Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2.7, Technical University of Braunschweig (Englisches Seminar), course: Survey Course: British Literature I, language: English, abstract: ''Beowulf'' and ''Hamlet'' are probably two of the best-known works in British literature. Both deal with themes that are in many aspects interesting and fascinating to us modern human-beings. They are stories about royalty, heroism, honor, love, glory, hate and revenge. Ingredients that are even today essentially for every movie which is supposed to bring in money. But during the bygone ages ''Beowulf" and ''Hamlet" take place in, making money was not the only goal. The authors wanted to deliver certain messages to the audience. In this work I will concentrate on the concepts of honor and revenge in both texts. What is considered as honorable? Which behaviour is typical for a coward? How important is revenge and how can it be achieved? And, most important, how does these concepts differ if you take a closer look on ''Beowulf'' and ''Hamlet''? What are the differences between the ages? To answer this questions it will be important to compare the main characters, as there are Beowulf and Hamlet. Both of them are confronted with situations in which decisions have to be made. Decisions on how to act, on how to react to different events and threats in their lives. By watching the characters, it should be possible to point out differences and similarities between them. I suspect that there are quite a lot of differences, because ''Hamlet'' several hundred years younger than ''Beowulf''. Therefore some concepts (e.g. that of revenge) may have changed during the time. At first I will do a critical assessment on the sources I used for this paper. I think this is very important, because over the years a lot of different varieties of both texts were published. The second step will be to analyse them in order to ga

Finest heroic poem in Old English celebrates the exploits of Beowulf, a young nobleman of southern Sweden. Combines myth, Christian and pagan elements, and history into a powerful narrative. Genealogies.

Essay from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 4.00 (very good), , course: Shakespeare II, language: English, abstract: This study intends to analyse not only the concept of revenge, how universal and motivating is this feeling but also how justifiable is it through the lens of the characters in 'Hamlet'.

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Duisburg-Essen, language: English, abstract: In this essay I will examine the warrior values of the Anglo-Saxon society. The central part is formed by a detailed assessment of Beowulf and The Wanderer. Before I turn to the literary works in question, however, I will present general considerations drawn from a number of scholarly sources which will form the basis of my argumentation. The first chapter outlines the historical context necessary to comprehend the full complexion of the topic and to justify the choice of the texts used.

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject German Studies - Older German Literature, Medieval Studies, Knox Grammar School (-), language: English, abstract: In the text Beowulf, there exist three separate strands of mutually reinforcing religious thought which have been developed as a result of the various contextual forces influencing the text throughout its history. These three strands, Myth, Paganism, and Christianity are all present in three distinctly different interpretations of the storyline of Beowulf, and were not written into the text with deliberate intent by the multiple composers; rather, they represent the spirituality of each of the separate societies and cultures which were their geneses. As a result of this stratification of the three separate strata, highly conflicting and different ideas are present in each interpretation of the text. Within each interpretation there are several distinct ideas which are promoted by that specific interpretation, and which are separate from the other layers of the text. This results from the three different contextual influences on each layer of the text, which are the influence of universal folklore morphology on the Mythical interpretation, the influence of Paganism from the Scandinavian Dark Ages on the Pagan interpretation, and the influence of Christianity from early Anglo-Saxon England on the Christian interpretation.

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, , language: English, abstract: Shakespeare was a groundbreaking pioneer in his time and wrote plays that were totally different from anything the world had ever seen before. He explored the human spirit and what happens when it is challenged. He also tested the limits of language, inventing new words and phrases. Big Willy wrote Hamlet between 1599 and 1601, and the play tells the story of Prince Hamlet. Hamlet, in particular, has a lot of "most famous" things in it. It is Shakespeare's most famous play about Shakespeare's most famous character Hamlet, and it contains Shakespeare's most famous line: "To be or not to be, that is the question." If extraterrestrials were to visit Planet Earth, we would probably put a copy of Hamlet in their welcome basket. It's that good. Now, over 400 years after William Shakespeare wrote the play, readers and audiences are still connecting with it. Here I am going to consider “Hamlet” as a revenge tragedy.