Beowulf is the epic story of a hero's quest for fame and fortune. Beowulf is a young, strong and proud man who wants to prove that he is the greatest man and ultimately gain kingship over his own country. Thomas Foster's chapter, "Every Journey Is a Quest (Except When It Isn't)" lays out the rules of a quest. For a journey to be a quest, it must first contain: a seeker, a place to go, a stated reason for going there, challenges and trials along the way, and then the true reason for going there. get there. The real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge (Foster 3). Beowulf - although it appears at first glance to be a quest by satisfying the first four rules - is not a quest because he never achieves self-knowledge. From the beginning, Beowulf feels like a quest. There is the seeker, Beowulf, on a journey to achieve glory. He goes to Herot to help rid the mead hall of Grendel. Although his real reason has nothing to do with defending against Grendel, he is going to kill Grendel in order to prove his strength, which is his stated reason, but another less clear reason is his quest for glory, not knowledge. He doesn't want to know if he's really the greatest, he just wants to be seen as the greatest. So, automatically, the first three rules are taken into account. Foster says that the quester can be just an ordinary person, not even that heroic, in fact usually someone young and immature (Foster 3). Beowulf is already a well-known hero, despite his young age. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Upon his arrival in Herot, he begins to face his challenges, the first of which is not in the form of a creature. Hrothgar's son Unferth doesn't like Beowulf's courage and begins arguing with him, calling him a boastful fool and saying he won't win because he lost a swimming match with Brecca (Beowulf 27, 240-241 and 258-269). For Beowulf, questioning his greatness is hardly a challenge when he explains his side of the story. In return, he retaliates by saying: "Proud son, if your hands were as hard, your heart as fierce as you think, no fool would dare attack your hall, ruin Herot and oppress his prince, as Grendel did . (Beowulf 28, 324-327). This actually makes Unferth tremble as Beowulf points out Unferth's own downfalls. At the end of this argument, he has learned nothing, he even seems more sure of himself when he speaks almost sarcastically about his next fight against Grendel. While fighting Grendel, he loses one of his men, but since he never grieves, it doesn't seem like much of a setback. Beowulf defeats Grendel by removing his arm and displaying it for all to see. He learns nothing from his fight with Grendel. He still believes he is the greatest. Going into battle unarmed demonstrates how confident he is in his abilities. His confidence rings true when he wins; because this confidence is primarily based on faith in himself, and he does not reach the point where this involuntary faith is called into question, he never truly comes to self-awareness. On the contrary, the battle with Grendel proves that Beowulf does not need help in a fight and is almost invincible. His next challenge, he fights with Grendel's mother. The fact that he is called upon to help purge Herot of his new enemy only reaffirms to him that he is the greatest. He leaves to fight Grendel's mother alone and the fact that he does not seek any outside help shows that he has learned nothing. After finishing, he searches for Grendel's already dead corpse and begins to cut him.