Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon heroic literature

Beowulf

The Anglo-Saxon epic of Beowulf relies heavily on the use of good vs. evil. This can be seen in the mighty Beowulf's battle with Grendel and his evil mother. Good and evil are also symbolized in the locations. King Hrothgar's great mead hall, Heorot, and Grendel's watery lair can be seen as examples of good and godly vs. evil and pagan (Niles).

Near the beginning of the epic, the audience is told of the great mead hall, Heorot, that King Hrothgar of Denmark ordered to be built. After its construction, it is labeled "The greatest of hall-buildings" (2.30). Impressions of its size are continued with the words "Towered the hall up / High and horn-crested" (2.33-34).

It is here that Hrothgar's men soon suffer under the visitations of Grendel for twelve years. Grendel comes from the depths of a lake that is famously described later in the epic. Grendel's other source of origin suggests that he is steeped in evil. He is connected to that race of monsters spawned from Cain's foul act of murder against his brother Abel. As Grendel is being established in the epic as the spawn of the first murder, Hrothgar is being praised as a great king in war and peace that he and his people build a fabulous hall to celebrate. It is the beauty, grace, and camaraderie of this hall that so offends Grendel and begins his raids of evil.

Beowulf's arrival leads the poet to further expound on the goodness and godliness of Heorot. As Beowulf and his men approach, these words are spoken.

The heroes hastened, hurried the liegemen, / Descended together, till they saw the great palace, / the well-fashioned wassail-hall wondrous and gleaming: / 'Mid world-folk and kindreds that was widest reputed / of halls under heaven which the hero abode in" (5. 48-52). The beauty and splendor of Heorot are confirmed by these words as well as its nearness to Heaven.

However, it is not just the beauty and godliness that are celebrated in this epic. Heorot is also strong and sound in the face of adversity. Grendel has been a powerful enemy and has damaged Heorot at times by ripping off hinges. Yet, he cannot really damage the physical properties of the hall, nor can Grendel completely demolish the humane properties that have been established there. It is the battle for humanity that brings Beowulf to Denmark to fight with Grendel. Their only battle on the night of Beowulf's arrival tests the physical properties of the building:

Twas a marvellous wonder that the wine-hall withstood then

The bold-in-battle, bent not to earthward,

Excellent earth-hall; but within and without it

Was fastened so firmly in fetters of iron,

By the art of the armorer. Off from the sill there

Bent mead-benches many, as men have informed me,

Adorned with gold-work, where the grim ones did struggle.

The Scylding wise men weened ne'er before

That by might and main-strength a man under heaven

Might break it in pieces, bone-decked, resplendent,

Crush it by cunning, unless clutch of the fire

In smoke should consume it. (12. 62-73)

The physical properties that Hrothgar's men had built into the Hall withstood this battle of good vs. evil. Heorot was intended to be a place of greatness and glory to God which gave it the symbolic ability to make good prevail and evil sink.

After Beowulf's victory over Grendel, Beowulf must travel to Grendel's home to do battle with his monstrous mother. Her den is described by Hrothgar to Beowulf as an evil place shrouded in darkness, yet "there ever at night one an ill-meaning portent / a fire-flood may see" (21.4-5). Even animals know not to drink from the lake's water even if they are on the verge of death. "Firm-antlered he-deer, / Spurred from afar, his spirit he yieldeth, / His life on the shore, ere in he will venture / to cover his head" (21.47-50). Beowulf on his descent into the burning lake encounters other evil creatures who attempt to attack him. When he finally finds Grendel's mother, he must do battle with her in another great hall where "brightness a-gleaming / Fire-light he saw, flashing resplendent" (23.40-41). The burning lake of fire is surely intended to remind the audience of descriptions of hell, hence, symbolically, this is a place of extreme evil.