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Definition of Verbal Irony
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging outside and someone remarks "what... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean. When there's a hurricane raging... read full definition
Verbal irony occurs when the literal meaning of what someone says is different from—and often opposite to—what they actually mean... read full definition
A Second Fight (Lines 1408–1639)
Explanation and Analysis—Hall-Guest:
With notable irony, the narrator refers to Beowulf as a guest at the home of Grendel’s mother, a foreboding underwater lair. After Grendel's mother attacks Heorot in retaliation for the death of her “sole-born son,” Hrothgar commissions Beowulf to track her down and kill her. After swimming to her lair, they fight:
Seized then by shoulder, shrank not from combat,
the Geatish war-prince Grendel's mother.
Flung then the fierce one, filled with wrath,
his deadly foe, that she fell to ground.
Swift on her part she paid him back
with grisly grasp, and grappled with him.
Spent with struggle, stumbled the warrior,
fiercest of fighting-men, fell adown.
On the hall-guest she hurled herself, hent her short sword,
broad and brown-edged, the bairn to avenge,
the sole-born son.
Grendel’s mother proves to be a dangerous foe, and the two struggle fiercely after Beowulf learns that his blade has no effect on her. In the midst of this tumultuous battle, the narrator describes Beowulf as “the hall-guest.” This characterization is notably ironic, as Beowulf is by no means a guest of Grendel’s mother, and her lair is far from the warm and cheerful hall of Heorot. Through this ironic description, the narrator registers the complexity of Beowulf’s actions in this scene. He has, after all, tracked her down to her home in order to kill her, despite the fact that he is not a Dane and has no responsibility to avenge the death of Aeschere, who was earlier killed by Grendel’s mother.
Beowulf’s Funeral (Lines 3110–3182)
Explanation and Analysis—Shepherd of Gems:
The narrator uses a metaphor that compares the ferocious dragon to a “shepherd” when describing a scene in which several of Beowulf’s men, including Wiglaf, furnish his grave with the treasures they find in the dragons’ hoard:
No lots they cast for keeping the hoard
when once the warriors saw it in hall,
altogether without a guardian,
lying there lost. And little they mourned
when they had hastily haled it out,
dear-bought treasure! The dragon they cast,
the worm, o'er the wall for the wave to take,
and surges swallowed that shepherd of gems.
Then the woven gold on a wain was laden—
countless quite!—and the king was borne, hoary
hero, to Hrones-Ness.
The men, mourning the death of their virtuous King, have no interest in keeping the “dear-bought” but rusty treasures. Instead of dividing the treasure between themselves, they decide to bury it with the King. They are much less respectful, however, to the body of the slain dragon, which they toss over the cliff to be “swallowed” by the waves below. Here, the narrator describes the dragon as a “shepherd of gems.” In this metaphor, the dragon is imagined as taking care of the hoard of treasures, just as a shepherd takes care of his flock of sheep. There is a sense of bitter irony in this metaphor, as the dragon did not protect life, as a shepherd does, but instead destroyed it.
Related Themes:
