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The Christian Influence In Beowulf's Epic

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The Christian influence in Beowulf’s epic adds certain meaning and connotations for the events that are happening within the story. Without it, many implications written would hold no meaning, and instead appear to be completely random and without any reason. In Beowulf’s fight against Grendel’s mother, Beowulf managed to survive a fatal blow due to miracles created by God (Seamus, pg 107). If Christianity is taken out and God is removed from the story, Beowulf’s survival would’ve been very unlikely or he was truly lucky. A moment after, however, Beowulf stumbled upon a lucky encounter once again; a godsend sword that is able to slay Grendel’s mother was just hanging around the cave walls (pg. 107-108). As an epic, it is very highly anticipated that the hero will survive and conquer through countless strifes and battles early on in the story. However, a story where the hero wins unconditionally through baseless means …show more content…

That applies only when Christian influence is involved. Grendel, who is supposedly a descendant of Cain (a person cursed by God), is aware of his actions and is killing everyone in the halls, and he refrained only from nearing the throne (pg. 13). Thus with Christian influence, the story and characters are polarized, and without it both characters would only be a battle for survival and strength rather than morals and beliefs. Grendel in turn becomes a beast who feeds on humans to survive, and Beowulf remains a hero, but his purpose would only be to show off his strength rather than doing an honourable act for God; Grendel is no longer evil, and is a non-human creature with no morals, ethics, or conscience. The concept of good and evil no longer applies to Beowulf’s epic when there is no longer Christianity

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