Beowulf One of the Most

Beowulf

one of the most interesting parts of the poem, both in terms of the relationship between the characters and the way the events are interconnected and through the relationship with Einstein's conception, as expressed in "Physics and Reality" is Beowulf's third and final battle, with the dragon. The storyline is simple: Beowulf has returned to his home and has become king and ruler there. A golden cup is stolen from the lair of a dragon by one of the slaves and Beowulf is forced to fight the dragon that threatens his people and kingdom. He benefits only from the help of Wiglaf and succeeds to kill the dragon, only to perish himself because of the wounds received in battle.

Before analyzing this specific moment from the perspective of Einstein's idea of a "courageous scientific imagination," it is useful to have a look, first of all, at Einstein's article and better understand the role of this scientific imagination. The elements of physics that Einstein lists throughout his essay are not only clearly and logically interconnected, but are also placed in a historical perspective, so that the reader can better understand both how physics developed and how the new physics that Einstein promotes, including quantum theory, fits in.

So, following Einstein's article, physics tries to explain different things. First of all, it places in its center the object, animate or inanimate, and analyzes both how objects interrelate between them and the behavior of objects that are placed in different environments. As Einstein points out in his work, "one of the most primitive concepts is that of an object" (Einstein, 1938).

The relationship between the objects (named, from a physics point-of-view, bodies) also needs to be analyzed, something which led, for example, to the discovery of the electromagnetic field, something that could explain how objects interrelated between them in certain conditions. For the physicist of the 19th century, as Einstein shows, "the reality of our outer world consisted of particles with simple forces acting between them and depending only on the distance" (Einstein, 1938). Such observations drove physicist, as creators, to adapt their theories to explain different events.

On the other hand, as Einstein shows, and this is another excellent example where the creative imagination intervenes, the new conditions and experimental observations require new theoretical explanations from the scientists. This is how the quantum theory was created: as Einstein mentioned, it both created new features of reality and provided the relevant explanations for things that were being noticed and for which traditional physics could no longer provide sufficient explanations. As Einstein put it, "later developments both destroyed old concepts and created new ones" (Einstein, 1938), but in both cases it was the physicist who did that, as a creator. From this perspective, one can better understand the scientist's creative imagination: on one hand, he creates the necessary explanations for observable facts and records these, but, on the other he creates new realities and laws that govern other objects than individuals.

Once this has been discussed, it is somewhat easier to translate Einstein's concept to the poet's own courageous scientific imagination, as scene in the scene from "Beowulf" previously mentioned. Just as the modern scientist, the poet introduces and, subsequently, tries to understand and explain, the idea of chaotic events, events that cannot be explained by the traditional ideas.

Despite his own behavior aimed at avoiding conflict, Beowulf cannot control all the forces and objects/individuals in his realm. This is why the conflict is triggered by one of his men ("But a certain man / stumbled on it,/into the heathen hoard,/and took a cup,/a large, decorated treasure"). As mentioned, the event itself lacks the previous logic according to which the battles were fought because of the unprovoked attack of the enemy (Grendel, Grendel's mother).

Here, the event cannot be explained by the previous laws of physics (the attack is not caused by the hero and the hero's people, but by the act of the aggressor) and the innovative poet creates a different premise: the attack is internally determined, similar to how Einstein's idea of an innovative scientist shows the respective individual creating new realities.

On the other hand, it is interesting to analyze how the creative poet describes the relationship between Beowulf and Wiglaf. The character has not been present in the other parts of the poem, but appears here as Beowulf's most trusted companion and the only one of the thanes who fights against his fear of the dragon and stands and fights side by side with Beowulf against the dragon. There are several interesting aspects of the way the poet describes this relationship and integrates in the poem.