Beowulf Courage

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.

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.

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?

The poet seems to feel somewhat conflicted about Unferth as a character. On the one hand, Unferth has committed fratricide (killed his brother) – the ultimate sin in a world where a man's allegiance to his clan and tribe are everything. Still, Unferth is courageous and clever, which counts for something in spite of his past crimes.

Beowulf is completely unafraid of the dragon – so unafraid that he's being a little bit dumb about how to fight it. Other kings might take an entire army to fight a dragon, but Beowulf is simply going to take it on one-on-one, the way he fought Grendel and Grendel's mother when he was a young man. Perhaps, the poet hints to us, Beowulf is a little too courageous for a king, who needs to think about protecting his people.

Wiglaf has thoroughly internalized the code of the medieval warrior. He believes that it is better to die because of a courageous act of loyalty than to survive and make it home without attempting the task you set out to do. He also places his loyalty to his "gold-giver," or king, above his own life.

Beowulf is able to behave courageously by constantly keeping thoughts of his reputation and the possibility for fame and glory in mind.

The battle with the dragon is Beowulf's last courageous act, but for Wiglaf, it is only the first test of his courage. Unlike the other Geat warriors, who fled in fear when Beowulf needed them most, Wiglaf will pass this test.

After Beowulf's death, Wiglaf reprimands the other Geat lords for their lack of courage.

Although the ten Geat warriors who ran away from the battle with the dragon are scorned as cowardly by the poet, they aren't totally vilified. After all, it's not one man who runs away while the others all stay – everyone runs away and only one man, Wiglaf, is brave enough to stay. This suggests that true courage is somewhat uncommon and that most warriors, at least when they're facing a dragon, have momentary lapses in bravery.