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arm" (431). Then, Beowulf tears at Grendel using his hands, instead of a sword. This raises the question of how "Beowulf rips the monster's arm off at the shoulder with his bare hands. Yet [he] is just a human being. Where does he get the leverage?" (Gurewitsch 118). Beowulf draws his leverage from his body power. When his sword blunts, he bravely continues on, leaning on his arm for strength. Here, the arm represents Beowulf's inner courage. The poet uses this motif to demonstrate that his courage comes from within himself, not from the edge of a sword. Therefore, when weapons fail, Beowulf depends on it to defeat Grendel. By illustrating the triumph of the arm over the sword, Beowulf portrays the ambiguous nature of the sword. Initially, the sword gives Beowulf's band courage. However, the sword becomes powerless whereas the arm perseveres as a foundation of strength, suggesting that one should favor his inner strength over placing faith in external objects. The poet demonstrates through Beowulf that few trust their internal power, but that it is necessary to obtain victory.

Whereas the perseverance of arm strength through sword failure directly correlates to Beowulf's victory in his battle with Grendel, in the battle between Beowulf and Grendel's mother, the poet integrates the arm and sword motifs to reexamine the definition of arm strength. At first, Beowulf attempts to use Hrunting, a prized sword, to attack Grendel's mother. However, he soon "[discovers] that no sword could slice her evil/ Skin, that/ Hrunting could not hurt her, was useless/ Now when he needed it" (599-601). Again, the sword flounders in the midst of a beastly fiend. Despite Hrunting's history of victorious battles, its strength cannot meddle with Grendel's mother, demonstrating the limit of the sword's power. Although the sword falters, Beowulf proceeds in his relentless pursuit of Grendel's mother. Instead of abandoning his quest, he "leaped back/ Into battle. He tossed his sword aside, /AngryIf weapons were useless he'd use/ His hands, the strength in his fingers.[So] He raised/ His arms and seized her by the shoulder; anger /Doubled his strength"(606-614). This passage illuminates how Beowulf's anger ignites his determination. The poet's repetition of "anger" emphasizes how Beowulf's vast anger gives him power to set aside his sword and depend upon his body power. Also, the poet's word choice emphasizes Beowulf's power. The verbs "leaped," "raised," and "seized" delineate Beowulf

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