Intertwining Monsters
Jaylene Sturguess
Dear Reader Letter
I chose these topics for my multi-genre project because I figured they would be the easiest choices. However, for my theme I noticed that Beowulf there was an obvious monsters and criminal theme. I wanted to show in my dear diary entry that there could possible be a reason for Grendel being the way he was. In my ballad for my theme about monsters and criminals I wanted to show that even though they are powerful and strong that they are capable of being defeated. While reading the "Pardoner's Tale" I stuck with my theme about monsters and criminals, but showed what caused theses people to be this way and that was wealth. One thing I learned was how to write a ballad. One thing that I felt that I did well was creating my themes. One challenging thing while writing this was to make sure that all of the themes correlated throughout my papers. One thing I would to do in the future while writing my ballad is to make sure that I have the same amount of syllables in each line.
Dear Diary
Reflection: My theme for Beowulf is that anyone could turn into a monster or criminal due to their childhood. I am writing as one of the Geats that are Beowulf’s warriors. I am connecting my theme through a diary entry by telling my perspective of how Grendel is an awful monster that kills people, but try and understand why Grendel is the way he is.
Dear Diary,
We just arrived in Denmark from our long trip from Sweden. We have heard about this monster, Grendel, and so Beowulf wants to be the one to conquer Grendel. As one of his warriors it is my duty to honor Beowulf by accompanying him and the rest of the warriors to Denmark to talk to the king, Hrothgar, about the monster. As soon as Beowulf explains to the king why we have visited, he welcomed us into his home. Hrothgar told us geats the stories of Grendel and how he only attacks during the nighttime. By the time it was bedtime I was so scared to sleep I just layed there. I thought about all the terrible things Grendel had done and tried to think what made him the way he is now. I heard that he lives in a den at the bottom of a marsh with his mother. Before you get to the bottom of the marshes, there is a lake where at night is so hot that it burns anyone trying to get down to the den. Also there are roots in the lake making sure that barely any light can reach the den. I wonder if his home is making him miserable enough to kill. Not only do I think that Grendel’s cold, dark, and gloomy living quarters is making him go insane, but also the need to impress his mother. When Grendel kills people he brings back their bones and their gold to the den. From what I have interpreted from these stories, I think that he is bringing the bodies and gold to his mother to show her what he accomplished.Ballad
Reflection: I am writing a ballad over The Battle with Grendel. My theme is that monsters are powerful and hard to destroy, but they are capable of being stopped. I'm going to talk about how Grendel goes to Herot expecting the Danes to be there, but instead is faced by Beowulf’s men. Grendel meets his first opponent that he is actually afraid of losing the battle.
Stomping through the muddy hills
Grendel came to kill
Arriving at the castle
Beowulf and his men caused a hastle
With the Danes gone and Beowulf’s men taking their place
Grendel starts to speed up his pace
When Beowulf catches Grendel off guard
Grendel knows this battle is going to be hard
Grendel taking the lead
Knowing no sword can make him bleed
Beowulf realizes this
And throws his sword aside with a hiss
Beowulf stronger than Grendel thought
Gave Grendel’s arm a swat
Beowulf’s men saw his arm lying on the ground
As Grendel ran out of the castle in bounds
Personal Letter
Reflection: I am writing a personal letter over “The Pardoner’s Tale”. My theme is that wealth and greed is what turns people into monsters. I am going to be writing as an outsider who watched the whole scene go down. I am going to talk about how being greedy is what killed the brothers and made them turn into monsters towards the end of the story.
Personal Letter
Sitting outside on my porch, I began to wonder if anything exciting will ever happen this far out of town or if I will be bored the rest of the day. I began to accept the fact that I will be bored today until I saw three brothers walking next to each other talking about finding this person named Death. Soon a poor old man popped out of the bushes and told them where to find Death. Of course I was interested, so I followed the brothers but made sure not be seen. The brothers seemed to be close and confine in one another. All of a sudden, they started to get excited and talk fast. I could not understand them so I decided to edge a little closer to see what was happening. As it turns out, they stumbled upon some gold and were fussing over how to split it among one another equally. The oldest brother soon suggested that they should stay with the gold until they figure out how to get it back to their house. All the brothers agreed. The older brother also said that one of them should go to town and bring back wine and bread. The youngest brother was picked to take the journey all the way back into town. At this point, I became bored again and was about to head home until I heard the two eldest brother scheming up a plot to kill the youngest brother. By the time the youngest brother got back, the other two brothers jumped the youngest and started stabbing him. When the youngest brother was dead, the two brothers left decided to celebrate. They began drinking the wine the youngest brother had brought back. A couple minutes later the two brothers fell to the ground and did not move again. Curious to see what happened, I walked over to the scene and found that the two older brothers were dead as well. I picked up one of the wine bottles off the ground. I smelled it and came to the conclusion that there was poison in the drinks. Everything became clear to me then. Each brother wanted the gold for themselves so they all came up with a plan of killing one another. Watching these brothers go from being close to one another to becoming monsters and killing each other taught me a lesson. The lesson I learned was that money can turn any person into a horrible greedy monster.