In what ways do you think Beowulf reveals the values of the Anglo-Saxon society?

One of the first aspects of an epic poem one examines to
learn about the society the poem derives from is the characterization of the hero: 
specifically, what makes the hero a hero.

In the case of
Beowulf, scholars assume that the character traits that make
Beowulf a hero were valuable to Anglo-Saxon society.  Beowulf is brave, honorable,
respectful of his father and ancestors, a great warrior, and believes his good deeds and
great victories are his means of immortality (he will be remembered).  And though he
appears to us as arrogant, he does give great respect to others and acknowledges the
role of fate.  Scholars assume, then, that these traits were important to the
Anglo-Saxons.

More important, however, is what the poem
reveals about the unstable life of the Anglo-Saxons.  There was no central government,
police force, legal system, etc. in Anglo-Saxon England.  Kings weren't kings in the way
we think of them today.  There were no knights as we think of them or as they appear in
King Arthur myths (not until the Middle Ages), and chivalry was centuries away from
being thought of.  Knights and chivalry are medieval ideas, not Anglo-Saxon ideas.  And
feudalism came to England via the Normans in 1066.  Anglo-Saxson society was
unstable. 

Kings were kings over a bit of land and some
people, but over a hill or two was another king who ruled his bit of land, etc.  All it
took for a person to be displaced was for one mead hall to attack and take over another
mead hall.  In other Anglo-Saxon works like "The Seafarer" and "The Wanderer," this
seems to be the central problem in Anglo-Saxon life. 

And,
essentially, this is what happens in Beowulf.  What is Grendel?  He
is every Anglo-Saxon's nightmare.  He is the mead hall wrecker who displaces mead hall
residents, and turns them into exiles and wanderers.  He is the worst thing that could
happen, and often did happen, to Anglo-Saxons. 

The
Beowulf poet uses a monster to demonstrate the unstable nature of
Anglo-Saxon existence.  Grendel may be a monster, but he does only what Anglo-Saxon
kings often did to other Anglo-Saxon kings.  This is what is revealed in the epic poem. 
The monster may be a literary creation, but the destruction of a mead hall and the
displacement of the people who depended on the hall and the king for protection is
not.