The Motive To Kill Beowulf And Rebecca

Comparison Essay, Research Paper

Before you wonder Am I doing things right, ask Am I doing the right things? Stephen Covey once thought. This helps makes the right decisions for the right time. Maxim DeWinter from Rebecca, by Daphne DuMaurier, and Beowulf from Beowulf, by an anonymous author, both want to kill for different reasons and have different motives. Maxim s motive is different than of Beowulf, who kills Grendel. The reason why Maxim and Beowulf want to kill varies from one another. For example, Maxim wants to kill because Rebecca mistreats him and is very arrogant. He does not understand exactly why he married her in the first place. She sat there, laughing, her black hair blowing in the wind; she told me about herself, told me things that I would never repeat to a living soul. I knew then what I had done, what I had married (DuMaurier 135). Maxim is confused about his marriage to Rebecca and does not know how to get away from her. Beowulf, however, has no control over his situation at first. Grendel, a monster who is eating all of his men, and loses many men almost every day. He slipped through the door and there in silence/ Snatched up thirty men, smashed them/ Unknowingly in their beds and ran out with their bodies (Anonymous 36). Grndel came in while the men are sleeping and take them to eat. Maxim and Beowulf start off yearning to kill because of how Rebecca and Grendal are treating them and the situations they are putting them through. What causes Maxim and Beowulf to act are distinct because Maxim is not sure how to get away from Rebecca while Beowulf is ready to kill Grendal. Maxim did not exactly know how to get away from Rebecca for many reasons. Their friends and family thought that they have such a good marriage and that there is nothing wrong with it, but behind close doors, it is different. Because of this, Maxim knows that if he were to get a divorce or leave her, everyone were going to think of him as the bad guy. Because he does not want to be the bad guy, he kills Rebecca. Beowulf, however, does not know how they are going to stop this problem. Because Grendel is a monster, it is harder for Beowulf to just kill him. It was going to take more than that. Beowulf is very upset about how many men he had lost, and has decided to battle Grendal. Because the situations are different, the solution to the motives are different.

When Maxim and Beowulf realize that they were ready to kill, they put their words of killing into action. Maxim comes to the point where he just does not stand Rebecca. One day, he went on a walk with her to the boathouse, shoots her with a gun, and places her on a boat to drown her. Beowulf s attack is not planned, however, and happiness is proven in the end. One night when Grendel comes in to take some of his men, Beowulf awoke to the battle and fought the battle with dignity. The battle was over, Beowulf/ Had been granted a new glory: Grendal escaped,/…Only to die, to wait forthe end (Anonymous 392). Beowulf s battle is glorified by the Danes. Even though both are fighting for something they wanted, one motive is more glorified then the other. Because Maxim doesn t want to mention that he is going to kill Rebecca, his motive varies then of Beowulf s , who could fight out in the open because he wants to be glorified for what he had done. Maxim should have thought if he was doing the right things when he first married Rebecca, which he obviously did not do. Maxim and Beowulf both want to kill for different reasons and for different motives, but both finally got what they wanted in the end.