Beowulf Journals

Ln. 2651. "...I would rather my body were robed in the same burning blaze as my gold-giver's body than go back home bearing arms..." Wiglaf, the only one to stay with Beowulf told the other men how pathetic they were. Even though it was his first time fighting he still understood the concept of never leaving your lord and if his lord died, he'd die there fighting too.

Ln. 2682. "...It was never his fortune to be helped in combat by the cutting edge of weapons made by iron..." It's ironic that he had told his men earlier that he would 'rather not use a weapon if I knew any other way to grapple with the dragon and make good my boast as I did against Grendel'. Swords made by men never worked.

Ln. 2706. "...Beowulf dealt it a deadly wound..." Wiglaf let Beowulf kill the dragon, but Beowulf should have let Wiglaf kill the dragon because it would have been good for Wiglaf to have some fame. Beowulf should have finally let another warrior do something other than watch.

Ln. 2729. "...Now is the time when I would have wanted to bestow this armor on my own son..." failure to create a successor - there's no one under him in his blood line, no heir to take over his throne when he dies.

Ln. 2749. "my going will be easier for having seen the treasure..." Beowulf is greedy, just like the dragon, and just like Hrothgar told him to not be.

Ln. 2997. "...that I have been allowed to leave my people so well endowed on the day I die..." Yes, on the die he died they are all rich, but that doesn't mean he left them well. They're all in trouble.

Ln. 2804. "...it will loom on the horizon..." Grendel (besides his head) and his mother corpses lie deep in the water where hell consumed them, and Beowulf wants a barrow to be placed on the horizon where the light touches it (heaven).

Ln. 2844. "...bought and paid for by Beowulf's death..." It's ironic that Beowulf died trying to kill a dragon that guarded treasure that could pay for his wyrgild...

Ln. 2890. "...a warrior will sooner die than live a life of shame..." Dying would be easier than living a life of shame knowing you were to cowardly to stand by the man who led you. Everyone was to know of their fear.

Ln. 2911. "Now war is looming over our nation, soon it will be known to Franks and Frisians, far and wide, that the king is gone..." Wiglaf is very smart, and is able to predict that the worse is still to come. Beowulf didn't prepare them.