Christian Morals in Beowulf
Beowulf is an epic tale that has been changed over time to try and
express a christian moral. While this transformation over time has added a
new variable to the plot, it is still impossible to try and erase the
original pagan plot completely. It has become evident that the original
epic was pagan and had no mention of the biblical references or the
christian morality that it contains now. However, it is also evident that
the original story dealt with the concept of a higher being or beings.
The overriding christian view has many facets and deals with them
all as a new way of proposing christianity into the theme of the story. The
reason that Grendel becomes outraged is that the bard in the mead hall is
singing a song that has to do with creation. This shows Grendel's apparent
disregard for God and he proceeds to go to the hall and capture men and eat
them while they are asleep. As we progress into the story, we learn that
Grendel carries the curse of Cain with him. "He bore the curse of the seed
of Cain/ Whereby God punished the grievous guilt of Abel's murder." Cain
was the son of Adam and Eve and was the one who murdered Abel, his brother,
out of a jealous rage for God's favor to Abel. This shows us that Grendel
had more than just a dislike for the men, the song was showing Grendel that
his ancestor was looked upon as the bad person and was therefore the
underlying concept for Grendel's rage. This was the constant reminder to
Grendel of his evil past and thus his reasoning for his actions. We learn
to see Grendel as a less than human being, but in actuality, he is a
monster who has a degree of humanity in him and that is the reason that he
is so hard for Beowulf to kill. He has the human emotion of pride which
ultimately is the cause of his downfall. While this seems to be a major
part of the story line, it can be removed and the story will only lose the
background of Grendel's evil side. This could have been where the real
story of Grendel originally was.
As with many of the classic medieval stories there is a sense of a
higher being and fate is a major factor in Beowulf. " Had fate but granted,
born of my body/ An heir to follow me after I'm gone." Fate is the factor
that leads to the explanation of Beowulf's death, and fate is also the
reason that Beowulf cannot pass his sword and shield on to his nonexistent
son. Fate plays a major role in the story and is related to the comitatus
of the story. Beowulf's life ends because of the curse on the dragon's gold
and causes the death of his family line. Although Beowulf tries to
rationalize his greed for the gold as a way to better his people, his true
feeling is that of gold and because of his past experiences and victories,
he feels that he is immortal. He feels this way because he has lived
through the toughest battles of all men and is thought to be the greatest
warrior alive by all people.
In conclusion, we are shown that without the christian morals
throughout Beowulf, the story would seem incomplete, however, we will never
know exactly what the original author lost over time as the christian
morals were implanted into the story.
It is also evident that because of the pagan occurrences in the
story that the story was one of pagan origin and is now a story of
christian origin.Partner sites: French Bulldog, Spanish school in Quito, and Wedding Speeches