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Ambiguity Of Ganelon's Sins In 'Beowulf'

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Ganelon committed quite a number of sins which presented him as being morally ambiguous. Over the course of the story, we saw that Ganelon was a very well-respected baron and also Roland's stepfather. But it was also clear that he resented his stepson's boastfulness and popularity among the Franks and his success on the battlefield. His jealousy served as a factor because Charlemagne favored Roland and Ganelon felt like he wasn't cared for. As a result of his resentment, He planned with the Saracens to kill Roland and his guards, this was after Roland had nominated him to be the messenger of the Saracens and he was not too happy about that so he used the opportunity to create a plan to kill Roland. “I'll go to Saragossa, to Marsilla: / but first I'll have a little bit of fun/ in order to assuage my wrath.” (Pg. 61, line 299-301). …show more content…

The plan went just the way Ganelon predicted and Roland was ambushed with and he ended up getting struck in the head with little to no time to call for help so he died. Another sin that Ganelon committed was accepting bribes, this is a sin in the Christian faith. When Ganelon was sent to Saragossa with orders from Charlemagne to inform Marsile and Baligant to be baptized, he accepted rich gifts from Marsile as bribe to help him get rid of Charlemagne. “Bestow such bounty on the emperor/ that there will be no Frank left unamused... he’ll have no heart to fight you anymore.”(pg. 70, line 570- 579). Marsile handed over to Ganelon tributes, wine and women to take back to Charlemagne knowing that the wine was induced. Ganelon accepting bribes is a part of him committing treachery, he was going against his stepson, and he was a betrayer of benefactors. Ganelon made plans to ruin his stepson out of revenge and anger causing him to betray

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