The story of Beowulf is the story of a seemingly invincible hero written by an unknown monk sometime in the 11th century. In the story, Beowulf completes multiple quests; however, despite there being multiple quests, all of them follow multiple archetypes commonly seen in epic poetry. The first quest that Beowulf must complete is slaying Grendel, a hostile monster that is terrorising the Danes. Second, he must kill Grendel’s mother who took the head of one of Hrothgar’s closest friends. Finally, Beowulf is tasked with slaying a dragon that is aggravated that someone stole his treasure. In Beowulf’s first quest, he is tasked with killing Grendel, a monster said to have the strength of thirty men. Beowulf takes the quest to show that he is one of the …show more content…
However, the celebration is cut short when Grendel’s mother kill and takes the head of Aeschere, Hrothgar’s most trusted advisor. This attack acts as the call for Beowulf to defeat Grendel’s mother. Traveling to the swamp in which Grendel’s mother resides would be a difficult task for most. The reason for this difficulty includes that the water in the swamp is on fire at night, and the path to the mere is filled with monsters. Despite these obstacles, Beowulf travels fearlessly to the swamp and arrives unscathed. Upon arrival at the location of Grendel’s mother’s lair, Aeschere’s head is seen at the foot of the cliff. Reaching the lair of Grendel’s mother is Beowulf’s biggest obstacle in this quest. Beowulf must slowly sink to the bottom of the swamp in order to reach his foe. For most humans, this task would be impossible, it took days to sink to the bottom of the swamp, most would have drowned or suffocated. Beowulf again shows his great strength and courage, as he enters the water and patiently waits to sink to the bottom. The sinking would take multiple days, but nonetheless, Beowulf succeeds and reaches the lair of Grendel’s