The rise of Christianity led to many reformations of new absolute monarchs which ruled with divine right. The theology behind each ruler disallowed any other kind of religious faith to popularize orally or eventually through text. As a result, when a certain ruler was unable to maintain power and be overtaken by a neighboring empire the old citizens had to adapt to the new religious beliefs. This occurred repeatedly in Europe especially in the regions known today as England and Wales. The Anglo-Saxons were one of the few who were able to maintain power over a large period of time. During this time period a mysterious scribe or scribes would have written the poem Beowulf. A simple condemnation of Hrothgar can change the entire meaning in the …show more content…
The Christian elements in Beowulf impact the story as a whole immensely and change the moral of the story completely. Beowulf takes place in a pagan world of sixth-century Scandinavia. The poem was originally an oral tradition causing it to have a plethora of influences that could’ve come from anywhere. Thomas D. Hill wrote an argument about the origin of Beowulf stating the poet to be a Germanic humanist. Hill goes on to proclaim that there is a very precise way in which Beowulf is written which is a very “humanistic” reading of the poet’s forefather’s causing a lot of consistency through the text. Though, there are a few parts in the poem that contradict this claim which is caused by the Christian scribes who wrote down the poem. Hill goes on to explain the religion in Beowulf by defining them as “Noachites,” gentiles who share the religious heritage and knowledge of Noah and his sons without having the implementations of God. He goes on to stating the usual criterion understanding the passages in the poem are either integral or an interpolation of the passage can be identified by being stylistically or conceptually from the text in which it occurs as a whole. The poem flows a certain way until something forces it to change direction. …show more content…
Tolkien identifies the importance and judges the preposterous ideals that other scholars for even thinking that the poem would be better off with no monsters at all or that the original poem had no monsters. Whether or not the original poet prescribed monsters to be in his poem one can identify the Christian element that were added to the poem and due to historical research one can assume that with high certainty that those additions have had to have come from the scribes who brought the poem into text. The dragon is a very clear example of the Christian influence in the poem as it states, “He had handled and removed a gem-studded goblet; it gained him nothing, though with a thief’s wiles he had outwitted the sleeping dragon. That drove him into rage, as the people of that country would soon discover.” (Beowulf 2215-20) The thought of a dragon personifying malice, envy and wrath is something inscribed in the bible and other religious texts. Also, the dragon that is inserted in Beowulf has wings and breathes fire whereas, the dragons in Norse mythology and other pre-Christian ideology do not have wings and resemble worms. Tolkien states “…is not to be blamed for being a dragon, but rather for not being dragon enough…in which this dragon is a real worm, with a bestial life and thought of his own, but the conception, none the less, approaches draconitas rather than draco; a personification of malice, greed, destruction…” (Tolkien 114) Tolkien makes an extraordinary point
The theology which appears in the Christian allusions in Beowulf is very vague and indefinete: there is no mention of Christ, the saints, miracles, Mary His Mother, specific doctrines of the church, martyrs of the church, the New Tes...
It is common opinion that Beowulf was written by a Christian poet. This was probably true because at the time when it was written, most of the few people who knew how to read and write were in the clergy. There are various references within the poem to elements of the Christian religion. However, the story is about Pagan people and certain aspects of their culture are even glorified. The ambiguity of Beowulf’s religious content has caused confusion as to what significance religion had in inspiring the author and in what manner the author meant to inspire or influence his audience. I do not think that Beowulf is a Christian allegory because Beowulf had very little in common with the Biblical figure of Jesus Christ. I think that religion was not the primary thematic concern of the writer. Although there are discrepancies between the two styles of thinking, Beowulf seems to praise values which were considered moral and good among all humanity, both Christian and Pagan.
In Tolkien’s lecture, “Beowulf: The monsters and the Critics,” he argues that Beowulf has been over analyzed for its historical content, and it is not being studied as a piece of art as it should be. He discusses what he perceives the poet of Beowulf intended to do, and why he wrote the poem the way he did. Tolkien’s main proposition, “it was plainly only in the consideration of Beowulf as a poem, with an inherent poetic significance, that any view or conviction can be reached or steadily held” (Tolkien). He evaluates why the author centers the monsters throughout the entire poem, why the poem has a non-harmonic structure, why and how the author fusses together Christianity and Paganism, and how the author uses time to make his fictional poem seem real. He also discusses the overall theme of Beowulf and other assumptions of the text. To support his viewpoints, Tolkien uses quotations and examples from the poem, quotations from other critics, and compares Beowulf to other works of art. Tolkien discusses several statements in interpreting Beowulf as a poem.
In the epic of Beowulf, Herot is plagued by the monster Grendel. A hero, Beowulf is summoned to defeat the beast. Beowulf is a Christian and Pagan based poem that includes several examples of each element. There are several biblical illusions in the text that give insight into the use of Christianity but just the same, there are several references to the Devil and Hell and Cain. Therefore the poem must be both Christian and Pagan because it represents both.
The Old English epic poem Beowulf poses something for an enigma for scholars. The poet was surely a Christian, but the poem depicts a pagan society, so what sort of religion is being expressed. Most recent scholars have argued for a Christian reading, but others still hold out for a pagan one. Some have suggested Christian-pagan syncretism. Pagan beliefs involve sacrifices to the old stone Gods, making heathen vows, hoping for Hell’s support, the devil’s guidance in driving their affliction off. This was their way and the Heathen’s only hope.Some suggest Christian-pagan syncretism. Anglo-Saxon epic heroes are willing to put their own lives in danger for the greater good. Beowulf highlights the code’s points of tension by relating circumstances
Beowulf, an epic poem, written by unknown and translated by Seamus Heaney, is an artifact of the Anglo-Saxon era because it is a piece of literature that was documented once. During the time it was written, writing was not common. The poem reveals a lot of the Anglo-Saxon practices and beliefs, but it also is compared to Christianity because was written down by a christian monk.
The use of religion in the story alludes to the fact that Beowulf is a Christ figure by showing the reader that God has sent Beowulf to defeat Grendel, similar to how Jesus was sent to Earth to absolve people of sin. In the following quote, Beowulf is fighting Grendel and the narrator describes God’s impact on Beowulf. “The monster wrenched and wrestled with him/ But Beowulf was mindful of his mighty strength,/ The wondrous gifts God had showered on him:/ He relied for help on the Lord of All,/ On His care and favour. So he overcame the foe, /brought down the hell-brute” (Beowulf 1269-1274). The “ wondrous gifts” that God had bestowed upon
Scholars have argued about the religious stance of the epic poem Beowulf for centuries. Although the man who put the poem down on paper, known as the Beowulf poet, was a devout Christian, the actual poem itself is pagan. There are many clues in the epic that lead us to this conclusion such as the numerous references to pagan symbols, namely the symbol of fate. Also, the central idea of revenge in the poem opposes the ideas of Christianity. The poem also contains many breaches of the Ten Commandments, which prove that the story is not Christian. However, the biggest clue to the paganism of Beowulf is the scene that contains the burial of Beowulf and the building and idolization of the tower, all of which go directly against the Christian religion.
In Beowulf the Christian element, which coexists alongside the pagan or heathen, sometimes in a seemingly contradictory fashion, is many faceted.
The poem Beowulf is a renowned story that displays many different surroundings and religious beliefs. Some may believe the story of Beowulf portrays pagan beliefs or customs and others believe that the poem is more in agreement with Christian ethnicity. The author of Beowulf uses both Christian and pagan elements in the poem to define the heroic warrior, Beowulf, and the evil dragons. After reading Beowulf the author clearly shows how Beowulf is a man who is filled with Christian customs and is willing to die and defend the world against evil using the help of God.
One of the first literary work studied by our class was “Beowulf,” the longest and greatest surviving Anglo-Saxon poem. The poem is packed full of Christian and Pagan elements that are constantly fighting for the dominant position. In order to understand these thematic elements portrayed throughout “Beowulf,” we must first discover
The story of Beowulf, is an epic poem that offers a handful of themes and traits from the Anglo-Saxon time. A few of them are: heroism, loyalty, and religion. The theme that is seen periodically throughout the poem is faith or religion.
The affixed Christian ideologies are evident in the passage. There are two main sections which demonstrate them. The first passage, lines 93-98, is an auxiliary in the narrative but it nevertheless demonstrates a belief in “the Almighty.” However, there is a slight discrepancy between the creation story presented in Beowulf and the original Genesis one. “He set the sun and the moon to be earth’s lamplight, lanterns for men” (11.94-95) implies that men existed before the sun and the moon which contradicts the Genesis story in which the sun was created first. This would suggest that the scribe has merely used the original ideologies in the poem and placed God in their midst.
Beowulf has been estimated to have been written over twelve hundred years ago. According to The Norton Anthology Of English Literature, “It is now widely believed that Beowulf is the work of a single poet who was a Christian and that his poem reflects a well-established Christian tradition,” (37). This conclusion was likely drawn by accounting for the time at which Beowulf was written and factoring in most people in the area of where it was believed to be written had already been converted to Christianity. In a way, this provides the best explanation for why Beowulf contains a high level of Christian influences for the story to have taken place when it did. Dr. J. Michael Stitt of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas says that, “Much of this epic poem is dedicated to conveying and exemplifying the heroic code which values such attributes as strength, courage and honor. Conflicting with this ideology are other factors such as Christianity, and these tensions affect the lives and decisions of the narrative's characters.” If the one of the main focuses in Beowulf is the heroic code and the heroic code convicts with the authors beliefs than why did he write it? This is not to say that authors do not write about things that they ...
Beowulf was written in the time when the society was in the process of converting from Paganism to Christianity. In this epic poem, these two religions come through the actions of its characters. The acceptance of feuds and the courage of war are just a few examples of the Pagan tradition, while the Christian mortalities refrain from the two.