Close Reading
In the passage from the Beowulf manuscript (lines 2294-2323), we get an insight into the dragon and how dangerous he is for Beowulf and the Geats, and why he must be defeated. The dragon breathes fire and burns down the homes of people, leaving nothing alive in its wake. The dragon is shown to be a hateful character, enjoying burning down villages. He would come out during the night to lay destruction to the nation, swath it in flame, and then return to his den to hide before daybreak. Beowulf eventually goes in hand-to-hand combat (with some help from his friend Wiglaf) with the dragon and slays it, but not before being mortally wounded. In this passage, we see a lot of alliteration time and time again. A few examples of this literary device include passages in the following lines:
line 2304 - With fierce impatience, his pent up fury;
line 2313 - And burn bright homesteads;
line 2318 - Bore the brunt of his brutal assaults;
line 2320 - He would dart before daybreak, to hide in his den.
Alliteration in this case emphasizes the dragon's ferociousness and viciousness. It reiterates how violent, and malevolent the dragon in Beowulf is, and how he wants to destroy the villagers who have done the dragon no harm. When this poem is read aloud, as it is meant to be, the audience can really hear alliteration that occurs in almost every line and it makes this story more interesting as a whole. This type of literary device makes sure the attention of the audience is captured throughout the entirety of Beowulf.
The dragon is seen as the antagonist in the passage because it is laying destruction to the setting place of the story, and harming the innocent villagers, as read in lines 2316-2319 - Everywhere the havoc he wrought was in evidence. Far and near, the Geat nation Bore the brunt of his brutal assaults And virulent hate. It is seen as an antagonist in the story as a whole because it kills the main protagonist, Beowulf, who is the hero of this tale. At the end, when Beowulf decides to go into combat with the dragon he is slain in battle making the audience dislike the dragon even more than before for defeating the hero we have come to admire love.
The character of this dragon in Beowulf is very similar to the dragons in the Shahnameh. As seen in these manuscript pages from Al-Firdaowsi's Shahnameh, the dragon is being slain. Both stories include a dragon that is seen as an evil creature and a hero who defeats it to save everyone from being continuously tormented. However, the dragon slayers deal with the problem in different ways: Beowulf uses his strength and bravery to fight the dragon in combat with only his sword, while Sekander from the Shahnameh uses his intelligence so that he does not need to go into a hand-to-hand combat with the dragon and can defeat it from afar. He comes up with a plan to defeat the dragon: he waits until the creature is starving, then leaves cows that are filled with poison on the mountain for the it to eat. The dragon, having been starved, eats the poison-filled cows and dies, ridding the villagers of a major problem. In this way, Sekander kills the dragon using his cunning, without needing to engage in combat at all. Beowulf is often portrayed as a hero for defeating the dragon in his way, using his bravery and swordsmanship, while Sekander is shown to act like a king should, using his wits to defeat the threat.
In the first two manuscripts, we see Rustam, a character from the Shahnameh, defeating the dragon. This is known as the third feat. The first image shows four columns of Persian text, while the second is entirely an illustration of the scene. Raksh, the horse belonging to Rustam is biting the dragon, while Rustam slices the head of the dragon with his sword. The third manuscript shows Isfandiyar, another character from the Shahnameh slaying a dragon in a similar fashion. In all three of the manuscripts, the setting includes beautiful flowers and plants in vibrant colours. This signifies that the area the dragon attacked had been quite peaceful before, and full of light. The dragon trespassed into the area, causing destruction and fire everywhere, hence it is being destroyed in each of the manuscripts.
The dragons in both Beowulf and the Shahnameh are shown to be very destructive and evil creatures, laying waste to every place they come across. They are similar in their ways of destroying villages and tormenting innocent people day after day just for the sake of it.