Beowulf+(E+Block)

**Beowulf- Claire Jung**
===**Position 2: It is your task to DISPROVE the following proposition: “The world and everything in it is unplanned accident, existence is meaningless; the past is irrelevant; nothing matters.” Use the arguments of Unferth, Beowulf, the Shaper, Ork, and any other evidence in the story. You will also want to use //Beowulf//.**===


 * check your block's wiki page for your role assignment for the trial
 * outline the major points for your role in the trial - post on your "role" wiki page D or G block (e.g. Beowulf)
 * your outline should include specific ideas and page / line numbers for direct quotation you plan on using
 * include as much information on this outline as possible

**1. Outline - Trial Preparation**

 * __Thesis__**: “The world and everything in it is unplanned accident, existence is meaningless; the past is irrelevant; nothing matters.”

importance of leadership and protecting ppl- gives meaning for life "But where the water was rigid there will be fish, and men will survive on their flesh till spring. It's coming, my brother. Believe it or not. Though you murder the world, turn plains to stone, transmogrify life into I and it, strong searching roots will crack your cave and rain will cleanse it:The world will burn green, sperm build again. My promise. Time is the mind, the hand that makes (Grendel, page 170, line 12-19)." Although you, Grendel, think that time is meaningless and destroy everything, life will still go on. Even though time makes everything into dust, life bursts again and will form a cycle. The past (dust resulted from time) is what makes the present (life bursting). This cycle of dust to life shows the relevance of past events to the present events.
 * __Argument 1__**

"For every one of us, living in this world means waiting for our end. Let whoever can win glory before death. When a warrior is gone, that will be his best and only bulwark (Beowulf, page 97, Line 1386-1389)" I believe that the world and existence is not meaningless. It is worth having your name sung by the Shaper, and that is why the thanes fight and die. Glory and heroism is a motive to live. We are not merely living because it was an accident. Life does have a special meaning to it and everyone carries their purpose to live. Everyone will remember the past from the glorious deeds that were achieved, which shows the past is relevant.
 * __Argument 2__**

"Feel the wall: is it not hard? Hard, yes! Observe the hardness, write it down in careful runes. Now sing of walls! (Grendel, page 171, line 9-11)" Existence is not meaningless and life is not an accident. Everything around you is real and you are real. You and others make up the world, which is full of people trying to serve their purpose of living (i.e. thanes for glory). Don't try to get away from reality by having nihilistic views.
 * __Argument 3__**

Argument 4 "" Leadership is another motive for living. It is the purpose of living for me. Protecting my people is joy for me and is my role in my country. Even though I die, I die for my purpose of life, which gives meaning to my life and my death.

Now you need to prepare a carefully written 250 - 300 word statement with at least 3-4 pieces of textual support (**word count excludes quotes**). For the lawyers, argue for your position, attempting not to simply repeat what the other lawyers are saying. Lawyers also need to make sure they have communicated with the other lawyers about which part of the trial each lawyer is responsible for - opening and closing statements, and who will be questioning which witnesses. For the witnesses, write your statement from the POV of your character, explaining what you believe to be the truth.

**2. Paragraph (I'm sorry this is late. I had to go see the doctor today.)**
The statement “the world and everything in it is unplanned accident, existence is meaningless; the past is irrelevant; nothing matters” is not true. There is meaning to living and existing. For the thanes, they live to find glory and this is a reason why they live. There is a reason why people live and different people have different purposes on why they are living. We are to serve different purposes. As the leader of the thanes of the Geats, I also live for glory. Glory and fame is a motive to why we live and die. Even though thanes die, they are happy because their names would be sung by the Shaper down generations. Thus the thanes think that existence is meaningful, because the glorious and heroic deeds will be sung and known by others. This shows that even death does matter and does have a meaning. Nothing matters is what a nihilistic, lazy person might murmur to avoid reality.

Also the past is not irrelevant to the present. The past is what creates present. The past events and the present events are all linked into a cycle, and revolves endlessly. For example, time dissolves everything into dust, but from the dust bursts life and makes the present. The past (dust resulted from time) is what makes the present (life bursting). This cycle of dust to life shows the relevance of past events to the present events. It is not only that, but the great deeds of other thanes motivate the younger generations to follow their steps. If the existence of one influences others, it can be said that existence does have meaning and past is relevant to the present.

3. Letter Reflection
After reading the letter, I got another interpretation of //Grendel//. The letter explained on a more philosophical way on the symbols that were used. It helped me on understanding the novel further. I learned the personality and role of Beowulf in influencing Grendel further. I didn't know that Grendel wanted to end his stupid thoughts that everything is meaningless, and wanted to meet Beowulf to end his silly thoughts. I also learned that portraying Beowulf similar to the dragon was for the readers to relate him with the Dragon and the Christ/Destroyer. Beowulf is a destroyer since he destroys Grendel (the evil), and is related to the Dragon, because the Dragon also destroyed Grendel's chances by leading him to nihilism. I think the letter that the author of Grendel wrote was towards more to Grendel's side. He was explaining that everything fades away. For example, one of the greatest sculptors, Aristotle and Plato, didn't leave any of their work behind. This suggests that even though you earn fame, there is nothing left of you and your trace, because time turns everything into dust. The claim supports position one more than position two, which is the position I am in, but I think I have a better sense of the other team's arguments. Since it is best to know what the opposition is going to say to rebut against their arguments.