Ten Point Homework

Okay, I don’t want to start this all over again, but I just wanted to point 
out one quote from tonight’s reading.  As Beowulf is about to fight 
Grendel’s mother the narrator says: “So must a man do who intends to gain 
enduring glory in combat.  Life doesn’t cost him a thought.”  By saying this 
it implies that Beowulf is fighting these monsters solely in order to have 
his name glorified in the annals of poetic history. How is this intent 
glorious?  How can the author actually say that this man who is fighting for 
selfish reasons is honorable and deserving of praise?  If he actually cared 
for the people who were being killed and was battling these monsters to save 
them, then perhaps that would be worthy of “glory.”  Otherwise, I don’t 
think so.
	Another thing that has interested me is the emphasis placed on family.  
Whenever a new character is introduced the poet goes into great length 
describing that person’s father and what type of person he was and so on and 
so forth…but Beowulf doesn’t have a family.  No heirs.  Now, can I go out on 
a limb here without nasty comments?  It seems to me that Beowulf, being 
without a family, is searching for something else.  Without a family that 
has to take him in, he is going out, doing heroic deeds, saving the world 
and for what? It isn’t for his safety, his family’s safety or even gold (I 
read ahead, he gives away his treasures).  He is doing it to be accepted 
into other people’s homes and families and be loved.  He never had love so 
this is his way of getting it.  You can see this in the way he made Hrothgar 
feel: “And so the good and gray-haired Dane, that highborn king, kissed 
Beowulf and embraced his neck, then broke down into sudden tears. Two 
forebodings disturbed him in his wisdom, but one was stronger: nevermore 
would they meet each other face to face.”  You can see this sort of thing 
all the time.  The kid at school who doesn’t get the most love at home will 
be a huge push over and will do anything for his friends as long as they 
like him.  In a way, Pip was searching for a family that would take him in 
and love him.  He wanted a mother, father and siblings to call his own and 
when Herbert came along he found that brother.  When Magwitch appeared, he 
was the father and (no one is going to like this) Miss Havisham was his 
mother.  I know Havisham was a nasty bitch, but Pip went to her when he 
needed help and thought of her (though out most of the novel) as someone who 
took care of him and provided what he needed.  Isn’t Beowulf doing the same 
thing?  I know there is the possibility that he is doing it so all the other 
boys in school will want to be him and the cheerleaders will want to screw 
him…but I like to think life is a little more than that.