Beowulf Good vs. Evil 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 In the end each clan on the outlying coasts |
The narrator of Beowulf is extremely clear about what a good king is like: he's strong enough to dominate all the surrounding tribes and demand tribute from them. It's our first clue that, even though Beowulf is all about good versus evil, the definition of "good" may not be what we expect.
| Quote #2 So times were pleasant for the people there |
Grendel isn't just the enemy – he's a personification, or maybe that should be monster-fication, of everything that is evil. He's literally a "fiend out of hell," a descendant of Cain, inherently rotten.
| Quote #3 "I had a fixed purpose when I put to sea. |
It's all or nothing in this fight to the death: the good warrior Beowulf against the evil demon Grendel. Things can't get much more clear cut than that.
