Biblical Allusions In Beowulf

Beowulf wants to help Hrothgar because he realizes that despite current rivalries, he has a commitment to serving humankind. He also wants a chance to show off his prowess more people, and wants the admiration.Hrothgar is able to save face because Beowulf comes to him asking permission to slay Grendel. When worded this way, it makes it seems as if the king was the mastermind behind the operation, and was the one who made the decision to have Grendel slain.The number twelve has many religious connotations, including, but not limited to, the twelve days of Christmas, the twelve apostles, and the twelve tribes of Israel. By using the number 12, the transcriber is able to pay homage to his christianity.Beowulf wants to stay inside to fight Grendel

He mentions that Grendel may have been a descendent of Cain. Beowulf’s sacrifice for his people in the end has also been compared to Jesus’s sacrifice. On several occasions, characters in the story thank God or reference God in what was originally written as a Pagan myth. This again contributes to the cyclical nature of the story, but this time, the moods are different. The tower at the beginning is a symbol of grandeur and the beginning of an era whereas the tower at the end has a more melancholic meaning and marks the end of an era. Fire and Water seem to be represented the most throughout the story, mostly to convey the setting as eery and dangerous. Earth and Air are both mentioned, but less frequently and mainly by happenstance. If any section of the epic was missing, it may have been an aftermath. Wiglaf’s rule and the reaction of the people to King Beowulf’s death was nondescript and abrupt. I feel that the ending may not have done justice to the exciting and noble life that Beowulf had lived, so maybe there was more that had simply gotten lost, leaving the story to end as shortly as it did. They did discuss Beowulf’s funeral, but very briefly and without