Christian Elements In Beowulf Essay

Everyone always feels the need to “get even” at someone for a wrongdoing. Getting revenge is what all creatures do at some point in their life. Throughout the Epic Poem Beowulf, everyone has a motive and some of the creatures are out for revenge. In the Epic Poem Beowulf, the unknown author uses the Universal Theme of Revenge, to represent the motivation for the monsters.

Beowulf, still keeping his faith in God, believes that God is punishing him for his wrong doing, and he is sorta right. (Death ln 16-19). Perhaps Beowulf realizes his mistake in trusting in the worldly things to keep him safe and secure, rather than God, but it is revealed to the reader that this is not the case. Against impossible odds, Beowulf chose to rely on his armor and weapons to keep him safe; however, these things failed him. (Death ln 89-90). Because of his choice to not trust in God, Beowulf ends up dying, but he is still not aware of his mistake, (Death ln 160-161). God could not let him continue life with His blessing upon him if Beowulf could not keep his faith in God. This ends up being his fatal mistake that results in his death.

Many time we are asked why we do the things we do. What is our motivation for the things we do? Does someone tell us it do it or do we do it because it’s fun? You can find motivation in many strange and different things. Motivation can be derived from family or friends, personal interest, and even conflict. In Beowulf, there are fights with three different monsters. Beowulf, the hero, has different motivations for fighting each monster. Beowulf didn’t have to fight any of these monsters, but he choose to. During the epic poem, Beowulf, Beowulf’s motivations for fighting the monsters are duty, glory, and sacrifice.

In the epic poem Beowulf, the protagonist, Beowulf, faces three “monsters” at different times in his life. The poem begins with Grendel, a monster who attacks only in the dark of night, tormenting the kingdom of Hrothgar. The last two sections of the epic detail the conquering by Beowulf of Grendel’s mother and the dragon. The battle between the monsters and Beowulf represent the theme of good versus evil in the poem, as well as the fusion of pagan and Christian ideals in the changing Germanic society. Grendel’s mother’s actions directly juxtapose the role of a woman in this time period, and the greediness of the dragon with his treasure contrasts with the virtues of what would be considered a good king.

13.) In the beginning, Herot was being savagely attacked by Grendel and lives were being taken for twelve straight winters. He was “so set on murder that no crime could ever be enough, no savage assault quench his lust for evil” (lines 50-53). Finally, the brave warrior Beowulf arrives to Herot and murders the devious Grendel. Seeking revenge, Grendel’s mom slyly arrives at Herot and snatches only one victim. She had taken “Hrothgar’s closest friend, the man he most loved of all men on earth” (lines 18-19). Lastly, “she had carried off Grendel’s claw” to make her presence known throughout Herot. The great palace of Herot was stripped of it’s honor and death’s were traded between the monsters and the people of Herot. In conclusion, both the warriors of Herot and the monster’s had lost.

Beowulf’s honor and integrity can be questioned throughout the entirety of the epic poem, Beowulf. Whether or not his actions are inspired by his own pompous arrogance or confidence, one can argue that he is a hero nonetheless. Evidence and experience prove that Beowulf is more of a fearless hero than an excessively prideful man, and his hubris is more than justified due to the formidable duties he is able to execute.

Beowulf is a perfect example of an epic hero. What is an epic hero, you may ask? An epic hero is one who is determined to show their strength, bravery, and honor by heroic and dangerous actions. In the epic, Beowulf, the main character himself shows many qualities that defines him as an epic hero. Beowulf’s many battles are examples of how he is an epic hero. On numerous accounts, Beowulf involved himself in many challenges such battling Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the Dragon to prove himself as a hero.

The names of Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. are known worldwide. They have lead many fighting what they believe in. One man many people think of when being a leader to fight for his beliefs of the people is Jesus Christ. Jesus is loved by many and hated by the powerful, just like these three other men, but their is one comparison that has been made to a certain protagonist of ancient times. In the epic poem ,Beowulf, the protagonist, Beowulf, is a leader who fights for the betterment of society while being the one that many look up to. Beowulf is a Christ-like figure because of his selfless leadership to protect others, not for himself. Beowulf is seen as a Christ-like figure because he is unearthly . Jesus and Beowulf are leaders who make loving decisions and

In “Beowulf,” there are many concepts of good and evil portrayed in the epic poem by an unknown author. Beowulf brings good to the Geats. The people would say he was a gift from the Gods to battle and demolish the evil. The monsters, however, cause trouble to the people and bring out the evil in everything. These elements of good and evil help define this an epic poem.

elements found in Beowulf and how this depicted culture in the early medieval ages. Broadly

In Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney, religion and hell are referenced to many times throughout the story. “Because the poet 's obvious references to religious matters are infrequent and elementary, he would-appear to have had a slight grasp of Christianity as we understand it, unless he disguised his erudition with characteristic Anglo-Saxon understatement (Whallon).” Chapter two of Beowulf “is most interesting when it collects the familiar evidence for Christian education in the early Anglo-Saxon (Parker)” era. When he speaks of the arrows of the devil in lines 1743 through 1744, “Grown too distracted. A killer stalks him, An archer who draws a deadly bow,” “one may therefore look to a passage in Ephesians, observe that the image was common

Not surprisingly, in the poem Beowulf, the characters of Grendel and Beowulf showed the significant role of religion. Biblical allusions were scattered throughout the poem. The alienated character Grendel was a descendant “of Cain (who was) punished forever for the crime of Abel’s death.” Due to their blood connection to Cain, Grendel’s parents were “murderous creatures banished by God.” God has exiled all monsters; shunned them away from the prosperous lives of humans. This made Grendel an outcast to the society of God worshipers. Unlike the Germanic tribes that roamed the earth above him, Grendel lived with the sole purpose of “opposing the Lord’s Will, and again and again defeated.” Meanwhile, as he was born human, the heroic character Beowulf was considered to be a descendant of the Lord. He was also a firm follower of God, always believing in His mysterious ways. Beowulf’s devotion and fate to the Lord above was especially evident when he believed that God was the one who showed him the sword made by the Giants, which he used to defeat Grendel’s mother. The portrayal of someone who constantly defied the will of God by the alienated character Grendel and the embodiment of the heroic character Beowulf as someone who greatly admired the Lord show the value of practicing religion in the Anglo-Saxon

If you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of religious references in Beowulf. Their affection for God is greatly elaborated in the text. It is stated in the text, “King Hrothgar’s glorious throne, protected by God’ that piece of evidence concludes to my idea that religion was important to their people. Another example would be the nobel Queen of Danes, Welthow. She among all the people was subtle to boast on Beowulf. Instead, Wealthow paised God for “answering her prayers.” She knew that Beowulf was the hope of defeating the demon-like Grendel, but she pasied God for bringing Beowulf to them.

The pagan ideals and values displayed throughout the poem expose how destructive and misguiding the ideas of paganism can be. The people believe in God but hold onto their pagan values, which causes them to keep their culture of destruction and terror, directly violating their belief in God. As written in Matthew ch.7: 24 “No one can serve two masters, He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and mammon.” The characters in “Beowulf” try to brush aside the cultural values that they must obey as Christian and live in a Christian world with pagan values. Just as it is stated in the bible, it is almost impossible to fully serve two masters like the Anglo-Saxons try to do. Even though throughout most of the story the people only worship and praise God, they still keep their beliefs and values mainly pagan. Although the author doesn’t display or highlight the issues that this causes, the story could have played out a lot differently if the Anglo-Saxons would have fostered Christian beliefs. At the core of Christianity is being humble, pride and personal fame and glory are highly valued in “Beowulf”. Another core value of Christianity is not placing value on worldly goods, but on heavenly

When first reading Beowulf it would appear that the Christian references within it superimpose onto the essentially pagan view that makes a huge body of the poem. Therefore, within this assignment, there will be investigations of inconsistencies. Sources clearly show that Beowulf was written by Germanic pagans that had been debauched by some leftist ecclesiastic wordsmith , to the insistence that the author designedly created the Christian allegory along the lines of Book 1 of The Faerie Queen.