Parallels between beowulf and
Parallels between beowulf andParallels between Beowulf and The Hobbit “Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook? Canst thou put an hook into his nose? Or bore his jaw through with a thorn . . . his scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal . . .. Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.” (Job :1-2,15,19) When you take the time to compare modern stories about dragons with ancient one’s it becomes obvious that modern writers use the same “model dragon” for their dragon character as did the ancient writers. Between the epic Beowulf and the modern “epic” The Hobbit, there are many parallels. The dragons have the same type of bed. They sleep on a mound of stolen treasure. “A king’s ransom of
ancient treasure lay in that earth house. Once, long ago, a noble warrior had given the matter grave thought before he hid that vast inheritance dear to his people . . . . . . a kingdoms bounty, priceless rings and plated gold a worthy
hoard! (2232-36,2244-46)” In The Hobbit the dragon is introduced by saying: “there he lay, a vast red-golden dragon, fast asleep . . . Beneath him, under all his limbs and his huge coiled tail, and about him on all sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, gold
wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red-stained in the ruby light. (The Hobbit pg.206)” This sounds comparable to a “kings ransom. For some reason people, when they see the dragons treasure, have an uncontrollable urge to steal some of it. “The wretch was terrified! /Yet still he reached out for more disaster/ and clutched the cup (230,231)” An interesting parallel is also that it is a cup stolen in each story. “He grasped a great two-handed cup, as heavy as he could carry, cast one fearful eye upwards [he was afraid but did it anyway] . . .his heart was beating and more fevered shaking was in his legs . . . but he still clutched the cup, (The Hobbit, pg. 206,207) Another thing that can be seen is that the dragons wake up with the same rage when they find that they have been robbed. They also react in the same way, burning down a town or two seems to be the norm. “Blazing with wrath . . . . . . at times he struck inwards, seeking his cup, and saw again how someone had tampered with his treasure, disturbed his gold . . . By the time night...
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