View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the Queen give Beowulf and his men to drink?

2. Who is Hrothgar?

3. Who does Unferth claim Beowulf lost a swimming match to?

4. What wound does Beowulf inflict on Grendel?

5. According to Beowulf, what did he and Breca giddily plunge into the water to do?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Grendel look like?

2. Why does Grendel attack Heorot at night?

3. How does Beowulf feel about his dying to defeat the dragon and win the treasure for his people?

4. Why does Beowulf ask for an iron shield rather than a wooden one before he battles the dragon?

5. How does Beowulf describe Hrothgar when he greets the King?

6. In response to Unferth's tale, what does Beowulf say that he and Breca were really doing?

7. What does Wiglaf do to punish the cowardly men who did not help Beowulf to fight the dragon?

8. Why are Hrothgar and his men surprised when Beowulf returns to Heorot with Grendel's head?

9. When Beowulf agrees to battle Grendel's mother, what does Hrothgar offer him as a reward?

10. What does the train on the Queen's dress look like?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why is Grendel's mother's lair so much like Heorot? What is the significant difference between the two?

Essay Topic 2

Each of Beowulf's three foes fall along a scale ranging from completely monster to the most human-like. Place the foes in order of least human to most human and discuss the characteristics of each in terms of their animal and human characteristics.

Essay Topic 3

There is a point during the battle with Grendel's mother at which only God can save Beowulf. Why do you think the author makes it a point to state that God set Beowulf free? What does this saving of Beowulf symbolize?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 572 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample