The question was:

"What is the difference between the treatment of revenge in Beowulf and the treatment of the same theme in "Thorstein the Staff Struck"?

While both of these stories have a theme of revenge, they teach a very different lesson concerning how the characters go about dealing with it. One teaches that revenge is the only way to make a wrongdoing right, and the other teaches that revenge doesn't have to be the only answer. The two stories, in fact, are practically the two sides of the same coin.      In Beowulf revenge is depicted as a necessary response to a wrongdoing. When Grendel wreaks havoc in Hrothgar's hall, killing his men, Hrothgar is in despair until Beowulf appears and offers to take revenge on his behalf. Beowulf, being the hero that he is, kills Grendel and keeps his arm as a trophy. The cycle of revenge doesn't stop there, however. Grendel's mother is now compelled to get vengence for Grendel's death. She comes and kills Hrothgar's friend, and once again Beowulf has to come save the day. This ends that cycle of revenge because there are no more monsters to kill, but at the end of the story, after Beowulf is dead, it's clear that the cycle of revenge will begin again, as the enemies of Beowulf's tribe come to take their revenge.      By contrast, in "Thorstein the Staff-Struck" we see a much more logical take on revenge. When Thorstein's father hears about what happened at the horse fight, he tries to goad his son into taking revenge, saying he doesn't want a coward for a son. We see here that Thorstein's father would fit in well with the Danes of Beowulf. Thorstein, however, talks with his attacker and gives him the chance to say the whole thing was an accident. The man refuses to compromise, so then Thorstein attacks him and kills him. The point is, Thorstein tried to talk it out and put an end to the problem. We see this again when two of Bjarni's men are sent to get revenge for the first; they are killed by Thorstein, but he is just defending himself. Finally, when Bjarni's wife nags Bjarni into attempting to take revenge for Thorstein's killing of Bjarni's three men, Thorstein and Bjarni fight civilly and almost jokingly the whole time until they realize the problem could be settled another way.      Thorstein's father didn't get the idea, and when Bjarni told him Thorstein was slain, but he would be cared for, the father tried to kill him from his bed.      As we see, both stories have revenge on the mind, but handle it in a different way. Beowulf kills those that wrong him; Thorstein would rather talk it out. Today, I'm sure Thorstein's methods would be more apreciated and, personally, I think that the "Beowulf method" would lead only to bloodshed and violence for both sides, for it is as the old Chinese proberb says, "He who sets out for revenge must first dig two graves; one for his target and one for himself."