(2497) “I marched ahead of him, always there at the front of the line; and I shall fight like that for as long as I live…”
Beowulf knows he isn’t going to come back from this battle. Just as Jesus knew he was going to die. (again Beowulf a Jesus figure). But this also ties into the fact that Beowulf is a great warrior, and a warrior before a king. He decides to put his duties as a warrior ahead of his kingly duties. He figures that if he is going to die it might as well be dieing for his people so he can receive endless praise and glory because he will be remembered so highly. But more then his desire for glory, for a moment anyway I think he did it for his people, to protect them. I say for a moment because by him, their main line of defense as king and the best warrior, going into battle knowing he was going to die was not well thoughtout. He didn’t take the time to prepare other warriors and make them great or make sure the people would be protected after he was gone. This was an attempt at being a noble king but was shadowed by his needs as a warrior to fight.
Another argue is that Beowulf wanted to spare the lives of his men. This could be looked at in good and bad light.
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