Beowulf: epic poem and heroic themes

Beowulf -- a tale of pagan nationhood and Christian morality

The heroic narrative "Beowulf," by an anonymous Saxon author, is an early tale of a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danish court from a monster. The story, reflecting the era of its construction, blends elements of pagan ethics that 'might makes right' with Christian ethics and appeals to the divine moral order, as a mysterious and gifted stranger heals a community. These two elements can be seen early on in the Seamus Heaney translation of the epic poem, soon after Grendel has ravaged the hall for the first time. The sad king of the Danish nation appeals for Beowulf's aid, "Now Holy God has, in His goodness, guided him here to the West-Danes, to defend us from Grendel. This is my hope; and for his heroism I will recompense him with a rich treasure." (27)

The Christian God guides the hero's progress to where there is a need and the struggle between the warrior and Grendel is framed as a moral one. "One death fells must deem it a just judgment by God." (31) Grendel is called "God-cursed Grendel." (41) However, the God-bestowed cause of the hero is a bloody one, to defend a nation against a ravaging beast. And the hero is repaid not with doing what is right and just, as in a chivalric, Christian code of morals, but with money and fame. When Grendel is slain, a triumphant and bloody ritual is made of his body that is anything but respectful in tone. "It was a task for four to hoist Grendel's head on a spear and bear it under strain to the bright hall." (113) Beowulf tells the tale of Grendel's slaying to the court both as a tale of good vs. evil, and as a spectacle of his military prowess. And when the mother of Grendel takes revenge, this creates a sense of an earlier, matriarchal order of revenge that is ultimately succumbed to Beowulf's greater military might and strength. At the end of the tale, heroics and heroic rewards are fused with fighting with a cause of Christian good, while bestial threats to the community are not simply frightening in a pagan sense, but evil and immoral as well. Although the pagan and Christian elements of the text at times seem to exist in a state of tension, ultimately they are thematically fused, as battles become moral struggles as well as military ones.