Who is breca in beowulf

Karl P. Unferth describes this as a foolhardy contest or race, but when Beowulf offers his own version of events, it becomes a youthful confidence-building or team-building shared challenge, much like a camping or mountaineering trip, in which the two participants endeavored to stay together rather than one leave the other far behind. Beowulf and Breca could have been rowing together or competing to see who was the more prodigious rower.

Onsund is found in a lot of other Anglo-Saxon artifacts. In Icelandic, at least, sund requires a preposition, not found here in Beowulf , to mean swimming rather than merely something aquatic.

Both terms are equally applicable to swimming and rowing. Rowing was, as much as swimming or water-wrestling, an essential skill for warriors during the Anglo-Saxon era, so a rowing competition between Beowulf and Breca would not have been out of the question. Although there are Nordic tales of swimming competitions, no other has characteristics of such extreme duration and danger as this — which, strictly speaking, was not a race but merely a testing of their own strength. The story of the aquatic adventure with Breca is introduced into the Beowulf saga for a number of reasons.

First, we are introduced to Unferth, evidently a significant member of Hrothgar's court, but we are immediately encouraged to dislike him, because we are told he is motivated by envy and wishes to embarrass Hrothgar's honored guest. What are the major characteristics of Beowulf? Unferth accuses Beowulf, as a lad, of entering a dangerous, foolish seven-night swimming match on the open sea against a boy named Breca — and losing.

If the Dane could fight as well as he talks, says Beowulf, King Hrothgar might not have such a problem with Grendel. Tension however arises from the two when Unferth falls in love with Wealhtheow and Hrothgar shows no sign of intending to keep his promise. Skip to content Who is breca in Beowulf?

Why is Unferth an important character to Beowulf? What information does Beowulf reveal about Unferth? Why is Unferth jealous of Beowulf? What did Beowulf ask Hrothgar to return to unferth if Beowulf were killed in battle? Who is wulfgar in Beowulf quizlet? Why did Beowulf help Hrothgar? How did Beowulf prove his might? He seeks protection for his people. Wiglaf , one of Beowulf's kinsmen and thanes, is the only warrior brave enough to help the hero in his fight against the dragon.

Wiglaf conforms perfectly to the heroic code in that he is willing to die attempting to defeat the opponent and, more importantly, to save his lord. After Grendel is killed, Grendel's mother attacks Heorot in revenge.

Beowulf then ventures into her cave under a lake, and engages in fierce combat with Grendel's mother. She nearly kills him until he sees an ancient sword, with which he kills her, and beheads the dead Grendel. At Beowulf's command, Wiglaf gathers treasure from the dragon's lair and piles it where Beowulf can see it.

The dying Beowulf tells Wiglaf to "watch his people's needs" by which he means that Wiglaf is to become the next king.

Beowulf stays necesarily the same throughout the epic poem. He is a hero who displays great strength, courage and pride, but he is not perfect. He shows greed, and at times over confidence and too much pride for his own good, which kills him towards the end of the novel.

Beowulf is a static character. Beowulf dies during battle with a dragon. In the second part of the poem, Beowulf has ruled over the Geats for fifty years, and he is a good leader. Beowulf and Wiglaf fight the dragon together, and although they kill the dragon, Beowulf is fatally wounded.

Who is breca in Beowulf? Category: books and literature poetry. Breca the Bronding. Breca sometimes spelled Breoca or Brecca was a Bronding who, according to the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf , was Beowulf's childhood friend. In the so-called "story within the story" Breca exhibits similar traits to Unferth, boasting in the disappearance of Beowulf and not giving a second thought to the safety of his friend.

What is important about this is Beowulf's response to both Unferth and Breca. He still refers to Breca as a dear childhood friend despite his complete mistreatment of Beowulf in the swimming contest. His response to Unferth's detest is not one of bitterness or even anger, but rather, a calm explanation of his side of the story and the many more sea monsters he had to slay as opposed to Breca.

This further exhibits Breca's mistreatment of his friend, how willing he was to let Beowulf die in the hands of horrible sea creatures for the sake of winning a contest. Again we see Breca's purpose here, serving as a visible contrast to Beowulf's admirable attitude. An antagonist such as Breca is key in developing a reader's love for Beowulf. His humbleness and willingness to not hold a grudge makes him charming and encourages readers to detest a character with a personality like Breca's.

The poem would not have been near as popular if Beowulf's heroic qualities were not so emphasized. Despite his story only having a single line in Widsith and eighty lines in Beowulf we still see some references made to Breca in modern times. In this series, Breca and Beowulf's friendship starts when Breca is saved from a threatening lynch mob by Beowulf when he encounters the feud. Breca also happens to be the name of a popular wine founded in Aragon, Spain. The wine's name and the fish scales printed on the bottle allude to the Spanish fish named after the Bronding lord.

Breca is also the title of a popular swim run with contests featured in New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Beowulf Wiki Explore. Wiki Content.