliterations and kenning to do the poem flow and to emphasize the say-so and valor of Beowulf as an epic hero. hotshot such example is the kenning apply at the beginning of the episode. It reads, â€Å"Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, spoke…” (2425). quite of the phrasing reading â€Å"Beowulf spoke,” this phrase adds push to the beginning. I t reinforces the idea that Beowulf is seen as an extremely sizable hero that can take on anything that comes his way as opposed to â€Å" except Beowulf. If â€Å"son of Ecgtheow” were not used, Beowulf would seem close boring compared to the magnificent, heroic image that comes to spirit when this phrase is employed. Alliteration is in any case used to allow the poem to flow and also to leave alone an interesting element to other than b consume sentences. â€Å"While I was in his ward he treated me no worse as a ablactate…” is referring to mightiness Hrethel’s â€Å"adoption” of Beowulf afterward his begetter died (2432).The repetition of the W unsounded allows easy movement through the chronicle that Beowulf tells, and it keeps the reader interested in what is be said. Another example of alliteration is the lines 2479-2480: â€Å"My get kith and kin avenged these evil events, as everybody k instantaneouslys…” Without any sound repetition, the reader would beseem bored with the legend, but the author strategically places these examples of alliteration in the epic to provide more exciting details. Along with these rhetorical devices, this passage gives significant details bout Beowulf’s upbringing. The reader learns that Beowulf’s father Ecgtheow dies when Beowulf is only seven years old. King Hrethel takes him in, though, and treats him like one of his own sons. Later, the superpower’s oldest son Herebeald is accidentally killed by his juvenilityer brother Haethcyn. King Hrethel is so depressed that he lay flock and dies from grief. Afterward, thither is a battle surrounded by the Swedes and the Geats, in which Hrethel’s son Haethcyn, the newfound king, is killed in battle.Hygelac, the last son of Hrethel and now the new king of the Geats, gave Beowulf treasure and land for urge oning alongside them. This battle seems to be one of the prototypic that Beowulf parti cipated in. He says, â€Å"I marched ahead of him [Hygelac], always there at the front of the line; and I shall fight like that for as long as I live…” (2497-2499). After that first battle, Beowulf launched himself into a life of war and fame, eternally craving the recognition and treasures that came after a successful battle or killing.Beowulf’s monologue about his past allows readers into his take heed so that they can understand why he fights the way he does and where he came from in the first place. Without this episode, the poem as a whole would suffer because there would be no back story to explain Beowulf’s desire to whacking monsters and achieve the fame that he thinks he deserves. perchance he is making up for the detail that his father died when he was so young: he is trying to live a life that would make his father grand that Beowulf was his son.\r\n'