Although, the story of “Beowulf” and “The Wife’s Lament” both share the themes of betrayal and anger there is a great difference in how each story is able to represent these themes. To begin with, in the story of Beowulf the themes are represented with words of jealousy. For example, in lines 423-445 Unferth states, “Are you the Beowulf who competed with Breca... ambush Grendel in the watches of the night.” in these lines one can clearly see Unferth betrayal and anger being used through words
from “Beowulf” and “The Wife’s Lament” the themes anger and betrayal is present as an overall meaning towards heroism and love. To begin with, Unferth does not like Beowulf presence. To demonstrate, “The brave seafarer, much displeased him in that he was unwilling for any man in this wide world to gain more glory than himself” (Beowulf, 420). Clearly, Unferth does not see any other man as a hero other than himself. To explain, If Unferth himself could not destroy Grendel what makes Beowulf think
In the poem, “The Wife’s Lament”, and the excerpt from the poem, “Beowulf”, the theme of anger and contempt are found in multiple examples. However, they are vastly different from one another based on the nature of their poetry. Throughout the Beowulf excerpt, The protagonist, Beowulf, and the antagonist, Unferth, share words over a swimming match the Beowulf lost to Breca. “Are you the Beowulf who competed with Breca, vied with him at swimming in the open sea… risked your lives on deep waters because