Religion In Beowulf

Beowulf: From Jord to Jesus Christ

Beowulf is a strategically developed epic that intertwines the pagan beliefs of the warrior society with that of the poet’s own Christian beliefs.

According to The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Beowulf’s culture takes place in the Middle Ages. At the beginning of this era, sometime in the 5th century, Germanic tribes arrived in Britannia, modern-day England. These tribes, known collectively as the Anglo-Saxons, were separated into three main groups: the Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes. One of the major and most influential belief systems the Anglo-Saxons had was the warrior-society. The warrior-society possessed the qualities and customs such as: the sacred bond between a lord and his thane, which

Unlike “The Dream of the Rood” where the poem focuses on redemption and uses the tree to represent a redeemed sinner, Beowulf, himself, is used to parallel that of Jesus Christ. In the story, Beowulf is a thane who not only possesses supernatural strength but is the embodiment of the values held by the warrior society. Just like modern-day Christians tend to see God in this likeness, so did Beowulf’s poet which is how he initially begins to make the correlations for a more ignorant and confused, pagan audience. Once hearing of the perils Hrothgar’s kingdom faces, Beowulf sails with a group of thanes in order to fight the beasts that plague the land and free the kingdom of their terrors. In other words, he came to redeem Hrothgar’s people just as Jesus Christ came down to redeem mankind. During the first night when Beowulf’s men stay at Heorot, they are attacked by Grendel who is “among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the Creator has outlawed and condemned as outcasts” (“Beowulf”, 43). As the poem progresses, Beowulf clashes with Grendel and eventually Grendel’s mother but reigns triumphant. These conquests are used to show how effortlessly Christ is able to do the same against heinous, demonic forces. Even when Hrothgar congratulates Beowulf and attempts to give him anything he could possibly desire,

Works Cited

“Beowulf.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by Greenblatt, Stephen, and Meyer Howard, Abrams, 9th ed., Norton & Company, 2013. pp. 36-106.

Boucquey, Thierry. “Old English Poetry.” Encyclopedia of World Writers, Beginnings through the 13th Century, 2005, Bloom’s Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=101565&itemid=WE54&articleId=43964.

Wood, Michael. “In Search of Beowulf.” YouTube, 11 Oct. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C0sFXU0SLo.

Perrello, Anthony. “Religion in Beowulf.” Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature, 3-Volume Set, 11 Oct. 2010, Bloom's Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=101565&itemid=WE54&articleId=38390.

Ruud, Jay. “‘Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.’” Critical Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien, 2011, Bloom's Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=101565&itemid=WE54&articleId=481603.

“The Dream of the Rood.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by Greenblatt, Stephen, and Meyer Howard, Abrams, 9th ed., Norton & Company, 2013. pp.