Beowulf - a Story

Beowulf

Beowulf is a story that takes place in medieval Europe, the main part of the story is about a knight, Beowulf, that has to fight evil creatures such as a dragon. No one is exactly sure who wrote Beowulf, Paleographers believe from characteristics of the scribal hands that wrote the soul surviving text, that the manuscript was copied down in the late tenth century or early eleventh. This early copy of Beowulf is still around today. This single manuscript can be found in the British Library in London. Scholars believe that the story itself was written between 650-800.

In the medieval, warriors were looked up to greatly. To die as a warrior was one of man’s greatest achievements. Children adored them and women wanted to get with them, a lot like celebrities today. The troops of warriors had integrity and loyalty to one another. Death plays a huge part in Beowulf, the story starts and ends with the funeral of a hero. The poem starts with the burial of Scyld Scefing, his burial has been compared the burial of Sutton Hoo, who had a ship-burial. Scyld Scefing is buried amid ship surrounded by treasures and battle gear. He is buried at sea, unlike everyday people who are just put into the ground. Beowulf however, is cremated with all his battle equipment. He is buried along side his unburnt treasure, which is unheard of according to some archeological evidence, which means it was made up for this story alone. So that a lot of people could attend the funeral, some people would be buried atop hills so that it could be seen for miles. Much like to day, when a celebrity dies or like when Princess Diana died, hundreds of thousands of people attended. Some by watching it on television, others by sitting in the stands outside the church. No matter what religion you are there is mostly always some type of burial.

There are different examples of religious beliefs in this story, I found both Christian and Pagan. In some ways the Danes see Beowulf as somewhat of a Jesus Christ type character. He had saved them from the evil of Grendel, and Jesus had saved the Jews from their sins. Another Christian thing was King Hrothgar’s throne was said to be protected by God. Also towards the end the men prey to God for the other men who have died to be able to make it to Heaven. Pagan views can be seen when Grendel attacks and kills the first Geat, and drinks his blood from his veins. This can be looked at as a Pagan practice by drinking a victim’s blood. When they drink the blood it is believed to give the person drinking all the powers, knowledge, strength and soul of the dead. When Beowulf’s is cremated this can also to be looked at as Pagan belief because they believe that burning the body sends the soul to its afterlife.

Another archeological aspect in Beowulf is when Hrothgar decided to build Heorot, a huge mead-hall, a place of joy and security. Heorot was made of gold and jewels, and people from all over the land traveled to see it. Hrothgar would give away gifts to people who came to see the hall. Warriors would sleep in the great hall at night. Places of this status really existed, and are still standing today. With stapols, raised floors and steeply pitched roofs, these structures date back to the same time Beowulf was written.

Good vs. evil was another part of the story. Like just about any story, you must have a good guy and a bad guy. In this case u have Beowulf vs. Grendel and the dragon. Beowulf as I said earlier was viewed, as somewhat of a savior and Grendel is somewhat of a Satan type character, since Grendel wants to wipe out mankind. Pride is looked at as evil also, even though Beowulf had much pride in himself, he considered what he did selfless acts which was highly held up as good. Goodness is not only selfless acts though, but also the ability

to pure and cleanse evil. After Beowulf slays Grendel, the poem says "(Beowulf) Had purged of evil the hall of Hrothgar, and cleansed of crime; the heart of the hero." All evil and crime done at Heorot was gone, and it was now ok to return to Heorot. Certain articles I have read about Beowulf say that, he was meant to win because Grendel was the descendant of Cain and God was not going to let the good guy die. Some other article also said that “evil never wins” but when you think about it evil does win sometimes because Grendel kills all