Journal #3

Journal #3

                The tone towards the end of the epic, Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, descends to being mournful. The tone of the story changes throughout from being formal to laudatory to mournful due to what is occurring in it at that point. At this point, the tone is sad because Beowulf starts losing when he fights his enemies and the people defending him become woeful. Wiglaf, a son of Weohstan, “remembered the bountiful gifts bestowed upon him” before the fight with the dragon (Heaney 46). The word remembered allows the readers to sense something which occurred in the past and is no longer available or happening. Also, the Wiglaf was “sad at heart” when talking to his friends saying, “I remember that time when mead was flowing, how we pledged loyalty to our lord in the hall…” which shows how he, along with his companions who agreed with him, grieved the mead hall and kept in mind the festivities which took place there (Heaney 46). The words “doom,” “assail,” “distraught,” “mourning,” and “sorrowed,” contributed to the depressing tone towards the end of the epic (Heaney 48).