Do ... do you suppose we'll meet any monsters?
We might!
Monsters that ... that eat ... recappers?
Well, some, but mostly ...
Monsters ... and battles ... and funerals, oh my!
Monsters and battles and funerals, oh my!
Oh, there are lots of scary things about Beowulf, but the structure of this plot doesn't have
to be one of them.
In fact, it's all about the number three.
Think about it.
The plot revolves around Beowulf's three battles with three monsters.
There's the battle with Grendel that occupies the first third of this poem; the battle with
Grendel's mother that occupies the second third; and Beowulf's final battle with the
treasure-guarding dragon that occupies the last third.
There are also three funerals—though those aren't quite so evenly spaced.
The poem opens with a funeral—the funeral of Shield Sheafson, the Danish king.
We encounter another funeral—almost at the halfway point—in the story by the bard,
told between the battle with Grendel and the battle with Grendel's mother.
And the poem ends with a funeral—Beowulf's.