Beowulf is an Old English epic poem. At a literature class, you may be asked to write a character analysis essay on Beowulf. In order to complete this assignment successfully, you should take several steps in the right order. If you approach this task carelessly, you might not be able to conduct a good analysis and your teacher won’t be impressed.
First of all, you should familiarize yourself with the source under review. If you have only the general knowledge about the plot of the story, you won’t understand its characters deeply enough to conduct a good analysis.
While the poem is mostly about Beowulf himself, there are some other characters, like king Hrothgar, in it that you can analyze. Pick a character that is more interesting to you to discuss in your paper.
Once you’ve picked a character, you should determine what features they’re mostly characterized by and what lies behind their actions. Analyze the development of the character throughout the story.
Once you’ve made your analysis and reached some conclusions, you should start writing. Make sure that you have a good introduction that grabs the reader’s attention and explains the purpose of the paper, a body that presents your analysis in detail, and a conclusion that summarizes your points and conveys your final message.
The last step is to look through each sentence of your paper and make sure that they don’t contain any mistakes. To play it safe, you may ask somebody else to read your paper before the submission. Another person might spot errors that you missed during your revision.
If you’ve received a task to write a character analysis paper for the first time and you aren’t sure what exactly your teacher wants from you, it’s advisable to read a few sample papers of the same type. You may visit your school library, for instance, to get such templates. Having examined them, you’ll have a much clearer understanding of your assignment.
In short, writing a character analysis essay on Beowulf isn’t very difficult if you take all the steps properly. Start with reading the poem and picking a character to concentrate on. Make your analysis and present your findings in a well-structured text. Lastly, check your paper for errors and inconsistencies and it’ll be ready for the submission.