History YMMV / Beowulf

** Considering there is no evidence to suggest that the dragon claimed it’s hoard by harming anyone and how history is written by the victors. It seems odd that no one tried to appease the dragon by trying to return or replace the goblet the thief stole first before trying to kill it, whose to say the dragon didn’t ask for it back and only resorted to rampaging when it was refused by a bored and bloodthirsty king (Beowulf) who sought an excuse to take the rest of its treasure?

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny:
** The Dragon may seem identical to pretty much every other dragon you've ever read about in a StandardFantasySetting, but that's actually because all those other dragons are ''based on'' this one (or rather they're based on Smaug, who is partly based on this dragon and partly on Fafnir).
** {{Discussed|Trope}} in the making of ''Literature/EatersOfTheDead'', which Creator/MichaelCrichton wrote in response to a friend calling the story of ''Beowulf'' "a bore". Crichton argued that the story wasn't boring if it was presented in a way that [[ValuesResonance resonated with modern audiences]], just like the original resonated with early Medieval audiences.

* TheWoobie: Poor, poor Hrothgar. You just want to build the next wonder of the world, and for years to come a monster is feasting on your men, and you know you can't do anything about it. When you finally get rid of the monster, another one comes and kills one of your best warriors. When ''that'' one is taken care of, you're so grateful towards the hero that did it that you hope to meet him again, but know that you won't because you're dying, and after you're dead, your prized hall is destroyed and your nephew, who you hope to watch over your sons, ends up killing them. Hrothgar's life ''sucks.''

* DesignatedVillain: The dragon. Unlike with [[Literature/TheHobbit a certain other dragon based on this one]], there is no evidence that the goblet stolen by the thief was anything other than the dragon's rightful property. So by modern standards, the dragon actually has the moral high ground... [[SubvertedTrope right up until it]] [[MisplacedRetribution takes revenge on the innocent countryside]].

** {{Discussed|Trope}} in the making of ''Literature/TheThirteenthWarrior'', which Creator/MichaelCrichton wrote in response to a friend calling the story of ''Beowulf'' "a bore". Crichton argued that the story wasn't boring if it was presented in a way that [[ValuesResonance resonated with modern audiences]], just like the original resonated with early Medieval audiences.

** [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in the making of ''Literature/EatersOfTheDead'', which Creator/MichaelCrichton wrote in response to a friend calling the story of ''Beowulf'' "a bore". Crichton argued that the story wasn't boring if it was presented in a way that [[ValuesResonance resonated with modern audiences]], just like the original resonated with early Medieval audiences.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Grendel is the kind of monster that kills warriors in their sleep, rips them to shreds, and eats them on the spot. Yet, a lot of adaptations, such as John Gardner's ''Literature/{{Grendel}}'', the 2005 film ''Beowulf and Grendel'', and the 2007 film, tend to portray Grendel sympathetically, despite the fact that in the poem, out of the three monsters, he's the one the narrator condemns the harshest and the most often.

* SignatureScene: Beowulf tearing off Grendel's arm is one of the most well known moments in the story, demonstrating the titular character's strength and completing his first major quest in the story. StockShoutOuts to ''Beowulf'' often include this very scene.
* UnintentionallySympathetic: As mention in ValuesDissonance, Grendel living a miserable life in the swamps for being a descendant of Cain and everyone having a better life than him comes off as sympathetic to modern readers.

** Seamus Heaney's translation. On the one hand, it was done by a UsefulNotes/{{Nobel Prize|In Literature}}-winning poet, so it reads very well to say the least. On the other hand, he took a lot of liberties with the text. For instance, the name "Scyld Scefing" is anglicized/modernized to "Shield Sheafson", and instead of having Scyld "seize" or "take" the "mead-benches" (feasting/drinking benches, possibly symbolic for entire halls) of enemy tribes, he goes further and "wrecks" their furniture. Needless to say, there's a BrokenBase on this one.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: As mention in ValuesDissonance, Grendel living in miserable life in the swamps for being a descendant of Cain and everyone having a better life than him comes off as sympathetic to modern readers.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The Dragon may seem identical to pretty much every other dragon you've ever read about in a StandardFantasySetting, but that's actually because all those other dragons are ''based on'' this one (or rather they're based on Smaug, who is partly based on this dragon and partly on Fafnir).

* SignatureScene: Beowulf tearing off Grendel's arm is one of the most well known moments in the story, demonstrating the titular character's strength and completing his first major quest in the story.

* MarySue: The poem may be the UrExample of this trope, considering Beowulf is an invincible, flawless hero.

** Since both Scyld's son and our hero are both called "Beowulf" in the original, it's become common practice in translations to give the former's name as "Beow" for clarity, ever since scholars such as Creator/JRRTolkien proposed it was a scribal error (the names have distinct meanings).

** Since both Scyld's son and our hero are both called "Beowulf" in the original, it's become common practice in translations to give the former's name as "Beow" for clarity, ever since Creator/JRRTolkien proposed it was a scribal error (the names have distinct meanings).

** Seamus Heaney's translation. On the one hand, it was done by a UsefulNotes/{{Nobel Prize|In Literature}}-winning poet, so it reads very well to say the least. On the other hand, he took a lot of liberties with the text. For instance, the name "Scyld Scefing" is anglicized/modernized to "Shield Sheafson", and instead of having Scyld "seize" or "take" the "mead-benches" (feasting/drinking benches, possibly symbolic for entire halls) of enemy tribes, he literally "wrecks" their furniture. Needless to say, there's a BrokenBase on this one.

** Seamus Heaney's translation. On the one hand, it was done by a UsefulNotes/{{Nobel Prize|In Literature}}-winning poet, so it reads very well to say the least. On the other hand, he took a lot of liberties with the text, such as anglicizing the name "Scyld Scefing" to "Shield Sheafson." Needless to say, there's a BrokenBase on this one.

* {{Woolseyism}}: Seamus Heaney's translation. On the one hand, it was done by a UsefulNotes/{{Nobel Prize|In Literature}}-winning poet, so it reads very well to say the least. On the other hand, he took a lot of liberties with the text, such as anglicizing the name "Scyld Scefing" to "Shield Sheafson." Needless to say, there's a BrokenBase on this one.
** One instance was to [[OneSteveLimit avoid repeated names]] -- both Scyld's son and our hero are both called "Beowulf" in the original, and so Heaney changed the former's name to simply "Beow" for clarity.

* DesignatedVillain: The dragon. Unlike with [[Literature/TheHobbit a certain other dragon based on this one]], there is no evidence that the goblet stolen by the thief was anything other than the dragon's rightful property. So by modern standards, the dragon actually has the moral high ground... [[SubvertedTrope right up until it takes revenge on the innocent countryside]].

* DesignatedVillain: The dragon. Unlike with [[Literature/TheHobbit a certain other dragon based on this one]], there is no evidence that the goblet the thief stole was anything other than the dragon's rightful property. So by modern standards, the dragon actually has the moral high ground... [[SubvertedTrope right up until it takes revenge on the innocent countryside]].