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Beowulf: Plot Summary
 1. The story begins in Denmark with King Hrothgar and his magnificent mead hall called Herot, where his warriors celebrate. |  2. Grendel is a monster that lives in a dark swamp full of evil creatures. He hates human happiness and is annoyed by their noise and laughter during their celebrations at Herot. |  3. One night, while the warriors were sleeping, Grendel sneaks in and attacks, taking away 30 men's lives and leaving devastation in the hall. |
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 4. Night after night, Grendel would attack Herot and only those who fled him survived. Herot became desolated for the next 12 years. |  5. The horror of these events was being told in the land of the Geats, and Beowulf the most strong and fearless seaman heard the story. Hrothgar did his father a favor, therefore Beowulf felt it was his job to travel to the land of the Danes with 14 warriors and destroy Grendel. |  6. King Hrothgar welcomes Bewoulf and his men with a feast and wait for Grendel to come to attack at night. |
 7. Grendel comes at night and eats one of Beowulf's men. Beowulf attacks him with no weapons, only his bare hands and tears his arm apart, causing Grendel to run away to his swamp and wait for his death. |  8. While the Danes and the Geats were celebrating Bewoulf's victory over Grendel, Grendel's mother was preparing her revenge. She attacks Herot and decapitates Hrothgar's most loyal warrior and friend, Aeschere. |  9. Beowulf follows Grendel's mother to the swamp and she drags him down to a battle ground. Bewoulf struggles at first because Hrunting, his sword, couldn't hurt the monster. Then he saw a massive sword on the wall and used it to kill Grendel's mother. |
 10. Beowulf sees Grendel's corpse and cuts his head off. The toxic blood of the monsters melted the blade of the awesome sword. He notices piles of treasure but takes none of it, bringing back only the hilt of the great weapon and Grendel's head as he began his swim back. |  11. Hyeglac, the King of the Geats recognizes Beowulf's heroic action and before his death gives him his throne. Beowulf becomes king of the Geats and rules for 50 years. |  12. A fleeing slave, seeking refuge from a hard master, stumbled upon a hidden passageway that led to the lair of a dragon. The slave snatched a single jewel-encrusted cup. He returned to his lord and offered the cup, hoping to be accepted back. The master agreed. However, the dragon woke up and found out that he got robbed and attacked the Geats in rage. |
 13. Beowulf fights against the dragon and struggles. His warriors were terrified and left him alone in the battle. But Wiglaf, Beowulf's most loyal warrior helped him fight the dragon and they win. |  15. Beowulf dies and his people build a tower on a cliff by the sea. Mourners bewailed the loss of the great king, whose virtues and deeds will never be forgotten. |  14. The dragon sinks its teeth into Beowulf's neck and transmits his poison into Beowulf's body. Now, Beowulf mortally wounded asks Wiglaf to bring back some of the treasure from the dragon's lair and give it to the kingdom and declares Wiglaf the new king. |
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