They do not welcome visitors into their homes. They are hostile hostesses, "using the sword to rid their halls of intruders or unwanted "hall-guests" (Chance 1986)
Hygd, too, is concerned with her son, offering the throne to Beowulf when her son is in his minority. Not merely protective, loving mothers, Hygd, Weal theow, and the narrator of Wulf and Eadwacer all seem to recognize the important role of their sons to the bonds of the comitatus, and all use the mother/son relationship to exert some influence (Jamison 2004)
Furthermore, they have special roles and qualities not shared by the men-e.g., peace-weaving, aversion to gore (Smith 1981)
John Sklute. "If [her role] reflects anything of the social system of the Anglo-Saxons," he writes, "it is that of the diplomat" (Sklute 1970)
For the killing of Abel The Eternal Lord had exacted a price: Cain got no good from committing that murder Because the Almighty made him anathema And out of the curse of his exile there sprang Ogres and elves and evil phantoms And the giants too who strove with God Time and again until He gave them their reward. (Heaney 9) In other words, the poet in Beowulf traces Grendel's genealogy to literally an antediluvian start-date
If one leaves out all the lines and passages indicated by Ettmuller as later Christian additions, there still remains enough that is Christian to recognize clearly the Christian reworker, even after one has cut out all that most conspicuously stands in the sharpest contradiction to the heathen material. (Shippey and Haarder, 355) This betrays a much more contemporary suspicion of the poem precisely for its religious content, rather than investigating more closely how such controversial content ended up in this format
Orchard notes that the Anglo-Saxon word for "branded" used here is also taken from the Bible's own cain narrative -- Orchard notes that "in Beowulf we are told that Cain went 'guilty' or 'marked' (fag) into the wastes….its similar phraseology is clearly intended to recall the first allusion to the kind of Cain" (Orchard 60)
Of course they are devil-like, but not transparent or shape-changing beings; as Tolkein expressed it: "Grendel is not a real mediaeval devil except in so far as mediaeval bodies themselves had failed (as was often the case) to become real devils." (Mellinkoff 151) The distinction Mellinkoff makes is important
Inspite of the presence of fairytale creatures, the Epic seems to be inspired from the real life also, as there are many similarities between the story and real life events as presented by Melissa Snell. (Snell, M) Apparently Beowulf's people, the Geats, were coming from a tribe residing in the south of Sweden
The issue concerning the exact location in which Beowulf lived is controversial, as there are many historians that link the events from the story to various events that took place on the North Kent coast. (Hall, Simon
Beowulf is a story that emphasizes the greatest attributes of mankind by examining Beowulf and his desire to be an honorable hero that remains loyal to his cause. Peter Fisher agrees with this notion, adding that the "conception of the hero derived from classical antiquity is that of a man who transcends the ordinary" (Fisher)
We know that Beowulf placed a high regard for heroism and loyalty. Sarah Lawall notes that Beowulf is "both a heroic poem of dark magnificence and the most vivid account left to us of the social world and life experiences of the Germanic and Scandinavian peoples" (Lawall 1057)
Frank Magill concurs, noting that the poem illustrates societal codes in the Anglo-Saxon culture. He notes that we find a "strong emphasis on courage in battle, fidelity to one's word, and loyalty to kinsmen" (Magill 91)
Critic Margaret Goldsmith indicates that the unknown author of Beowulf may have pieced the Germanic legend together with the intention of pointing to the moral lesson which can be derived from the hero's deeds: "He has treated the story of heathen Beowulf as an exegete might have treated, say, the story of Samson, by drawing a moral lesson from the hero's deeds."(Goldsmith, 100) in this sense, Beowulf's 'less Christian' features, his pride and his desire for wealth and fame can be interpreted as signals or warnings given by the author
In this context, Beowulf is indeed the preserver of order against the darkness and anarchy brought by the violent, evil forces: "The circle of light that is human life is constantly under attack by the powers of Chaos and darkness, and the hero fends them off as well as he can, purging Heorot and Grendel's mere, fighting monsters in the waters, harrowing Hell in order that God's light may shine the more clearly upon His creation."(Grant, 51) However, as Grant indicates, Beowulf's story is interpretable as the archetypical conflict between light and darkness, rather than that between good and evil in a Christian or moral sense
"(Beowulf, 40) Moreover, his desire for "greatness" and his preferment of death in the absence of fame are typical attributes of the epic hero:"When we crossed the sea, my comrades / and I, I already knew that all / My purpose was this: to win the good will / of your people or die in battle, pressed / in Grendel's fierce grip. Let me live in greatness / and courage, or here in this hall welcome / My death!"(Beowulf, 43) Critic Charles Moorman pointed out that despite the wealth of Christian symbolism in the poem, the overall tone and meaning of the text is "pessimistic in its view of life and history"(Moorman, 5), and therefore not Christian
"Bertilak engages in an expenditure of physical energy, while Gawain, immobilized, suffers a trial both of moral constancy and mannered courtesy. Bertilak's arena is nature, Gawain's society," (Conrad 22)
Aeschere is the king's son, and his death places his relatives in a dilemma. The code of wergild or "man price" demanded that Aeschere's killer must be put to death, a difficult proposition since the thane's death was accidentally caused by a fellow kinsman (Donaldson 1966)
A more thorough reading, however, reveals that the epic poem is filled with events that symbolize historical and social conditions that prevailed during the European reign of the Scandinavians in the seventh century to around the ninth century, following the Danish invasion of England (Sisson 1996). Analysts additionally point out that Beowulf's author was a person who has a "strong sense of cultural diversity" (Frank 1982: 52)
Beowulf On the surface, the poem Beowulf seems to be a simple tale of a brave hero who triumphs over three monsters and engages in several other battles in order to preserve what is "just" and right. A more thorough reading, however, reveals that the epic poem is filled with events that symbolize historical and social conditions that prevailed during the European reign of the Scandinavians in the seventh century to around the ninth century, following the Danish invasion of England (Sisson 1996)