I just have a question about the tie between the story of Beowulf, and that of God. There are multiple times so far in the story in which there are statements such as 'The judgement of the Lord', 'Holy Lord', 'Wise God'...etc.
I know we briefly touched on this in class, and I believe when we were talking about Beowulf, we said he had more confidence and faith in himself than in any higher power. I was just wondering other people's opinions as to how the characters forsee 'God'...it seems as if they speak of him and a higher power often, but have much more faith in themselves...
Or maybe I have it wrong?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
It might be interesting to see how many times characters in Beowulf reference God.
I would bet that the majority of references to God are spoken by the 'poet' rather than a character in poem.
I'm in Eng 208 right now and we just finished Beowulf and one of the discussions my prof insisted on having was "Does Beowulf go to heaven" and my response was to question whether or not it matters. I mean, does it change the text or our interpretation of it if Beowulf believes in god or calls upon a higher deity for strength.
- Kelly Huber
I'm still agreeing with the statement someone made in class. It seems like the Christians just slid "God" into Pagan literature.
i believe the author probably when translating the history poem into english probably emphasized some christian themes into the mix to make it something the reader can actually compare to due to beowulf's selflessness in some parts of the story, yet it also gives some humaness in him still making him almost but not near god level.
This is an interesting subject because most historians surmise that Beowulf was written between 500 and 600 A.D. The Anglo-Saxons were first Christianized during this period and its obvious that the Christian themes were added to the already existing saga that was traditionally pagan. Based on textual evidence, the Anglo-Saxons themselves added the Christian themes into the poem. It became a common trend in the middle ages to incorporate newly adopted Christian views into traditional pagan themes of heroism and bravery. The Franks also did this when Clovis, the king of the Merovingians, adopted Christianity. Clovis embraced a war-like version of Christianity that fit with the prior pagan view that glorified subjugation by conquest as an act of honor and prestige.
Mike: thanks for your comments here, although I will just point out that most scholars do not see "Beowulf" as having been written between 500 and 600 AD; what *can* be said is that the subject matter of the poem--its characters, customs and belief systems, etc.--is very conversant with that time period, and scholars actually argue over the "dating" of the manuscript all the time. Suffice to say, most agree the poem dates to somewhere between the eighth and tenth centuries [with the actual manuscript itself being definitely tenth-century].
We can argue endlessly over the "God" references in the poem, but as Doug points out, most of them are from the mouth of the poet [with Hrothgar's long speech to Beowulf as he is leaving to go back to Geatland a major exception]. The poem is ultimately syncretic: it brings together disparate belief systems and cultural values and combines elements of pagan and Christian, oral and literate culture.
As to whether or not Beowulf went to heaven, as someone's ENG208 instructor asked, well, let's just say that I don't think the question is really pertinent to the poem, but it may have mattered as a question to the tenth-century audience of the poem who may have wanted to admire Beowulf but also judged him as an "un-saved" soul. This would change, maybe, how we judge Beowulf's "pride" in himself, and even his desire to never be forgotten, but he is, ultimately, a man of his time: he shouldn't be judged from an anachronistic Christian perspective, I don't think.
Actually what ive been taught is that Beowulf was written between 500 and 700. This information is from a class I took last semester with Dr. Moore.
I can't figure this on out. I am a Christian, but it really seems to me a vain attempt to convert people who may be reading this poem. It is hard to imagine God in the context of this story. I can definitely see where someone added this in rather than being in the original dialouge. Whenever God is mentioned, the poet seems to get distracted from the story.
I think it is important to understand the historical context of this poem. During the early middle ages, Christianity was still in the process of spreading to parts of northern Europe. Many pagan cultures blended warfare with Christian notions of battling evil. One could see this in the poem when they speak of the wickedness of the wilderness; i.e. Jesus confronting the Devil in the desert, etc. Twelve warriors honored Beowulf when they rode around his tomb and chanting; similar to the twelve disciples. This was a synthesis of the pagan culture and the newly adopted religion of Catholic Christianity. At the end of the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great made preperations to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons, calling them "Non Angli, sed Angels," meaning not Angles, but Angels. Historically I dont think the addition of Christian themes was a "vain" attempt at converting, rather a way to show that they embraced their new Christian culture by fusing it with their preconceived notions of bravery, good vs. evil, honor, and valor from their old culture. This gave the Anglo-Saxons great prestige and an alliance with the Papacy as Europe was becoming more united under Christianity.
Post a Comment