Beowulf Questions 25-53

 [Beowulf fights Grendel's Mother]
7. Beowulf finds a great sword, one forged by the giants long ago, unsheathes it, and with one big swing lops of her head. He then searches for Grendel's body, determined to avenge all who dies because of his "raids". He finds the corpse, and decapitates it. By doing so, though, the sword melts due to Grendel's acidic blood, leaving him with only a hilt and Grendel's head. (Is Grendel an alien?)
8. Beowulf is able to swim back to the surface without any monsters attacking him. As he come out his men are rejoicing for his arrival, themselves not even believing he could best Grendel's mother.

[Further Celebration at Herot]
1. There is a huge feast in honor of Beowulf, with Grendel's head and the hilt of the sword given to Hrothgar as a sign of good faith.
2. Hrothgar has a speech prepared so as to praise Beowulf while at the same time warning him about what it takes to be a good and fair ruler. He gives an example of Heremod, a man who some considered the worst king ever to exist due to he betraying and killing his own people. Heremod was eventually banished and exiled to the Jutes, where he was subsequently betrayed and killed. He uses this example to show to Beowulf what happens when you aren't a fair ruler of your people.
3. Beowulf returns Unferth's sword, Hrunting, back to him.

[Beowulf Returns Home]
1. Hrothgar predicts a great future for Beowulf, one where he will come back and protect the Danes yet again.
2. Hygd is the Queen of the Geatlands. She is a young, yet wise woman, one who would not kill and torture many of her people just because they looked at her, unlike say, Modthryth.
3. Hrothgar hopes that by having his daughter marry Ingeld, he can create peace between the Danes and the Heathobards and end the bloody conflict. Beowulf is under the impression that Hrothgar only brought back up the feud from its dark recesses and that more conflict is inevitable, especially once the Danes and the Heathobards see each other's possessions of their own families. This is different than what we're used to from Beowulf, as he usually acts on impulse and doesn't think things through until they've already happened.
4. Beowulf exaggerates the story, emphasizing things like the viciousness and how terrifying Grendel and his mom were and how intense the fights were, so as to make himself seem even more superhuman than he already is.
5. Beowulf gives the treasure he received from Hrothgar to Hygelac. In return, Hygelac gives Beowulf a jeweled sword, land, his own personal hall with his own personal throne and 7,000 hides.

[The Dragon Wakes]
1. This part of the story takes place 50 years after the events of the last. Both King Hygelac and his successor Heardred have been killed, leaving Beowulf as the King. And then the dragon awakes.
2. The dragon is furious because someone stole a cup from under his nose! He had given himself one task, guard the treasure, and now a cup is missing, stolen by slave who hoped to give it to his master so as to obtain freedom. The treasure trove was originally guarded by an ancient civilization, until only one man was left. After that man died, the aforementioned dragon found the trove and guarded it for 300 years until a cup was stolen.
3. In a fit of rage, the dragon goes about destroying the Geatlands, hoping to avenge his failure.
4. By having his great hall destroyed, this leaves Beowulf believing he has offended God. He orders an iron shield, one that can protect him from the dragon's flames. However, he also has nagging suspicions that this will be his last battle, the one where he will finally be slain in battle (which turns out to be the case).
5. Hygelac was killed in battle, with Beowulf barely escaping with his life, swimming to safety while carrying thirty battle dresses. Hygd offers him the chance to become king, but he declines it, believing that it should got to Headred.
6. Headred accepts a group of exiled Swedes who also happen to be the brothers of Onela. Onela attacks Geatland in the hopes of killing off his brothers, which lead to Headred being killed in battle along with one of the brothers, Eanmund. The other brother, Eadgis, and Beowulf avenge the deaths of Headred and Eanmumd by killing King Onela.
7. Eleven warriors selected by Beowulf and the slave who stole the cup accompany him to meet and fight the dragon.
8. Haethcyn accidently killed his brother, Herebeald, with an arrow while they were hunting. King Hrethel, knowing this was an accident, but still mourning the death of his eldest son, died in a fit of grief, leaving his kingdom to Haethcyn and Hygelac. After Hrethel died, the Swedes and Geats continued fighting, eventually leading to the deaths of both Haethcyn and Hygelac. Angered over the death of Hygelac, Beowulf avenged his death by killing Dayraven, a great Frankish warrior.

[Beowulf Attacks the Dragon]
1. Beowulf tells his men to wait outside and not attack the dragon.
2. Beowulf's trusty sword doesn't pierce the dragon deep enough to do much damage. This leads to Beowulf retreating while the dragon is continually breathing fire on him. His men, seeing Beowulf retreating, flee back into the woods except for one, Wiglaf. He tells the fleeing soldiers that Beowulf put his trust in these men, and they must repay his trust by aiding him in battle. Beowulf also asks for help, but only Wiglaf aides him.
3. Beowulf's sword snaps as he tries to pierce the dragon's neck, leaving his own neck vulnerable for a bite. As he is bleeding, Wiglaf stabs the dragon in the stomach, giving Beowulf the distraction he needs to pull out his knife and fatally stab the dragon in the neck.
4. Beowulf asks Wiglaf to search the lair and bring back some of the treasure so that he can see what he won before he dies. He praises God for all the treasure he can now give to his people, and asks Wiglaf to build a barrow "Beowulf's tower" by the sea where he can be buried on a funeral pyre and where he can be recognized by anyone who spots it.

[Beowulf's Funeral]
1. When the companions return, they witnessed Wiglaf starting to bury Beowulf. He chastises them for abandoning Beowulf when he needed them most, and predicts that the Geatland will eventually be attacked and destroyed by their rivals.
2. The messenger tells the city that Beowulf is dead. He tells them of Ongentheow, the man who killed Haethcyn, and how he made fun of the Geats all night in Ravenwood. However, he did not account for Hygelac coming the next day and subsequently was overwhelmed and corned. Refusing to give up, his defiance had him killed by Hygelac. According to the messenger, the gold is cursed in that anyone who attempts to steal it will be cursed (much like Indiana Jones). The final image is that of... a dragon!
3. Wiglaf tells the crowd of the various heroics Beowulf did, and how Beowulf was a warrior among warriors and a king among kings who will never be forgotten, and always be honored.
4. The dragon was pushed off a cliff and into the ocean, never given a proper burial due to its evil nature.
5. People cried and sang over the death of Beowulf during and after the funeral.
6. According to the Geats, Beowulf was a kind and beloved hero who will be remembered for all time. If one were to describe a military hero, one who made fame by killing other creatures/people, I would think that the world "kind" would seem a little out-of-place.

Vocab List #3

Accolade: any award, honor, or laudatory notice.
   The play accolades from the press.
Acerbity: sourness, with roughness or astringency of taste.
   The sour candies were acerbity in my mouth.
Attrition:a reduction or decrease in numbers, size, or strength.
   The team experienced an attrition when the older plays left.
Bromide: a person who is platitudinous and boring.
   The boy was so bromide, it was hard to tolerate.
Chauvinist :a person who is aggressively and blindly patriotic, especially one devoted to military glory.
   The veteran was a chauvinist.
Chronic:constant; habitual; inveterate.
   The man had chronic pain in his back so everyday tasks were even a challenge.
Expound:to set forth or state in detail.
   The writer expounded the experience.
Factionalism:of a faction or factions.
   Factionalism sometimes develops in religion. 
Immaculate:free from fault or flaw; free from errors.
  The man was innocent and became immaculate.
Imprecation:the act of imprecating; cursing.
   Every so often, I speak with imprecations.
Ineluctable:incapable of being evaded; inescapable.
   There was an ineluctable conclusion to the story.
Mercurial:animated; lively; sprightly; quick-witted.
   Her mercurial personality attracted many people to her.
Palliate:to relieve or lessen without curing; mitigate; alleviate.
   The pain was only palliated by the pills.
Protocol: the customs and regulations dealing with diplomatic formality, precedence, and etiquette.
   The testing was part of protocol.
Resplendent:shining brilliantly; gleaming; splendid.
   Her smile was resplendent.
Stigmatize:to set some mark of disgrace or infamy upon.
   The girls bad behavior got her stigmatized by her family.
Sub rosa: confidentially; secretly; privately.
   She keeps a lot about her sub rosa.
Vainglory:excessive elation or pride.
   His vainglory was very unattractive to the girl.
Vestige: a mark, trace, or visible evidence of something that is no longer present or in existence.
    Her accident left a vestige on her chest.
Volition:the act of willing, choosing, or resolving.
    It took a lot but she used volition to fix the problem.

The Right to Your Opinion (Socratic Seminar- continued)

In today's Socratic seminar I didn't get the chance to say much on my thoughts on whether or not we really do have the right or entitlement to our opinion.  Hearing Conner and Alex's ideas on it did, however, keep me still imbetween on the subject.  I feel as though I cannot make the decision on whether or not we really do have this right to our opinion because the definition to "right" and "entitlement" are all just people's interpretations.  Thinking about it like that leaves me in a place where I cannot make a straight forward answer on the subject based on the basicness of the way the question is worded and viewed.

Reflections on week 1

1.  This year the homework load could definitly be challenging.  Twice a week I have soccer practice in Santa Barbara which makes it very challenging to complete homework on those days.  Also over the weekends I usually have soccer tournaments and starting in the fall I have league games every weekend that range from the closest ones which are in Santa Barbara to the farther ones in San Diego, this also makes doing work on the weekends pretty challenging.  I do have a smart phone so I have easy access to the Internet but I'm not very skilled in how to use it all which also brings some challenges.

2.  I can't really think of my best or most awesome learning experience.  I feel like the learning experiences that have the biggest impact on me usually do not come from a classroom setting but more based on real life mistakes.  I've never really made any huge mistakes yet that have left a significant impact on me that's worth noting, however my mistakes are what teach me the most.

3.  I am most excited to learn using technology this year.  I am hoping to become a lot more familiar and experienced with technology because I feel like technology plays a big role in society today.  I look forward to this new style of leaning because I always like to try new things and it appears to make the class much more interesting by not limiting it to just the typical classroom setting.

Orientation Video

I chose to take this class because I want to challenge myself, have the potential for a higher gpa, and look more competitive for college.  I am excited to try and learn in a new way and hopefully learn a lot of things that may catch my interest.  I am nervous to struggle in this class because it appears to be a very difficult class and require a lot of effort.  My goals for this course are to pass this class hopefully with an A, use my full potential in effort, and learn a lot.  I expect that my knowledge and thinking will be improved by making me learn new ways of attaining knowledge and teaching myself to think more about things in order to improve my understandings.