Essential Question #4 Part B

Hrothgar's farewell to Beowulf is both kind-hearted and extremely discomforting. His farewell basically generalizes the idea that Beowulf will one day be destroyed.That one day natures finest element will come knocking on his front door asking him to follow. This element is death and it will come, Hrothgar says, whether through battle or through old age. The worshiped, god-like Beowulf is not god like after all as he is only human. He constantly says that Beowulf's time will come.In addition to Hrothgar's rather interesting philosophical interpretation of Beowulf's fate he begins telling Beowulf of his unconditional gratitude to God. "Thus I thank the Creator, the Eternal Lord, that after our afflictions i have lived to see, to see with my own eyes this blood-stained head"(Lines 1762-1764). Obviously Hrothgar says this quote as he is overcome in joy in being able to gaze down on Grendel's bloody head for the first and last time. However, he does not really thank Beowulf here, he sort of hints that he is grateful for Beowulf's arrival in this farewell speech. Maybe he gave Beowulf a wink of appreciation after telling him that he was eventually going to die, or maybe even a pat on the head, after all he seems to be quite a character. It does not seem like Hrothgar uses his time to say farewell to express his unconditional gratitude. It seems as though he told Beowulf that he must, in modern English, live life to the fullest as it passes by quicker than expected. Hrothgar says that he has fought many battles and is overwhelmed in joy in the fact that he gazes down on Grendel's bloody face for the first and last time. Hrothgar indirectly thanks and blatantly warns Beowulf that the good things in life (which is the gift of life) never last and that he should live like never before, before it is all ripped away from his pulverizing grip and stripped from his very indestructible character.