Beowulf

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Gold, Treasure, and Gifts Symbol Analysis

Gold, Treasure, and Gifts Symbol Icon
In Beowulf, gold, treasure, and gifts are less important for their economic value than their social value. In fact, gold can be seen as a symbol of social interaction: a lord rewards loyalty with gold, and in doing so inspires further loyalty. The transfer of the gold is also a kind of physical embodiment of the lord's duty to nurture his people. Gold can also act as a symbol of regret or a desire for peace: one way of avoiding a feud is to pay the wergild, the man-price, by compensating the family of the injured person with gold, to avoid more violent vengeance.

Gold, Treasure, and Gifts Quotes in Beowulf

The Beowulf quotes below all refer to the symbol of Gold, Treasure, and Gifts. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
).
Grendel Attacks (Lines 86–193) Quotes
The monster relished his savage war
On the Danes, keeping the bloody feud
Alive, seeking no peace, offering
No truce, accepting no settlement, no price
In gold or land, and paying the living
For one crime only with another. No one
Waited for reparation from his plundering claws:
That shadow of death hunted in the darkness,
Stalked Hrothgar's warriors.
Related Characters: Hrothgar, Grendel
Related Symbols: Gold, Treasure, and Gifts
Page Number: 152-160
Explanation and Analysis:
Beowulf at Home (Lines 1913–2199) Quotes
Beowulf had brought his king
Horses and treasure—as a man must,
Not weaving nets of malice for his comrades,
Preparing their death in the dark, with secret,
Cunning tricks.
Related Characters: Beowulf
Related Symbols: Gold, Treasure, and Gifts
Page Number: 2165-2169
Explanation and Analysis:
Beowulf’s Funeral (Lines 3110–3182) Quotes
For ten long days they made his monument,
Sealed his ashes in walls as straight
And high as wise and willing hands could raise them...
And the treasures they'd taken were left there too,...
Ground back in the earth.
Related Characters: Beowulf
Related Symbols: Gold, Treasure, and Gifts
Page Number: 3159-3167
Explanation and Analysis:
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Gold, Treasure, and Gifts Symbol Timeline in Beowulf

The timeline below shows where the symbol Gold, Treasure, and Gifts appears in Beowulf. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue (Lines 1–63)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Repetition and Change Theme Icon
When Scyld dies, he is laid to rest in a ship filled with treasure and set out to sea. In this way, the narrator notes, his life ends just... (full context)
Hrothgar’s Early Reign (Lines 64–85)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Hrothgar is successful in battle, and gains followers and treasure. He constructs Heorot, the most magnificent mead-hall ever built, and a good place to feast,... (full context)
Grendel Attacks (Lines 86–193)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
...notes that unlike men, Grendel has no desire to end the feud, or to pay compensation for those he kills and thus make peace with their families. Hrothgar can neither make... (full context)
Beowulf Arrives (Lines 194–490)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
...Hrothgar after Ecgtheow killed Heatholaf of the Wylfings. Hrothgar purchased peace from the Wylfings with treasure, and Ecgtheow swore an oath of loyalty to Hrothgar. (full context)
Celebration (Lines 837–1250)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Fame, Pride, and Shame Theme Icon
Repetition and Change Theme Icon
Christianity and Paganism Theme Icon
...defeat of Grendel. He proclaims that Beowulf is now like a son to him, and rewards him with treasure. Hrothgar adds that it is "through the Lord's might" that Beowulf was... (full context)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Fame, Pride, and Shame Theme Icon
Christianity and Paganism Theme Icon
At the feast, Hrothgar gives Beowulf gifts ranging from gold to horses to weapons. He also gives gifts to Beowulf's men, and... (full context)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Repetition and Change Theme Icon
After the song, Wealhtheow, Hrothgar's queen, offers the gold mead cup to Hrothgar and tells him to be generous to Beowulf and the other... (full context)
Grendel’s Mother (Lines 1251–1407)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Christianity and Paganism Theme Icon
...seems bottomless. Hrothgar says he must depend on Beowulf a second time, and offers him treasure to kill Grendel's mother and end the feud. (full context)
A Second Fight (Lines 1408–1639)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Beowulf asks Hrothgar to protect his Geat companions and send the treasure he's won to Hygelac, should he fail to return from the fight with Grendel's mother.... (full context)
New Celebration (Lines 1640–1912)
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Christianity and Paganism Theme Icon
At Heorot, Beowulf presents the head and sword hilt to Hrothgar. He describes his fight with Grendel's mother, saying that "the fight would have... (full context)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Fame, Pride, and Shame Theme Icon
Repetition and Change Theme Icon
Hrothgar tells Beowulf that he will reward him for his courage as he promised, and compares Beowulf's wisdom and generosity favorably to... (full context)
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Hrothgar gives Beowulf twelve more gifts, and begins to weep with the knowledge that he will not see Beowulf again. Beowulf,... (full context)
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
At the coast, the Geats greet and reward the watchman for guarding their ship, and sail toward the hall of Hygelac. (full context)
Beowulf at Home (Lines 1913–2199)
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Christianity and Paganism Theme Icon
...his young queen, Hygd. The narrator states that Hygd is a good queen, generous with gifts, in contrast to another queen, Modthryth. When Modthryth was young, if anyone but her lord... (full context)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Fame, Pride, and Shame Theme Icon
...next relates his fight with Grendel, detailing both the ferocity of the monster and the treasure he received from Hrothgar, and then describes the fight with Grendel's mother. (full context)
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
After finishing his story, Beowulf turns over most of his treasure of armor, weapons, gold, and horses to Hygelac and Hygd. In addition he gives Wealhtheow's... (full context)
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Fame, Pride, and Shame Theme Icon
In order to acknowledge and reward Beowulf's loyalty and bravery, Hygelac gives Beowulf numerous gifts, including a magnificent sword that belonged... (full context)
The Dragon (Lines 2200–2323)
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
The dragon guards an underground barrow full of treasure, which is accessible only by a secret passage. One day a slave, fleeing a beating,... (full context)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
The narrator explains that this particular barrow was the treasure of a lost tribe. Long ago the last living man of the tribe placed his... (full context)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
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The dragon discovered the treasure sometime later, and guarded it in peace for the three hundred years. But when the... (full context)
Facing the Dragon (Lines 2324–2710)
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Repetition and Change Theme Icon
...Geats carrying the armor of thirty men on his back. In Geatland, Hygd offered Beowulf treasure and rulership of the kingdom, fearing that her son Heardred was too young to rule.... (full context)
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Repetition and Change Theme Icon
Beowulf tells also how he repaid Hygelac's gifts of treasure and land with loyal service, not only leading Hygelac's warriors into battle, but... (full context)
Beowulf and Wiglaf (Lines 2711–2845)
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Beowulf asks Wiglaf to bring him the treasure so that he can die knowing that he won it. Wiglaf enters the barrow, and... (full context)
Family and Tribe Theme Icon
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Fame, Pride, and Shame Theme Icon
Wiglaf gathers some of the treasure and returns to Beowulf, who thanks God that he could win such treasures for his... (full context)
Wiglaf Speaks (Lines 2846–3109)
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Fame, Pride, and Shame Theme Icon
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...It has been laid down next to the corpse of the dragon and the ancient treasure. The golden hoard, which the narrator notes was once richly decorated, is now eaten by... (full context)
Beowulf’s Funeral (Lines 3110–3182)
Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Christianity and Paganism Theme Icon
...attacking the dragon. Yet he also says that Beowulf followed his destiny, and won the gold as was his fate. Wiglaf then orders that wood be gathered for the funeral pyre.... (full context)
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Good Warriors and Good Kings Theme Icon
Repetition and Change Theme Icon
...the Geats build a huge mound, visible from the sea. In the mound they place treasure from the dragon's hoard "where it lies still, as useless to men as it was... (full context)