We read, "From his high-born comrades; that hand-picked troop / broke ranks and ran for their lives / to the safety of the wood" (256-9). This is obviously an act of disloyalty because the men do not help Beowulf but disappear into the forest for safety. However, one man remains. Wiglaf does not succumb to feat like others do and we are told, "But within one heart/sorrow welled up: in a man of worth/the claims of kinship cannot be denied" (2659-601). The Beowulf poet emphasizes loyalty by having the other men run away. Wiglaf's spirit "did not break" (2628) and he proved to be the bravest of the brave even though he was young and lacked experienced. Here we see how loyalty and honor require an individual to be strong in the face of danger. The dragons in this story represent the dangers that exist in the world. While they are mythical creatures, they add to the strength of the men because they are fierce and deadly. The Beowulf poet chooses a huge, disgusting dragon to oppose our loyal warriors because the creature is not anything like a man and the contrast cannot be overlooked. Evil exists in the world and the only way to rid the earth of it is to confront it. The chaos of the world is best characterized by something that is larger than life and threatening in every way and by having our warriors destroy this larger-than-life danger, the poet is emphasizing the strength of the men over evil.

Beowulf" is a story that reveals a society that is amazingly dedicated and loyal. We might not think of loyalty, kinship, and strong and brave...

We might have rudimentary images of medieval times and the people that lived in them, but the truth is that these people were just as brave, strong, loyal, and dedicated as any generation of people. They experience fear and face evil; they exhibit characteristics that we do not come across today. The dragon is a symbol of the death, chaos, and evil that exists in the world regardless of what century we might be looking at. Similarly, good men exist in every period of time.
Certainly, the "Beowulf" poet recognizes the fact that we can never escape evil. Because of evil, there will always be chaos and fear and someone will always need to protect the people and emerge victorious. "Beowulf" is filled with dark images and bloody battles but these images do not indicate that the poet held a negative view of the world. To the contrary, the poet saw the goodness in it and exemplified it with ghastly dragons and loyal men that would fight until death. While the characters in the story might be exaggerated, it should be noted that they are done so to illustrate a point. The "Beowulf" poet was undoubtedly proud of the people with whom he shared his life and wanted future generations to be proud of them as well. The story leaves us with an appreciation for this medieval culture that demonstrated incredible faith and perseverance in the face of all kinds of evil and danger.

Works Cited

Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf. Bilingual ed. New York W.W. Norton & Company, 2000