ANALYSIS AND

CRITICAL
INTERPRETATION
OF LITERARY TEXT

Submitted to: Iva Liz Erolon

Submitted by: Stephanie Balderas
Old English literature (600-1100)

Beowolf
Summary

The poem begins with a brief genealogy of the Danes. Scyld Shefing was the
first great king of the Danes, known for his ability to conquer enemies. Scyld
becomes the great-grandfather of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes during the
events of Beowulf. Hrothgar, like his ancestors before him, is a good king,
and he wishes to celebrate his reign by building a grand hall called Heorot.
Once the hall is finished, Hrothgar holds a large feast. The revelry attracts
the attentions of the monster Grendel, who decides to attack during the
night. In the morning, Hrothgar and his thanes discover the bloodshed and
mourn the lost warriors. This begins Grendel's assault upon the Danes.

Twelve years pass. Eventually the news of Grendel's aggression on the Danes
reaches the Geats, another tribe. A Geat thane, Beowulf, decides to help the
Danes; he sails to the land of the Danes with his best warriors. Upon their
arrival, Hrothgar's thane Wulfgar judges the Geats worthy enough to speak
with Hrothgar. Hrothgar remembers when he helped Beowulf's father
Ecgtheow settle a feud; thus, he welcomes Beowulf's help gladly.

Heorot is filled once again for a large feast in honor of Beowulf. During the
feast, a thane named Unferth tries to get into a boasting match with Beowulf
by accusing him of losing a swimming contest. Beowulf tells the story of his
heroic victory in the contest, and the company celebrates his courage.
During the height of the celebration, the Danish queen Wealhtheow comes
forth, bearing the mead-cup. She presents it first to Hrothgar, then to the
rest of the hall, and finally to Beowulf. As he receives the cup, Beowulf tells
Wealhtheow that he will kill Grendel or be killed in Heorot. This simple
declaration moves Wealhtheow and the Danes, and the revelry continues.
Finally, everyone retires. Before he leaves, Hrothgar promises to give
Beowulf everything if he can defeat Grendel. Beowulf says that he will leave
God to judge the outcome. He and his thanes sleep in the hall as they wait
for Grendel.
Eventually Grendel arrives at Heorot as usual, hungry for flesh. Beowulf
watches carefully as Grendel eats one of his men. When Grendel reaches for
Beowulf, Beowulf grabs Grendel's arm and doesn't let go. Grendel writhes
about in pain as Beowulf grips him. He thrashes about, causing the hall to
nearly collapse. Soon Grendel tears away, leaving his arm in Beowulf's grasp.
He slinks back to his lair in the moors and dies.

The Danes, meanwhile, consider Beowulf as the greatest hero in Danish

history. Hrothgar's minstrel sings songs of Beowulf and other great
characters of the past, including Sigemund (who slew a dragon) and
Heremod (who ruled his kingdom unwisely and was punished). In Heorot,
Grendel's arm is nailed to the wall as a trophy. Hrothgar says that Beowulf
will never lack for riches, and Beowulf graciously thanks him. The horses and
men of the Geats are all richly adorned, in keeping with Hrothgar's wishes.

Another party is held to celebrate Beowulf's victory. Hrothgar's minstrel tells

another story at the feast, the story of the Frisian slaughter. An ancient
Danish king had a daughter named Hildeburh; he married her to a king of the
Frisians. While Hnaef, Hildeburh's brother, visited his sister, the Frisians
attacked the Danes, killing Hnaef and Hildeburh's son in the process.
Hengest, the next leader of the Danes, desired vengeance, and in the spring,
the Danes attacked the Frisians, killing their leader and taking Hildeburh
back to Denmark.

Critical Analysis of Beowulf

The Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf is the most important work of Old

English literature. The epic tells the story of a hero, a prince named Beowulf,
who helps rid the Danes of the monster Grendel and tells of his heroic acts
fighting Grendel's mother and a Dragon. Throughout the epic, the Anglo-
Saxon story teller uses many elements to build depth to the characters. Just
a few of the important character elements in Beowulf are Wealth & Honor,
Biblical, and Man vs. Wild themes.
Many of the characters in Beowulf are
defined by their status. But, in addition to status, the Anglo-Saxon
 culture also adds an element of honor. To the Anglo-Saxons, a
character's importance, as well as their wealth and status, were
measured not only in how rich they were, but it was also measured
in terms of honor, fame, and accomplishments. Hrothgar, king of the Danes,
is one example of the Anglo-Saxon measurement of importance in Beowulf.
In Canto 1, the story teller describes his wealth and importance, not
as mounds of gold or jewels, but instead as his ability to "lead the Danes to
such glory." and as his tendency to "In battle, "leave the common pasture
untouched, and taking no lives. Hrothgar
proves the full extent of his honor and therefore the extent of his
wealth and status. Beowulf, the hero-prince, also proves his true
wealth and status through his deeds as defender of the Danes.. As
he fights and defeats Grendel, Beowulf Earns Fame and wealth from his
companions, and from the Danes, but more importantly, he earns honor
raising him to the level of an archetype hero. Grendel, on the other hand, is
the total opposite of Beowulf. He has no wealth, no honor, and he is known
as an evil killer. This lack of wealth and honor defines Grendel as a symbol of
evil and corruption.

Critical Evaluation
Beowulf is the earliest extant heroic poem in any modern European
language. The poem has come down through the centuries in a single
manuscript, which was damaged and almost destroyed in the 1731 fire in the
Cotton Library. Although the manuscript dates from the tenth century, the
poem was probably composed in the eighth century and deals with sixth
century events, before the migration of the Germanic tribes to Britain.
Middle English Literature (1100-1500)

THE CANTERBURY TALES

by: Geoffrey Chaucer

SUMMARY
Plot Overview
At the Tabard Inn, a tavern in Southwark, near London, the narrator joins a
company of twenty-nine pilgrims. The pilgrims, like the narrator, are
traveling to the shrine of the martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The
narrator gives a descriptive account of twenty-seven of these pilgrims,
including a Knight, Squire, Yeoman, Prioress, Monk, Friar, Merchant, Clerk,
Man of Law, Franklin, Haberdasher, Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, Tapestry-
Weaver, Cook, Shipman, Physician, Wife, Parson, Plowman, Miller, Manciple,
Reeve, Summoner, Pardoner, and Host. (He does not describe the Second
Nun or the Nun’s Priest, although both characters appear later in the book.)
The Host, whose name, we find out in the Prologue to the Cook’s Tale, is
Harry Bailey, suggests that the group ride together and entertain one
another with stories. He decides that each pilgrim will tell two stories on the
way to Canterbury and two on the way back. Whomever he judges to be the
best storyteller will receive a meal at Bailey’s tavern, courtesy of the other
pilgrims. The pilgrims draw lots and determine that the Knight will tell the
first tale.
The Knight’s Tale
Theseus, duke of Athens, imprisons Arcite and Palamon, two knights from
Thebes (another city in ancient Greece). From their prison, the knights see
and fall in love with Theseus’s sister-in-law, Emelye. Through the intervention
of a friend, Arcite is freed, but he is banished from Athens. He returns in
disguise and becomes a page in Emelye’s chamber. Palamon escapes from
prison, and the two meet and fight over Emelye. Theseus apprehends them
and arranges a tournament between the two knights and their allies, with
Emelye as the prize. Arcite wins, but he is accidentally thrown from his horse
and dies. Palamon then marries Emelye.

Elizabethan Literature (1558-1603)

HAMLET By William Shakespeare

summary

Hamlet’s dearest friend, Horatio, agrees with him that Claudius has
unambiguously confirmed his guilt. Driven by a guilty conscience, Claudius
attempts to ascertain the cause of Hamlet’s odd behaviour by hiring
Hamlet’s onetime friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on him.
Hamlet quickly sees through the scheme and begins to act the part of a
madman in front of them. To the pompous old courtier Polonius, it appears
that Hamlet is lovesick over Polonius’s daughter Ophelia. Despite Ophelia’s
loyalty to him, Hamlet thinks that she, like everyone else, is turning against
him; he feigns madness with her also and treats her cruelly as if she were
representative, like his own mother, of her “treacherous” sex.

Hamlet contrives a plan to test the ghost’s accusation. With a group of

visiting actors, Hamlet arranges the performance of a story representing
circumstances similar to those described by the ghost, under which Claudius
poisoned Hamlet’s father. When the play is presented as planned, the
performance clearly unnerves Claudius.

Moving swiftly in the wake of the actors’ performance, Hamlet confronts his
mother in her chambers with her culpable loyalty to Claudius. When he hears
a man’s voice behind the curtains, Hamlet stabs the person he
understandably assumes to be Claudius. The victim, however, is Polonius,
who has been eavesdropping in an attempt to find out more about Hamlet’s
erratic behaviour. This act of violence persuades Claudius that his own life is
in danger. He sends Hamlet to England escorted by Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern, with secret orders that Hamlet be executed by the king of
England. When Hamlet discovers the orders, he alters them to make his two
friends the victims instead.

Upon his return to Denmark, Hamlet hears that Ophelia is dead of a

suspected suicide (though more probably as a consequence of her having
gone mad over her father’s sudden death) and that her brother Laertes
seeks to avenge Polonius’s murder. Claudius is only too eager to arrange the
duel. Carnage ensues. Hamlet dies of a wound inflicted by a sword that
Claudius and Laertes have conspired to tip with poison; in the scuffle, Hamlet
realizes what has happened and forces Laertes to exchange swords with him,
so that Laertes too dies—as he admits, justly killed by his own treachery.
Gertrude, also present at the duel, drinks from the cup of poison that
Claudius has had placed near Hamlet to ensure his death. Before Hamlet
himself dies, he manages to stab Claudius and to entrust the clearing of his
honour to his friend Horatio.

SHORT HISTORY
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Alternative Titles: “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”
WRITTEN BY: David Bevington
Hamlet, in full Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, tragedy in five acts by William
Shakespeare, written about 1599–1601 and published in a quarto edition in
1603 from an unauthorized text, with reference to an earlier play. The First
Folio version was taken from a second quarto of 1604 that was based on
Shakespeare’s own papers with some annotations by the bookkeeper.
William Shakespeare, detail of an oil painting attributed to John Taylor, c.
1610. The portrait is called the “Chandos Shakespeare” because it once
belonged to the duke of Chandos.
William Shakespeare: The intellectual background
In Hamlet, disquisitions—on man, belief, a “rotten” state, and times “out of…
Shakespeare’s telling of the story of Prince Hamlet was derived from several
sources, notably from Books III and IV of Saxo Grammaticus’s 12th-century
Gesta Danorum and from volume 5 (1570) of Histoires tragiques, a free
translation of Saxo by François de Belleforest. The play was evidently
preceded by another play of Hamlet (now lost), usually referred to as the Ur-
Hamlet, of which Thomas Kyd is a conjectured author.

Victorian Period (1830-1900)

A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities contrasts the social and political events taking place in
Paris and London during (and prior to) the French Revolution in the mid-to-
late eighteenth century. Dickens draws unsettling parallels between the two
cities, describing abject poverty, appalling starvation, rampant crime,
ruthless capital punishment, and aristocratic greed. The novel, which was
published in three books during the mid-nineteenth century, retrospectively
questions the degree to which the French revolutionaries of the late
eighteenth century upheld Enlightenment-era ideals of rational thought,
tolerance, constitutional government, and liberty.
Twentieth Century (1900- 2000)
Poems of W.B. Yeats: The Tower
Poems of W.B. Yeats: The Tower Summary and Analysis of The Tower

The speaker decries the absurdity of the contrast between his old body and
his young spirit. He feels more passionate and inspired than ever - even
more so than when he was a boy and went fishing in the mountains of
Western Ireland. Nevertheless, he feels he must say goodbye to poetry and
choose reason instead: it is more becoming to his age. He walks to and fro
atop a castle and looks out over the countryside. He sees where the wealthy
Mrs. French once lived. Her servant, who knew her wishes well, once cut off
the ears of a rude farmer and brought them to her on a covered dish.

When the speaker was young, some men spoke of a legendary peasant girl,
who was the most beautiful in the area. One drunk man talked of her often,
and in the middle of a drinking session got up to seek her out. He mistook
the moon for her lovely face, and drowned in a lake. The man who told the
speaker these songs was blind, like Homer.
The girl may well be mistaken for the sun or moon, because, says the
speaker, she has betrayed all living men. The speaker himself created
Hanrahan twenty years ago. The character was destined to stumble through
villages, lamed. When it was the speaker’s turn at cards, he shuffled the pack
into a pack of hounds, which then turned into a hare. Hanrahan followed
these creatures—

The speaker interrupts his own story, crying “enough!” He must remember a
man so distraught that neither love nor music nor clipped ears could make
him feel better. This man is a ruined master of the house. Before the house
went to ruin, servants dressed for war came to the house. The speaker
questioned them all, wondering whether they raged against age as he now
does. They give no satisfactory answer. The speaker is happy to be left with
Hanrahan. He calls up Hanrahan, from the knowledgeable dead, to tell him
whether one thinks more often of a woman won or lost. A woman, once lost,
is an irretrievable mistake.
The speaker draws up his will, leaving men who fish tirelessly his pride. His
pride is not political, or tied up with slaves or tyrants, but that of Grattan and
Burke. His pride is as refreshing as an unexpected shower, as poignant as a
swansong. He mocks Plato and Plotinus. He is prepared to die with a
combination of ancient poetry and of the love of women, both of which make
man a superhuman. He leaves his faith and pride to these young fishermen.
He will now prepare his body and his mind for death, or, worse, the death of
those whom he has loved.