There are two main aspects to setting. The first is location which effects the climate, culture of people, and geography. The second part of setting is time. The time period determines how the characters act, what conflict they are involved in, and how they dress, among other things. Also a specific year effects what key events take place in a story, although only in non-fiction.
The location of Beowulf is in Northern Europe, in a place called Scandinavia. The Scandinavian peninsula is located between the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia on the west, the Norwegian Sea and the North Sea (Northern Atlantic) on the east, the Arctic Circle to the north, and to the south: Denmark. The geography of this place is very rocky. The fjords along the sea provide spectacular landscape for this story. Because of the geography, Scandinavians are very tough and weather-hardened (one of the first people to conquor Everest was Norwegian). It is very cold in Scandinavia.
The time period that the Beowulf story takes place is between 495 (Beowulf born?) and 583 (Beowulf killed? 'note' King Arthur of Britain died in 545). This was a rocky time in the history of Europe. The decline of the Roman Empire in Britian ended in 410, when Roman Forces left the British Isles. After this time many barbarian tribes invaded unoccupied Britian. However the Scandinavia was never under Roman control. The Rhine River was the western border of the Roman border, and the Danube was on the north. The fall of the Roman Empire was caused by a few things. The main reason though is that many barbaric tribes started invading while weak leaders ruled the Roman Empire. These tribes were related to the tribes of the north that Beowulf was involved with.
Beowulf History |
