Several passages in the Beowulf provide different perspectives on Beowulf and his career.

What was Beowulfs reputation among the Geats? Is he honest about that reputation? What do the discrepancies mean? Develop ONE claim that addresses these THREE questions. For the evidence, please consider lines 194-209, 415-32, 1987-98, 2177-89. Beowulf gains and solidies his reputation as a hero through killing Grendel and Grendels mother. Beowulf is introduced to the reader as a good man among the Geats...the strongest of might/ in those days of this life,/ noble and mighty (195-198). Beowulf, it seems, is honest about this reputation among his people to Hrothgar when he says, Then my own people advised me...that I should, lord Hrothgar, seek you out,/ because they knew the might of my strength... (415-418). He defends this claim with the story of killing a group of giants and his contest with Breca. The only discrepancy in his asserted reputation occurs when Beowulf returns to the Geats, after having killed Grendel and Grendels mother. He had been long despised,/ as the sons of the Geats considered him no good,/...for they assumed that he was slothful,/ a cowardly nobleman. Reversal came/ to the glorious man for all his griefs (2183-2189). This quotation is the rst time that the reader may question Beowulfs previous declarations of his honorable reputation. This thought is immediately rectied in the last line when it is said that the Geats changed their mind about Beowulf when he tells them about the battle with the two monsters who had been terrorizing Hrothgars kingdom. If there was any question concerning Beowulfs character and its legitimacy it is quickly corrected when Beowulf solidies his reputation through the murder of Grendel and Grendels mother.