In beowulf where is the dragons lair

There are three times havocs in the novel, and the location is mainly under the sea, so it is different with the Havoc in Heaven. After Monkey King has finished the magical After Monkey King has finished the magical and martial skills learning and returned to the Huaguo Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: Before and After In recent decades, while a new genre of martial arts films which consists of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and its followers is in development, the anti-Japanese sentiment has continued to serve the core theme of martial arts films due to the problematic nature of Sino-Japanese relations, including The notion of a strongly proactive state promoting The poet of Beowulf was not interested in slaves; they are never mentioned in the poem.

The word peow occurs nowhere in the text. Is it not better to allow this fleeing thrall to take himself out of the epic completely? II The Early History of the Treasure How the dragon's hoard first came to be placed in the earth is set forth in a long passage , some thirty lines after the beginning of the adventure with the dragon. This passage relates that a warrior, the last survivor of a noble race, deposited the treasure in a grave- mound, and that he lived on awhile thereafter, until death put an end to his grief.

In a lyric outburst, quoted in direct discourse, this solitary warrior recalls the past glories of his kin, and bewails his own misfortune. Olrik made the passage in Beowulf the basis for a new and very interesting sugges- tion, — that in an earlier form of the tale, the dragon was the lamenting warrior himself, who, like Fafnir, had been transformed from a man into a monster.

This hypothesis he supported by apt citations from Scandinavian litera- ture, early and late, to show the frequency of such meta- morphoses. In the poem as it stands, the dragon is not connected at all with the aged warrior, but this separation was explained by Olrik as due to late Christian influence.

Olrik expressed himself cautiously, but his theory has been accepted without question by Panzer, who makes it the basis of far-reaching generalizations. Panzer's discussion will be found on pp. The Danish popular tale cited by Bugge is short; it may he given entire in translation. In it dwelt twelve thieves, who employed the device of stretching a cord across the road, so that when travellers came by, a bell rang in the cave. But since they were well concealed, it happened that one after another of them died [a natural death], so that finally only the twelfth remained.

He was very old and had a long grey beard. At the very end of his life, he was walking through the woods, when he met a man to whom he promised to give a big chest, full of gold and many precious things, provided he would bury him when his time came.

It says nothing of the single surviving warrior, but relates that the treasure was deposited in the earth by illustrious chiefs peodnas not be opened nor anything taken out, before the man got across the water. And, as is customary, the men who were dragging the treasure were cautioned to be silent and not to speak a word, until they got the chest to land.

But as they were pulling hardest, one of those who were drawing the chest forgot to hold his tongue, and immediately the treasure sank down through the ice. Now one can only feel the chest, when one searches for it with a pole at that place.

Olrik finds that the resemblances pointed out by Bugge are matters of detail, and that the essentials of the two narratives are not in agreement, — much the same sort of argument, it will be observed, as he used in refuting Sievers' parallel between the dragon in Beowulf and the Frotho dragon in Saxo. Nor does Olrik believe the " R0veren ved Grasten " necessarily the development of an ancient traditional tale; the hero is elsewhere unknown, the nameless champion in Beowulf does not prove his existence, and a traditional tale preserving so many details in modern Danish, would have been more individual [enestaende].

He regarded the ele- giac passage, 3. Although his argument is wrong, his conclusion appears to be right, for other reasons than he perceived. Stylistically, too, these lines are very different from the elegiac passage just cited. They appear to me, after a careful examination of all the evidence, to represent a much earlier conception of the deposition of the treasure. I do not think there are sufficient grounds for deciding whether or not this conception is of Scandi- navian origin, but I do believe that the episode with which Bugge, Olrik, and Panzer operated is in all probability a late native English development, not Scandinavian at all.

If this is true, the arguments of these scholars must be radically modified, if indeed they can be regarded as valid. The chief importance of an investigation of this matter is not the refutation of the hypothesis of other scholars, however brilliant these may be, but rather the reaching of a clearer perception of the relations which the two con- trasting passages bear to each other. Upon such study further conclusions in regard to the origin and develop- ment of the dragon-material in Beowulf must in part depend.

The two passages in question must first be exam- ined with some care, in order that their larger significance may not be obscured by failure to understand details of the text. For one place in particular, which presents great difficulty and has been much discussed, I venture to offer a new explanation. The second passage, which appears to me to embody more primitive material, may be taken first.

The poet has just described the dragon as lying stark in death, singed by his own infernal fires. He now continues : Beside [the dragon] were heaped chalices and flagons, flat vessels lay there, and a precious sword eaten through by rust, which for a thousand winters had been there in the bosom of the earth. This is the first mention of the curse upon the gold.

The narrative continues : Then was it evident that the business went ill for him who wrongfully guarded within the treasures by the wall. The warder had ere this slain One of a band of few; then that crime was in dire fashion avenged. The dragon, who had no right to the gold, got the worst of his feud with the G-eatas.

He slew Beowulf indeed, but the feud was ended in fearful wise for him. The poet next refers to the fate of Beowulf: Uncertain is it when a brave man will reach the end of his destined days, when longer he may not, a man among his kin, dwell in the mead-hall.

So was it with Beowulf when he sought the warder of the mount, deadly enmities; he himself knew not in what wise his parting from the world should be. For till the day of doom had they laid a mighty curse upon it, the far-famed chiefs, who there had placed the gold, that the man should be overcome by his sins, confined in idol-groves, bound in the bonds of hell, tormented with tortures, if he plundered that place, unless he, rich in gold, had very zealously given heed in the past to the grace of the Lord.

The last two lines are a celebrated crux; I do not think they have ever been correctly explained. The lie refers most naturally to the se of the line preceding, continuing the thought thus: the man who ventured to touch the treasure would be damned by the curse resting upon it, — unless he, despite the pride of his possessions, were strong in the fear of the Lord, in which case he might be delivered.

The poet is shy of allowing heathen powers their full potency; he is quick to qualify such powers by the superior might of the Christian God. Some twenty lines above, in the passage already quoted, he makes exactly the same kind of qualification.

The gold was bound by a spell so that no one could touch it, — unless the True King of Glories should decree that the hoard be 4th edition of his Beowulf, Part I, p. I have heen unable to procure a copy of Part II of the same edition, and the New York publishers inform me that it has not yet been issued.

Consequently I am unable to say how far the rendering suggested above represents Holthausen's understanding of the pas- sage. I imagine, however, from Holthausen's reading goldhuxete[s] that he does not take agendes to mean God, which gives a very different sense from the reading here proposed. It combines the significance of " active, keen, bold " See Chambers, Glossary, sub hwcet with the idea of the possession of gold. Perhaps the word " prosperous " might come near the meaning: I have rendered it here "rich in gold" in order to keep the double significance of the phrase.

It is quite in place as applying to the secg of , who might plunder the hoard. The rendering " greedy for gold," favored by some editors, seems to me to read into the phrase a meaning which does not belong to it, although it might assist the interpretation of suggested above, as pointing with added sharpness the antithesis 'between the man's possessions and his piety.

The ms. It seems to me more in accord with Anglo-Saxon idiom to make it an adjective. The possession of gold was accounted dangerous; it was likely to lead a man into excessive self-confidence But piety, bringing the favor of the Lord, gives a man great practical advantages, " one who putteth his trust in the Creator can prevail over woe and exile " The reluctance of the poet not to allow full power to heathen charms not only explains these qualifying phrases about the superior might of God ff.

In earlier versions, this motive, as leading to Beowulf's death, would probably have been still plainer; although it is really obvious enough on a close reading of the text as it stands. The fact that the very pious hero falls a victim to the curse is one of the incon- sistencies into which the poet was led in a retelling of the old pagan tale with a new motivation.

The Christian God was superior to spells, and the Christian hero was the one who ought to be saved by the Christian God, on account of his piety ; but the story made him die, and so there was nothing for the poet to do but to leave to the old charms and the dragon power enough to kill him off.

The other account of the deposition of the treasures in the earth must now be examined. The thief is plundering the hoard, and, so far as may be judged from the very damaged lines, just laying hands upon the fatal cup. A barrow all finished stood on the flat ground near to the waves, new beside the ness, secure in its fastening; and into this did the shepherd of the rings bear a precious deal of the treasures of noble men, massive gold, and he spoke a few words: "Hold thou now, O Earth, since heroes cannot, the possessions of noble warriors.

Lo, from thy bosom in days of old good men obtained it; war -death hath claimed them, fearful life-bale, all the men of my people; they have given up this life, they have looked their last upon the joys of the hall. I have no sword-attendant, no one to polish the cup with its golden patines, the precious vessel; the warriors have departed.

Now there is no joy of the harp, no cheer of the glee-wood, no good hawk swoopeth through the hall, nor doth the courser swift strike the courtyard with his hoofs. Death hath indeed claimed imany of the race of men. All this is obviously very different from the account of the placing of the hoard in the earth which has just been analyzed. There is here no mention of a curse on the treasure. It is buried in the ground by a solitary man, the last survivor of his race, while in the other account this was done by " illustrious chiefs " There is also a great difference in the style and literary flavor of the two passages.

They are only softened by references to the Christian God. The narrative above, on the other hand, is melancholy, deliberate, elegiac. Its lyrical quality arises not only from its general insistence upon the ubi sunt theme, but also from the spoken lament of the unhappy warrior who mourns the glories of his departed kinsmen.

The retention of two or more dissimilar conceptions of the same scene is by no means unusual in Beowulf. This matter has been discussed at some length in another article, in connection with the Haunted Mere.

In other cases, it appears that native English imagination has been at work; that certain passages are not due to tradition, but to the creative power of the poet who put Beowulf into its present shape. What is the situation here? The most plausible hypothesis appears to me this: that the earlier form of the dragon-story told that the treasure had been deposited by men who placed a curse upon it; that in due course of time a dragon found the treasure, and proceeded to guard it ;.

This is all in the poem, as clear as day ff. With the introduction of Christi- anity, however, it was felt that the power of the curse was incompatible with the might of the Christian God, and so references to the superior powers of the Lord were inserted ff. But the placing of the treasure in the earth and the weakening of the earlier motivation suggested to the Beowulf-ipoet an opportunity for a new development of the tale, of a sort which found high favor among Northumbrian bards.

He made the situation the excuse for a long elegiac passage, introducing a single solitary warrior depositing the gold, and mourning, in the approved Northumbrian fashion, the glories of his de- parted race. This situation is very characteristic of the Northumbrian lyrics, which almost without exception deal with the emotions of a single individual placed in difficult and pathetic circumstances, — a wanderer, a seafarer, a lover, a banished wife, a forsaken woman.

The somewhat inconsistent " curse-passage " was retained indeed — the Beowulf-ipoet never minded inconsistencies — but in so inconspicuous a way that its significance has escaped even the gimlet eyes of scholars. If this hypothesis is correct, Olrik's theory that the solitary hero was metamorphosed into the dragon, like Fafnir, will obviously not hold water. The intruder, a slave on the run from a hard-handed master, intends no harm by his theft and flees in a panic with the goblet.

The poet relates that many centuries earlier, the last survivor of an ancient race buried the treasure in the barrow when he realized that the treasure would be of no use to him because he, like his ancestors, was destined to die. He carefully buried the precious objects, lamenting all the while his lonely state. The defeat of his people had left the treasures to deteriorate. The dragon chanced upon the hoard and has been guarding it for the past three hundred years.

Waking up to find the goblet stolen, the dragon bursts forth from the barrow to hunt the thief, scorching the earth as it travels. Not finding the offender, the dragon goes on a rampage, breathing fire and incinerating homes and villages. It begins to emerge nightly from its barrow to torment the countryside, still seething with rage at the theft. Beowulf steels himself and goes into the barrow to fight the dragon. He shouts out a challenge and the dragon, recognizing a human voice, bursts forward, breathing fire.

There is a crazy battle scene, Beowulf trying to use his shield, the dragon writhing around and trying to burn him to a crisp. Beowulf swings his sword, but only gives the dragon a minor cut. The wound angers the dragon, and he steps up his attack. Beowulf's sword fails for the first time; he has to retreat. He's humiliated. The dragon takes a deep breath and hits Beowulf with another blast of fire. Beowulf is close to being defeated.

Ten of Beowulf's hand-picked men break ranks and run for their lives into the woods nearby. Only one remains—Wiglaf, who remembers how well Beowulf has treated him and his family. The narrator describes Wiglaf's father, Weohstan, who earned a sword and mail-shirt in battle and passed them on to his son. Wiglaf, bearing his father's sword and mail-shirt, will enter battle for the first time at Beowulf's side, fighting the dragon.

Before rushing to Beowulf's aid, Wiglaf lectures his companions, reminding them of how good a king Beowulf has been and how generously he rewarded them for their loyalty. Wiglaf says that, even though Beowulf wanted to face the dragon alone, he clearly needs their help.

Wiglaf also says that he would rather die fighting the dragon than go home to the rest of the Geats in cowardly safety. Again, this is a little confusing, because it seemed like the other ten guys already ran away, but this must happen before they skedaddle.

Wiglaf goes to Beowulf's side and encourages him, reminding him of his boasts, his great deeds, and his fame.