Beowulf has three battles with monsters throughout the epic, and all of them tested his strength and valor. He first fights the monster Grendel, who terrorizes Hrothgar's kingdom for a long time. He then fights Grendel's Mother, who is seeking revenge on Beowulf for him killing her son. His last fight was against a dragon, which seeks revenge on the town because one man stole from his treasure horde. Each of these three battles was done for different reasons, and each of them changed his life.

Going into his fight with Grendel, Beowulf is very confident and he wants to gain a better reputation by killing the beast. He even says that he fill fight Grendel without arms, not knowing of the curse on the weapons of men, and that he regards himself as dangerous as Grendel. His motive is to gain prestige and honor in Heorot. He...