Reading Beowulf

The mead hall was used for eating, sleeping, for meetings, as well as for entertainment.  It was a communal gathering place, a place for the community to gather and listen to tales told by scops. Generally the hall would be surrounded by houses.  Treasure functions as gifts. The characters feel that gold is a gift. Beowulf thinks of treasure as a gift to him to help his people. Even as he lays dying after slaying the dragon, he instructs his successor to take care of his people.

Beowulf in the epic is an ideal epic hero, he is courageous, courteous, and is described as the most heroic man of Anglo-Saxon times. He is seemingly invincible and uses his super-human strength and courage to put his people ahead of himself. He leads without fear of death.