Many items have different values in different cultures and in different time periods. Among communities, the same product might have five different values, depending upon necessity of the item, rarity, and beauty. Gold is one such precious metal...

Ruth Mazo Karras argued that “the acquisition of masculinity in the European later Middle Ages was primarily a matter of proving oneself against others.” Strong male characters in texts such as Beowulf and Paradise Lost demonstrate that this...

“Once upon a time, someone decided that we were the losers. But there are two sides to every story. And our side has not been told!” says Prince Charming to a room full of “villains” who are left to rot after their adversaries were given “happily...

An often-explored trope of both contemporary and classic literature is the utilization of somewhat morbid imagery to further a narrative or perhaps convey an underlying message in a vividly grotesque manner. One such example can be found within...

Throughout early English literature as well as modern stories of various mediums, a popular literary device is that of allegory. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary describes allegory as “the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and...

A former president of the United States of America, Harry S. Truman, had once said, “actions are the seed of fate; deeds grow into destiny.” This quote can also be contributed to two of the famous Anglo-Saxon tales, Beowulf and The Seafarer. In...

Heroes are supposed to embody society’s ideals as an individual, but they do not always manage to live up to expectations. There are numerous circumstances that cause a person to act in a way that is dissonant to what he or she believes. The short...

While Beowulf is structured around its three key confrontations between man and monster - Grendel, Grendel’s mother and the Dragon respectively - the plot is punctuated by a series of digressions that recount other heroic, or culturally...

Old English texts were written in a period when the English civilization was in the progress of converting to Christianity from their previous Pagan beliefs. Hence poetry such as Beowulf contains a blend of elements from Christianity and the Pagan...

Syncretism is the combination of elements from many different cultures to make something more extravagant (Loewen, J. W., 2017). Syncretism is be based off of religions, stories, poetry, and a lot more. Not only this, but syncretism is also used...

In Tolkien’s view, voiced in his seminal lecture of 1936, the world of monsters is “essential” to the configuration of Beowulf; one half of a series of apparently antithetical binaries youth and age, good and evil, and not least, the human and...