Beowulf Summary

This article will provide a scene-by-scene summary of Beowulf. If you’re like me, you probably have only the vaguest memory of studying Beowulf in high school. You might remember your teacher telling you that it’s one of the oldest works of literature in English. Or maybe you remember something about the unique characteristics of Old English poetry – two half-lines linked by alliteration. Or maybe you just remember the atrocious movie version of Beowulf featuring Angelina Jolie as Grendel’s mother. 

(Please note – this is one time where you absolutely cannot watch the film instead of reading the book. In the movie version, Beowulf doesn’t kill Grendel’s mother – rather, he makes a pact with her to become king (and has sex with her?). When Beowulf returns to Heorot, he tells Hrothgar he’s killed Grendel’s mother. Hrothgar then reveals he is Grendel’s father and kills himself. Needless to say, this is not what happens in the book!)  

All the quotes are from Seamus Heaney’s wonderful verse translation. 

Beowulf Summary

Prologue: The Rise of the Danes

This first section tells the lineage of Hrothgar, the Danish king who Grendel will terrorize. We hear of Shield Sheafson (Hrothgar’s great-grandfather), who, though a foundling, eventually established the Danish royal family. The narrator tells us that when Shield dies, his son Beow put his body on a boat, decked with treasure, and set it adrift in the sea. 

Like his father, Beow is a good king. When Beow dies, his son Halfdane (Hrothgar’s father) assumes the throne. Fortune shines on Hrothgar, who eventually builds a great mead-hall called Heorot, “the hall of halls” (line 78). 

Heorot Is Attacked

This section introduces Grendel, “a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark” (86). Grendel, hell-spawn that he is, is offended at the sound of the creation story being sung at Heorot. One night, Grendel enters Heorot and slays thirty men. Though Hrothgar is a powerful king, he can do nothing to stop Grendel’s attacks. Hrothgar and his clan are terrorized by Grendel for 12 years before a hero comes along. 

The Hero Comes to Heorot

In this section, we finally meet Beowulf (though we don’t find out his name until midway through the section). Introduced as Hygelac’s thane, this hero is “the mightiest man on earth” (197). We hear of his ship, his crew, and their journey from Geatland. 

When Beowulf and his crew arrive, they are challenged by a watchman, who asks what business they have in Hrothgar’s land. Beowulf introduces himself and offers his “wholehearted help and counsel” to Hrothgar. The watchman leads Beowulf and his crew to Heorot, where they are met by Wulfgar, Hrothgar’s herald. Wulfgar takes the news of Beowulf’s arrival to Hrothgar, who bids the warriors enter. 

Beowulf Summary (Continued)

Beowulf enters and greets King Hrothgar. After some pleasantries, Beowulf tells Hrothgar that he will fight Grendel in hand-to-hand combat. Hrothgar invites Beowulf and his crew to feast at Heorot. 

Feast at Heorot 

The feast commences in earnest and Beowulf has to deal with Unferth, who is jealous of Beowulf’s renown. Unferth brings up Beowulf’s long-ago swimming competition with Breca, a seven-day swim-a-thon which Beowulf ultimately lost. He accuses Beowulf of vanity and tells him that he will die at the hands of Grendel. 

Beowulf offers a measured response, telling Unferth that “it was mostly the beer that was doing the talking” (531). What Unferth doesn’t know about that competition is that after five days of swimming, Beowulf was attacked by sea monsters (he eventually killed nine). This was why Breca was able to outswim him. After explaining why he lost to Breca, Beowulf puts Unferth in his place, telling him that if he was half the warrior he pretended to be, Grendel never would have dared attack Heorot. 

Beowulf Summary (Continued)

Later, Hrothgar’s wife, Wealhtheow, enters the hall and welcomes Beowulf, who reaffirms his promise to kill Grendel. As the feast dies down, Hrothgar and his house guard leave Beowulf and his men in the hall to face Grendel. 

The Fight with Grendel

The Geats bed down for the night in Heorot. When Grendel appears, Beowulf is ready. Grendel manages to kill one of the crew before Beowulf grabs him. Terrified at Beowulf’s strength, Grendel tries to flee, but Beowulf rips Grendel’s arm from its socket. After Grendel has fled to his den (where he dies), Beowulf hangs the arm from the roof of Heorot. 

Celebration at Heorot

The news of Beowulf’s victory over Grendel spreads far and wide. Thanes and chiefs flock to Heorot to celebrate and a poet writes a song comparing Beowulf to the legendary Sigemund. When Hrothgar returns to the mead-hall, he showers Beowulf with praise and reaffirms the connection between them. (The text says that Unferth is notably silent.) 

After some description of Grendel’s arm – “…no time-proofed blade…could cut this brutal, blood-caked claw” – Hrothgar orders the mead-hall repaired (987-988). When the hall is repaired, everyone sits down for a feast. Gifts are lavished on Beowulf and his crew and a poet recites the “saga of Finn” to the assembled lords.  

Beowulf Summary (Continued)

When the poet finishes, Hrothgar’s queen urges him to name his successor (she suggests Hrothulf, Hrothgar’s nephew). She gazes over to where Beowulf sits with her two sons, Hrethric and Hrothmund. After Beowulf is presented with more gifts, Wealhtheow asks Beowulf to treat her sons kindly, then retires. 

This section ends ominously.  The narrator asks, “How could they know fate, the grim shape of things to come” (1233-34). Though the guards are set and weapons close at hand, something wicked this way comes. 

Another Attack 

The good times at Heorot don’t last long. The narrator explains that Grendel’s mother, that “monstrous hell-bride…grief-wracked and ravenous,” is coming for the Danes while they sleep (1259, 1277). When she arrives, the assembled warriors awake and fight. Grendel’s mother flees, but not before grabbing one of King Hrothgar’s trusted advisors, Aeschere. 

The next morning, Beowulf comes to the mead-hall and hears the story of the newest attack. Hrothgar tells Beowulf that Grendel’s mother lives in a lake whose water burns at night. Declaring that “help depends again on you and you alone,” Hrothgar promises Beowulf riches if he defeats this new monster (1376-77).

Beowulf Fights Grendel’s Mother 

Beowulf urges Hrothgar and his men to ride out with him in pursuit of Grendel’s mother. When they reach the lake where Grendel’s mother lives, they find the head of Aeschere. They also see “writhing sea-dragons and monsters” on the slopes near the lake (1425-26). Hrothgar kills one of the monsters with an arrow and then Beowulf prepares to enter the lake. 

The narrator describes Beowulf’s battle gear and we find out that Unfearth has given Beowulf his own sword, named Hrunting. Finally dressed for battle, Beowulf bids Hrothgar farewell. He asks Hrothgar to take care of his crew should he perish, and to send Hygelac the treasure he has won. With that he dives into the water. 

Beowulf Summary (Continued)

Grendel’s mother immediately grabs Beowulf and drags him to her lair, where he is attacked by “droves of sea-beasts” (1510). Beowulf fights them off and swings his blade at Grendel’s mother’s head – to no effect. Beowulf casts his sword aside and grapples with her. She grabs a knife and nearly kills him, but Beowulf sees an ancient sword in the cave, grabs it, and decapitates her. With Grendel’s mother dead, Beowulf looks around the cave. He sees Grendel’s body and takes its head as a trophy. (Please note – unlike the movie, Beowulf does not have sex with Grendel’s mother.)

Victorious, Beowulf swims to the surface, where his men await. They mount Grendel’s head on a spear and return triumphantly to Heorot. 

Another Celebration at Heorot 

Having arrived at Heorot from his battle with Grendel’s mother, Beowulf tells Hrothgar and the assembled warriors of his victory. He explains how he took the ancient sword and smote the monster. He presents the hilt to Hrothgar, who sees on it the story of the great flood. Hrothgar praises Beowulf and reminds him not to become prideful. A banquet is set and the whole hall celebrates Beowulf’s victory. Eventually, Hrothgar retires and Beowulf is guided to his quarters. 

Beowulf Returns Home 

After killing Grendel and Grendel’s mother, Beowulf is excited to return to the land of the Geats. He bids an emotional farewell to the gray-haired Hrothgar, who has the premonition that he will never see Beowulf again. 

Beowulf and his crew make their way back to their treasure-laden ship. When they arrive home, they are taken to the mead-hall of Hygelac, Beowulf’s uncle and king of the Geats. Hygelac wants to hear everything about Beowulf’s adventures. After a brief digression about the inevitability of war between the Danes and the Heatho-Bards, Beowulf tells Hygelac about the killing of Grendel and his mother. 

Beowulf Summary (Continued)

His story finished, Beowulf presents Hygelac with gifts from Hrothgar. The narrator tells us that as a child, Beowulf had been thought a weakling. After his adventure, “every affront to his deserving was reversed” (2189). As a reward for his bravery, Hygelac gives Beowulf a gem-studded sword, land, a hall, and a throne. 

The Dragon Wakes 

In the blink of an eye, fifty years pass. Beowulf becomes King of the Geats and rules well. The narrator tells of a thief who takes a single cup from a dragon’s hoard. This trespass wakes the dragon, who begins to scorch the surrounding farmland. 

After Beowulf hears about the dragon, we get two digressions on Beowulf’s ascension to the throne. The narrator tells us of Hygelac’s death in Friesland and then of the death of Heardred, Hygelac’s son, who was killed by the Swedes. 

Beowulf Summary (Continued)

Beowulf takes twelve men and goes out to hunt the dragon. They eventually find the thief who took the cup and make him guide them to the dragon’s hoard. Before entering the dragon’s lair, Beowulf sits, “sad at heart…sensing his death” (2439-40). He speaks of the ascension of Hygelac (Beowulf’s uncle) to the throne of the Geats and riches and honors that Hygelac gave him. 

Beowulf Attacks the Dragon 

Beowulf senses that his death is near. He tells his men to stay at the entrance to the cave and then enters the dragon’s lair. When the dragon attacks him, Beowulf “struck hard at its enameled scales, but barely cut through” (2575-6). The dragon strikes again and all but one of Beowulf’s comrades flee. Only Wiglaf, son of Weohstan, remains with Beowulf. 

Wiglaf takes his place at Beowulf’s side. The dragon attacks again and Beowulf sword connects with its skull. Wounded, the dragon grabs Beowulf by the neck. Wiglaf stabs the dragon in the belly and Beowulf manages to stab it in the flank and finish it off. 

The dragon is dead, but Beowulf realizes that the dragon’s bite is poison. Knowing his death is near, Beowulf asks Wiglaf to bring the dragon’s hoard to him so that he can see it before he dies. Not having a son, Beowulf is happy to see the riches he may bestow on his clan before he dies. He tells Wiglaf to build a burial mound on a cliff above the sea. His legacy secured, Beowulf gives his armor and helmet to Wiglaf and dies. 

Beowulf’s Funeral 

Wiglaf, alone with the body of Beowulf, mourns his death. With the dragon dead, the men who fled return and see Wiglaf sitting next to Beowulf’s body. Wiglaf tells how Beowulf slayed the dragon and scolds the men as cowards. He says that their land will be taken from them once people hear how they disgraced themselves. 

Wiglaf sends word of the battle to the Geats. Now that Beowulf is dead, the Geats fear attacks from other tribes – especially the Swedes, with whom the Geats have a long feud. Wiglaf selects seven of Beowulf’s thanes to fetch the dragon-hoard. The hoard collected, the Geats build a pyre for their fallen lord. As the body burns, we hear the keening of a Geatish woman, who sings of “her nation invaded, enemies on the rampage, bodies in piles, slavery and abasement” (3152-54).

Beowulf Summary (Continued)

The Geats collect what remains from the pyre and put it in a burial mound on the headlands, “a marker that sailors could see from far away” (3158). They add jewels and other treasures from the dragon’s hoard to the mound, after which twelve warriors ride around the tomb, chanting dirges. In the last lines, Beowulf is described as “the man most gracious and fair-minded, kindest to his people and keenest to win fame” (3181-2).

Wrapping Up – Beowulf Summary

Given its context, getting into Beowulf takes more imagination (and perhaps more empathy) than most texts. I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure how to access what seemed like a pretty basic story – strong guy kills three monsters. However, after reading Seamus Heaney’s translation and J.R.R. Tolkien’s amazing essay, “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics” – I can now appreciate Beowulf in a different way. At its center, Beowulf is a single man trying to secure the future of his clan against a host of enemies. The fact that Beowulf’s death means the possible end of the Geats makes his story even more poignant. 

If you’ve found this article useful or interesting, you can also check out my summaries and analyses of 1984, Frankenstein, The Great Gatsby, Hamlet, The Crucible, Beloved, Brave New World, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Macbeth, Jane Eyre, Of Mice and Men, and Romeo and Juliet.