Beowulf Courage Quotes Page 1
Citations follow this format: (Line). We used Seamus Heaney's Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, published in 2000 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
| Quote #1 So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by |
The first few lines of Beowulf immediately invoke "courage" as the ultimate form of "greatness." The Spear-Danes are going to be celebrated because of their bravery and heroism before anything else.
| Quote #2 "Often, for undaunted courage, |
Beowulf makes an interesting claim early in the poem during his description of his swimming contest with Breca. At other points, the narrator reminds us that God determines everyone's fate. But in this passage, Beowulf claims that, if your fate hasn't been decided yet, you can succeed through sheer nerve and courageous behavior. It will be interesting to see if this attitude works out for him at the end of the poem.
| Quote #3 "The fact is, Unferth, if you were truly |
Beowulf scores one off of Unferth: Unferth can talk smack about Beowulf's past deeds, but the truth is that Unferth himself doesn't have any great deeds to boast about. Beowulf suggests that Unferth shouldn't go around insulting other warriors' courage until he's done something courageous himself. After all, Unferth never got the better of Grendel, so why should he sneer at Beowulf for trying?
