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Definition of Pathos
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Pathos is... read full definition
Pathos, along with logos and ethos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Grendel Attacks (Lines 86–193)
Explanation and Analysis—Too Cruel That Sorrow:
The narrator uses pathos when describing Grendel’s attacks on the Danes at Heorot and the eventual abandonment of the mead-hall. After Grendel enters Heorot at night, abducting and murdering 30 of Hrothgar’s warriors while they sleep, the narrator states:
Then at the dawning, as day was breaking,
the might of Grendel to men was known;
then after wassail was wail uplifted,
loud moan in the morn. The mighty chief,
atheling excellent, unblithe sat,
labored in woe for the loss of his thanes,
when once had been traced the trail of the fiend,
spirit accurst: too cruel that sorrow,
too long, too loathsome. Not late the respite;
with night returning, anew began
ruthless murder [...]
Thus ruled unrighteous and raged his fill
one against all; until empty stood
that lordly building, and long it bode so.
Twelve years tide the trouble he bore.
Here, the narrator uses highly emotional language to emphasize the toll of these attacks on the Danes. The discovery of the abductions and murders the morning after the attack leads to a “loud moan” from the remaining men. The King is particularly affected, and the narrator describes him as “labored in woe for the loss of his thanes,” feeling a sense of “sorrow” that is “too cruel,” “too long,” and “too loathsome.” When Grendel resumes his attacks the following day, the “lordly building” which was once a place of celebration is abandoned for twelve years. Here, the narrator wields pathos to highlight the sorrow of the Danes, drawing readers into the Danes' grief.
Related Themes:
The Dragon (Lines 2200–2323)
Explanation and Analysis—The Last of His Race:
After an unnamed man steals a golden goblet from the hoard of a dragon, the dragon attacks the Geats, killing many and destroying Beowulf’s home. In a scene suffused with pathos that foreshadows the difficulties that the Geats will face following Beowulf’s death, the narrator explains that the hoard was assembled by a man who was the last member of his race after a series of disastrous wars. The narrator reports the man as saying:
Now hold thou, earth, since heroes may not,
what earls have owned! Lo, erst from thee
brave men brought it! But battle-death seized
and cruel killing my clansmen all,
robbed them of life and a liegeman's joys.
None have I left to lift the sword,
or to cleanse the carven cup of price,
beaker bright. My brave are gone.
And the helmet hard, all haughty with gold,
shall part from its plating. Polishers sleep
who could brighten and burnish the battle-mask;
and those weeds of war that were wont to brave
over bicker of shields the bite of steel
rust with their bearer.
The speaker of this passage is the final survivor of a doomed race which fell to “battle-death.” As his people’s last living representative, he collects their treasures and hides them in a barrow, which later becomes the dragon’s hoard. Here, the man’s emotional lament evokes pathos as he expresses the pain of outliving all of his friends and family members. Additionally, his description of the wars that claimed the lives of his compatriots foreshadows events that occur after Beowulf’s lifetime. As the narrator notes, the Geats suffer greatly after the death of their King, as they return to fighting their old enemies, the Frisians, the Swedes, and the Franks. This passage, then, mournfully registers the threat of civilizational collapse.
Related Themes:
