A Civilized Society

A Civilized confederacy What is the meaning of a companionship? A historian might asseverate a society is a group of people living in an ordered community that has a hierarchy. An adult might say that a society is a community of people that gather in certain jobs and a community that has schools for their children to go to. A child might non even know what the meaning of society is. Their answers differ because on that point is non a book pen in history that clearly defines what a society is. exclusively when society is narrowed down into civilized society, it is here that agreements be distinguished.Most people agree that the time and gravel they live in at this present moment is civilized, even though spirits are relieve call backd in. This also means that time periods that are not con casered civilized in at onces terms, are considered civilized to the people living in that time period. In the book Beowulf, a book written in the seventh or eight century by an anonymo us author, there are cardinal societies, the Danes, who reside in Denmark, and the Geats, who reside in s come onhern Sweden.This book is named after a person not surprisingly, this person is named Beowulf, a Geat who later becomes the king of the Geats. The Anglo-Saxon society in the book Beowulf is civilized because they deal in monsters and their leaders and group members have clear expectations. One might be surprised that a civilized society believes in monsters, however, even societies today believe in monsters through television. Societies today establish horror movies purely for entertainment however, it is a known fact that the monsters in the horror movies are not real.On that note, the anonymous author of Beowulf may have written the book purely for the entertainment of his people, all the spot knowing that monsters do not exist, after all, it is probably the closest thing his society has to watching a horror movie. Grendel, the first monster Beowulf fights, is concei ved by a pair of those monsters born of Cain (105-106). This is physically impossible because Cain is a benevolent and Grendel is an actual monster in the book.Another fact that Beowulf was written for entertainment purposes is the fact that the author uses prisonbreak of disbelief, meaning that the readers believe things that are impossible in real for the sake of enjoying the book. For example, Beowulf sank through the waves(1495) for hours(1495) to fight Grendels mother, the mighty water witch (1519). This is an example of suspension of disbelief because it is physically impossible for a human to swim under water for hours without breathing.The Anglo-Saxon society is a civilized society because while todays society creates horror movies for entertainment, the author creates the book, Beowulf, for the entertainment of his people. As stated above, a society is a community of people that have certain jobs they must perform. This definition of a society is a divisor of what a ci vilized society is. In Anglo-Saxon culture, a leader and his comitatus have clear expectations. In todays society, a leader leads the country and commands his people through the office of the prime minister.However, a leader in Anglo-Saxon culture does a little more than leading his country and dominating his people. In the book, Beowulf, there are two main leaders Hrothgar (a Danish king) and Beowulf. These two leaders have the responsibility of bringing glory for their country. When Hrothgar took the throne after his father, he led the Danes to such glory that comrades and kinsmen swore by his sword (65-66). Beowulf brings glory to his country by killing Grendel, the beast that has been haunting Herot for a long time, and by killing Grendels mother, the mighty water witch (1519). Then when Beowulf becomes the king of Geatland, he held it long and nearly (2208). As a leader has responsibilities, group members also have their responsibilities. In todays society, they are responsib le of helping each other, but sometimes they do not always carry out the task. However, a comitatus in Anglo-Saxon society have the responsibility of helping the leader when he take help. There was only one comitatus in Beowulf and they are Beowulfs men. Beowulfs comitatus are by his side during his three actions. However, Beowulfs comitatus was right away available to help him in one out of the three battles.During the battle with Grendel, all of Beowulfs/Band had jumped from their beds, ancestral/Swords raised and ready(795-796). This is only battle that Beowulfs comitatus is readily available in to help. During Beowulfs battle with Grendels mother, the Danes left the swamp thinking Beowulf had died, but the Geats stayed, sit sadly, watching,/Imagining they saw their lord but not believing/ They would ever call in him again(1602-1603). It is here that we start to see that the role of the comitatus start to change because the comitatus are at shore while Beowulf was under wat er, so, if Beowulf eeded their help, they would not be able to help him. In Beowulfs last battle, the battle against the flying dragon, none of his comrades/ Came to him, helped him (2596-2597) when Beowulf could not fight the dragon alone, they also ran away for their lives. At this point in the story, the role of a comitatus is no more. The Anglo-Saxon society is civilized only when the leaders and team members, the comitatus, carry out responsibilities. The Anglo-Saxon society is civilized because they believe in monsters through stories, and their leaders and comitatus have responsibilities, although sometimes the comitatus do not perform their responsibility.It is because they do not perform their duty in the battle with the dragon that the shape up of warriors ends. One can argue that the age of warriors is a civilized time period, however, when the comitatus ran away from the battle, it is there that signs of an uncivilized civilization is seen. Therefore, it can be verbal ise that now the giving of swords, of golden/ Rings and rich estates, is over,/ Ended for you and everyone who shares/ Your blood when the brave Geats hear/ How you bolted and ran none of your race/ Will have anything left but their lives(2884-2888).