Epic of Beowulf

527 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Beowulf, christian influence

Beowulf’s Christian Tone

Beowulf is an epic about a larger than life hero, who becomes leader of his people. The overall tone of Beowulf is predominantly Christian, "owing to a vision of evil in the world, a belief in the power of Fate to rule human destiny, and resignation to the certainty of death." Parallelism between fate and providence, constant battling between good and evil, and the virtues of consideration of others, moderation, and unselfishness all support this overall Christian tone.
"Beowulf is more than a conflict involving monsters, but it is an allegory depicting the constant battle between the forces of Good and Evil." The Evil in this case is Grendel. Grendel is portrayed as God’s antagonist, Satan. "Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred, Grendel came, hoping to kill anyone he could trap on this trip to high Herot." Grendel is cursed with every feature rejected by God. "He was spawned in that slime, conceived by a pair of those monsters born to Cain, murderous creatures banished by God, punished forever for the crime of Abel’s death."
Beowulf is the protagonist in this epic. He is the supreme Good. No man can match his qualities. "But the truth is simple: no man swims in the sea as I can, no strength is a match for mine." Beowulf was the ideal warrior; everyone believed in him. "Hrothgar… believed in Beowulf’s bold strength and the firmness of his spirit." Beowulf was also very determined. "I will fight until he (Grendel) dies or I’ll die trying." His main purpose in Beowulf was to gain glory and fame in order to distinguish himself. And by doing so he proves to be a man of wisdom and integrity who has fought the good fight and has defeated the inferior evil.
Another important Christian principle, which was emphasized, was the constant parallelism between fate and providence. There was a belief in wyrd, a belief in the power of Fate to rule human destiny balanced by the power of God, who is ultimately in control. "God must decide who will be given to death’s cold grip." Your fate was impossible to change. "Fate will unwind as it must!" The future of a person was destined by their fate. "Fate saves the living when they drive away death by themselves!"
The virtues of consideration for others, moderation, and unselfishness are also depicted and appreciated.

Show More
Related

  • Epic of Beowulf Essay - The Heroic Epic of Beowulf

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    "p" sound is line 160, "From my prince, no permission from my people for your

    Read More

  • Sir Gawain vs Beowulf

    2062 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...ash between good and evil. Beowulf is a representation of a Godly figure, possibly Christ, whereas his enemies represent figures of darkness, possibly Satan. Due to his battle with Grendel, Beowulf realises the true abilities of Gods power and develops into a more Saint like character who is more concerned with giving help rather than Gaining fame. He seeks Gods guidance, but looks to pagan ideals when he deems so. Although he never completely takes complete advantage of Gods power, he does earn the fame and glory that he fought bravely for.

    Read More

  • Beowulf The Hero

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Beowulf, the protagonist Beowulf is shown as a hero with extrodinary strength. This is not what makes him a hero. By definition, a hero is a man of exceptional quality. However this term does not do Beowulf justice. His self-imposed purpose in life is to help others, and eventually sacrifices his own life in doing so. Beowulf’s battle with the dragon serves as a critique of the notion that Beowulf is a hero. The Dragon section displays many of Beowulf’s heoric characteristics. Beowulf establishes himself as a hero by fighting the dragon, exemplifing strength and courage when fighting the dragon, and sacrificing himself so that others can live.

    Read More

  • Epic of Beowulf

    620 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the welcoming celebration for Beowulf goes on, Unferth begins to ridicule Beowulf about his swimming competition with Breca. Unferth is jealous and feels threatened by Beowulf " for he would not allow that any other man of middle-earth should ever achieve more glory under the heavens than himself." (Norton p. 33) Unferth is a very peculiar character. Although he has committed the horrific crime of killing his brother(s), he is privileged enough to sit at the feet of the king, a very respected position. His sin,an enormous violation of the comitatus, suggests that there is something wrong in Hrothgar's kingdom and perhaps helps to foreshadow its destruction. Ultimately, it will be destroyed, as the text says, by a fire after " sword-hate between son-in-law and father-in-law to awaken after murderous rage." (Norton p. 28).

    Read More

  • Beowulf Heroism Essay

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    Beowulf displayed great courage and honor throughout his journeys and battles; he was an epic hero. An epic hero is a person who is viewed as larger than life and possesses values of a certain society. From the time of Beowulf’s battle with Grendel to his brawl against the dragon, he has showed everyone what being an honorable hero looks like. His heroism is revealed through both youth as a young warrior and wisdom as a reliable king. He never backed down and didn’t give up when situations were tough. Beowulf had obligations to fulfill and went about every aspect of his life with courage and strength. He cared for his people and was willing to take on anyone that threatened them or his kingdom. He sincerely was the hero of his time.

    Read More

  • Wage Gap Essay

    2348 Words  | 5 Pages

    Nevertheless, historical records help explain pay inequality and they consider this theory. Economists and sociologists have explained that the features of the workers only slightly explain the difference. The education and previous experience have a small impact on the wage gap (Gibelman 23). However, there are examples of jobs that do discriminate against women’s wage. Examples of unequal pay include jobs with the government. These jobs pay more than many others, but there is still discrimination. Even with lawyers, there is a discrimination towards women (Gibelman 23). These jobs include higher paying jobs. It is not the minimum wage jobs that discriminate against women, it is some of the top paying jobs. This ties up with how women are seen in the top positions or leadership

    Read More

  • Unmasking the Gender Pay Gap: Causes and Impact

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first thing that factors in is that women are more likely to work in lower paying jobs including: retail trade, leisure and hospitality. There are not very many women who work in the three jobs with the highest wages: information services, mining and logging, and utilities (“Gender Pay Gap: Recent Trends”). According to the Council of Economic Advisors, “women are also slightly less likely than men to have access to paid leave and, perhaps as a result, are slightly more likely to take leave without pay.” Discrimination is another factor. Women may be influenced which job to choose base on discrimination, and it can cause women to leave their position (“Gender Pay Gap: Recent Trends”). According to the Council of Economic Advisors, there are less women who are receiving science and math degrees even though, in 2013, women earned 57 percent of all bachelor’s degree, 35 percent of which were in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. The level of education does not help the wage gap either, no matter what level of education women have there is still a pay gap (Dishman). The Council of Economic Advisors also says that “in general, women, even highly-educated women, are less likely to negotiate their first job offer than men. But even when women do negotiate, if the norms of negotiation and salary expectations are not transparent, they are likely to receive less than men.” A survey from

    Read More

  • Inequality In The Workplace

    1827 Words  | 4 Pages

    The wage gap is expressed as the difference between female and male earnings. As of 2012, women earn 8...

    Read More

  • Gender Gap In Pay

    1584 Words  | 4 Pages

    Further data shows that in Woman’s lifetime, she will earn 77% of what a man will earn. However, there are controllable factors, such as job position, race, job industry and other factors, which affect the Gender Pay Gap. For instance, the US Department of Labor found that when such factors were considered, the gap ...

    Read More

  • What Is The Gender Wage Gap?

    1502 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are important factors that measures income that are not inputted in many statistical finding in relation to how the gender wag gap is calculated. According to the article The Pay Gap from a Different Perspective, “They are nationwide annual measures that do not account for hours worked per week, weeks worked per year, educational attainment, college majors and specialties (options) within those majors, physical demands, hazardous and unpleasant working conditions and employee preference” (Kilgour, 2014, p. 2). Know this is where information starts to become misleading because many of these finding are based on every working man and women. Kilgour (2014) identifies the wage gap would basically be closed, if the reports were altered to reflect weekly hours worked. If all contributing factors were implemented, there would be evidence that show women would accumulate more income than men throughout the workforce in the near future. The gender wage gap is not based on same job equivalent but broken down into genders no matter what job careers are indicated. There is a lower percent of women who want to work the corporate jobs which require most of its employee’s time devoted to the company, so they would rather have jobs that offer flexibility so they can still be the nurturer at home. This is the main reason for the gender wage gap because most men don’t mind working long hours and being away from their families for extended time. Most when are nurtures so they prefer to take a lesser paying job in order to keep their family their number one

    Read More

  • Essay On The Gender Wage Gap

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    The wage gap is a prevalent issue in the United States and must be closed in order to increase the quality of life for women across all fields of expertise. In 2014, female full-time workers made only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 21 percent (“Pay Equity & Discrimination”). As a woman who does the same amount of work for the same amount of time, just as well as as her male counterpart, the existence of a wage gap

    Read More

  • Equal Pay

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    A number of factors have contributed to the gap between men’s and women’s wages. These include: occupational segregation of women into low paying jobs; lower levels of unionization for women and attitudinal barriers that have kept women from achieving equality in the workplace and undervaluation for women’s work.

    Read More

  • Nursing Informatics

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    Technology and innovation have transformed the way people function personally and professionally. In the past, writing and mailing a letter was standard but now most people send electronic messages and text messages to phones. Healthcare has been changing tremendously as well, not only are paper charts and records becoming obsolete, but now many facilities are sharing test results, visit information details, and prescribed drug lists. This move into the digital age has helped improve healthcare by cutting costs in the long-term, increasing efficiency with decreased wait times, and reducing medical errors. This evolving technology expansion, commonly referred to as nursing informatics has created many opportunities for nursing professionals with information technology experience to move into this growing field.

    Read More

  • No Gender Pay Gap Essay

    986 Words  | 2 Pages

    First of all, gender pay gap largely affects toward women in a long run. As we all know women have always made less money than the male colleagues in the same job position. American women make 79 cents for every dollar men make in doing the same work according to The American Association

    Read More

  • Beowulf as an epic

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    Beowulf is the single greatest story of Old English literature and one of the greatest epics of all time. Ironically, no one can lay claim to being the author of this amazing example of literature. The creator of this poem was said to be alive around 600 A.D. and the story was, since then, been passed down orally from generation to generation. When the first English monks heard the story, they took it upon themselves to write it down and add a bit of their own thoughts. Thus, a great epic and the beginning to English literature was born.

    Read More

More about Epic of Beowulf

Open Document