The formation of Beowulf is one of the great mysteries of English literature. At the heart of the problem is the pagan and Christian intermixing of ideas. There is no denial that pagan’s story and Christian sentimentality makes up the narrative. However, it is uncertain how they got to be placed together in such a coherent fashion. Some believe that a later Christian writer found the story important and added editorials. Others have concluded that a Christian convert also conversant with paganism wrote the epic using local mythology. Despite these differences, it is interesting to see how two opposing ideologies co-exist in such an intelligent epic.
When we look at the criticism of the two elements it becomes possible to understand the impact the interaction has had with readers. A select few have rejected all of the Christian elements as irrelevant to the story. “The earliest nineteenth-century readers of Beowulf, most of them northern Europeans, were involved in the Romantic search for national origins,” and accepted the Germanic pagan elements and considered the rest improvisations. King Alfred is usually accused of adding the new material (Irving Jr., 181). Despite the reasonableness of this conclusion it is hard to reconcile with the fluidity of prose. Sometimes the fusion is so evident in the duplicity of a sentence that both a pagan and Christian meaning can be invoked. This will be explored in more depth later.
With so many examples of a Christian intellect at work it is tempting to assimilate the whole as an apologists metaphor for the passing of an era. “The assertion that Beowulf is a seriously didactic Christian poem was now being restated by many scholars (see, e.g., Kaske 1968) and took several forms. An early interpretation was to identify the hero with Christ and to read the poem as an allegory,” much like St. George who slays the dragon (Irving Jr., 183). With so many obvious Christian parallels it seems possible to reconstruct the format. However, the more it is tried the less the major portions will fit neatly into an allegory. By ripping either the Christian or the pagan elements from the story to elicit specific world-views only makes a disaster out of the text.
What those divergent elements are can be just as interesting as how and why they are there in the first place. There are at least three categories to be found in the poem that can be recognized. There are the pagan elements that look mostly at the display of personal strengths and valor, and the pleasure and social status of wealth. The Christian elements have to do with the veneration of a just God and the destruction of evil in the world. The final category can’t easily be split into the other two ideals. These have pagan and Christian meanings possibly at the same time. The hero Beowulf is included in this conundrum.
Christian Parts
The most obvious Christian elements are those that have a direct relationship to Biblical events and personalities. Some things are as directly Christian as most everything else is pagan. Part of the reason some critics have argued that there were additions to the original poem is because of the seemingly few instances where non-paganism is mentioned. What is interesting is that most of the Biblical references don’t come from the New Testament, but to the earlier Jewish traditions.Grendel is the only character who is mentioned as a Biblical prototype. Like his ancestors that form this connection, he has been banished in the earth to roam. He was one of many evil creatures who sprung up from Cain.
In misery among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcast. For the killing of Abel the Eternal Lord had exacted a price . . . out of the curse of his exile there sprang ogres and elves and evil phantoms and the giants too, who strove with God time and again until He gave them their reward. (105-114)It almost goes without saying that his mother is a direct descendant of Cain as well. This is important because she has an important part in the development of the story as a Christian metaphor.
At one point in the battle against Grendel’s mother, Beowulf discovers a large sword. On the sword are curious pictures of a Biblical nature on the hilt. It is obviously the story of the flood during Noah’s time. It was engraved all over and showed how war first came into the world and the flood destroyed the tribe of violence. They suffered a terrible severance from the Lord; the Almighty made the waters rise and drown them in the deluge for retribution. (1688-1693). This is the sword that will eventually be used to slay Grendel’s mother. It seems to be the only weapon able to handle such evil. Perhaps the poet used the idea of the flood as an ultimate weapon against the evils of the world. According to the Biblical account the only people left were the righteous. It is in this context that the sword might become both judge and jury in distributing eternal penalties. Beowulf became only the earthly form of this heavenly retribution.
The hero plays an important role in the salvation of many of his comrades, both within his own clan and outside of it. It might even be in consequence of the sins of the Geates that the terrible monster appears and devours them. It was only in time that, “the killer instinct unleashed among in-laws, the blood-lust rampant,” (84-85) would take over their doings. This blood lust could have triggered both the justice of heaven and the notice of hell. The punishment was greatest when, in the pride of their comfort, they sat at the table and celebrated with abundance.
Even though Beowulf is a symbol of Christ in many places, he is at best a “flawed” representation. The poem’s writer doesn’t intend to connect everything to Christianity, and most likely uses it as a stylistic approach. What happens with this pick and choose cultural approach is a “secular” hero of extraordinary abilities. He could be described as a Christian Hercules.
There are three monsters that Beowulf faces in order to become the valiant hero and king. The first is Grendel and his mother, who together form what might be considered the pre-resurrection enemies of Christ. It is with awesome and unrelenting horror that Grendel brings death into the world. His mother is in the bottom of a fiery lake, and Beowulf must go there in order to purge the world of her dreadful presence waiting to take revenge on any whom escaped death. When Beowulf went into the deep to overcome “hell” his followers, like Christ’s, believed he was gone forever before his return proved the final victory.
. . . watching the lake water, [seeing] a heave-up and surge of waves and blood in the backwash. They bowed gray heads, spoke in their sage, experienced way about the good warrior, how they never again expected to see the prince returning in triumph to their king. It was clear to many that the wolf of the deep had destroyed him forever. (1592-1599).The dragon is his last great opponent, but must be defeated differently than the other monsters. Critics often believe that the dragon represents the “serpent” Satan who is important to the book of Revelations in the Bible. The name “the evil one” given to it by Beowulf who asks it to leave its cave seems to indicate this (2514). If this is the case then it makes sense that a new approach to defeating it makes sense.
. . . now the day has come when this lord we serve needs sound men to give him their support. Let us go to him, help the leader through the hot flame and dread of the fire. As God is my witness, I would rather my body were robed in the same burning blaze as my gold-givers body than go back home bearing arms. That is unthinkable, unless we have first slain the foe and defended the life of the prince of the Weather-Geats. (2646-2656).In the Christian theological view this is consistent with the personal nature of the battle with Satan. Christ saved all humanity from death and hell, but to defeat Satan believers must struggle together with their savior to not be overcome by the great serpent. It is during this time of struggle that “every man should act, be at hand when needed; but now, for the king, this would be the last of his many labors and triumphs in the world” (2708-2711). Unbelievers who lose faith and don’t fight are doomed to be cast away as cowards, or destroyed by the serpent they didn’t stand against.
Another role for the kingdom of Christ, and Beowulf performs this as king, is to be a peacemaker. It is during his administration that kingdoms and clans live together without trying to destroy each other. They are united under one leadership and any battles that occur are only minor and quickly put down. But, with the passing of the “good king” Beowulf the situation changes. There is a pessimism that the Swedes, “will cross our borders and attack in force when they find out that our lord is dead” (3001-3003). Each king mentioned in the poem is granted the label good or evil. Those kings who could get other nations “to yield to him and give tribute. That was one good king” (10-11). It was when kingdoms fought both friend and foe that the label of good wasn’t mentioned.
Many critics point to the disturbing ending as evidence that the poet was lamenting the pagan past from a short distance. It could be argued that the poet was lamenting the passing of both a Christian and pagan era. For the writer there seems no hope in the pagan heroic virtues that Beowulf represents. With the same idea “twelve warriors [riding] around the tomb” (3169), who could represent Christ’s apostles, mourn for his loss at the same time as extol his unmatched valor. Whatever bleak future was in the poet’s mind, it wasn’t going to be a triumph for either world-view.
works cited:
Heaney, Seamus, translator. Beowulf. By unknown, W.W. Norton & Company, 2000.
Irving Jr., Edward B. “Christian and Pagan Elements.” A Beowulf Handbook. Ed.
Robert E. Bjork and John D. Niles. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 1997. Pg. 175-192.
