Background: The Time and Place

1
Background The Time and Place

• Imagine a time when tribes from northern Europe
  regularly raided one anothers shores to loot and
  burn each others settlements when great
  warriors feasted, drank, and bragged of their
  bloody conquests in huge mead halls (banquet
  halls named after the fermented honey wine drunk
  there) when kings bestowed riches upon their
  bravest warriors to retain their allegiance and
  when people believed in monsters and dragons.
• That time was the sixth or seventh century- the
  period in which Beowulf, the oldest known English
  literary work is set.

2
Background The Time and Place

• The tale of Beowulf is not set in England,
  however, nor are its characters English. The
  story, which takes place in Scandinavia, involves
  the Geats, a tribe from southern Sweden, and the
  Danes, a tribe from Denmark.
• So, how did Beowulf come to be the first great
  literary work of England? During the 500s and
  600s, Scandinavian tribes invaded and settled the
  territory that would become known as England.
  Wherever they settled, stories like Beowulf
  traveled with them. Scholars believe that a
  scop, or storyteller, first set Beowulf down in
  writing sometime in the 700s. However, the
  oldest known manuscript was written nearly 300
  years later.

3
Transmission of the Epic

• Beowulf was first transmitted orally for one to
  three centuries, then written down in about 1000
  A.D. by two English scribes. Their manuscript,
  considered one of the great heirlooms of world
  literature, is now preserved in the British
  Library. The scribes' manuscript was earlier
  held in the library of Sir Robert Cotton
  (1571-1631). After fire ravaged the library in
  1731, the manuscript was rescued by British
  authorities.

4
Authors Style

• Verse (poetry) with a caesura (sizjeura) (pause)
  within each line. The lines contain caesuras to
  represent the pauses that speakers normally use
  to establish a rhythm or to help convey meaning. 
  
• Example Only to die, to wait for the end

5
Epic Structure

• Beowulf is divided chronologically into two main
  sections one that focuses on Beowulf as a young
  man and one that focuses on him as an old man.
• In terms of action, it is divided into three main
  sections one that introduces the characters and
  describes Beowulf's conquest of Grendel, one that
  describes Beowulf's defeat of Grendel's mother,
  and one that describes Beowulf's defeat of the
  dragon with the help of Wiglaf. 

6
Epic Sources

• Pagan myths, fables, Scandinavian history,
  Biblical and Christian history.

7
Epic Themes

• Goodness conquers evil.
• Actions (Beowulf's) speak louder than words
• Judge the greatness of a human being by the
  greatness of his deeds and his noble ancestry.
• Help thy neighbor. (Beowulf risks his life to
  help a neighbor, King Hrothgar, in trouble.)
• Forces of darkness--irrational, menacing--are
  always at work in society. 

8
Epic Imagery

• Mostly alliteration and metaphor.
• Many apparent hyperboles describing the feats of
  Beowulf are not true hyperboles, since what
  appear to be exaggerations--such as a passage
  saying Beowulf swam from Sweden to Finland or a
  passage saying Beowulf had the strength of
  thirty--were intended to be taken literally.
• Kennings--a hyphenated terms such as whale-road
  for sea--occur frequently in Beowulf. They are a
  form of metaphor. 

9
The Geats

• The Geats were Beowulf's clan - a seafaring tribe
  residing in the south of Sweden. The last few
  lines of the poem suggest the Geats appear to
  have been conquered and disappeared into history.
  
• Speculation is that Beowulf himself was born in
  about the year 495. He defeats Grendel and his
  mother to save Hroðgar's kingdom in 515.
  Following Hygelac's raid in 520, he eventually
  becomes king of the Geats when Heardred was
  killed in 533. Fifty years after that, the poem
  says that Beowulf is killed by the dragon, but
  few scholars are willing to commit to any
  specific date.

10
The Danes

• The Danes were residents of Denmark. Hroðgar's
  Heorot is likely to have been located on the
  island of Sjaelland near the present day city of
  Roskilde.

11
Grendel

• Grendel was a monster, one of a giant race which
  survived the great flood, slain by Beowulf. It is
  told that his origins stretch back to Cain, who
  killed Abel. He is of particular cause of trouble
  to Hrothgar because of his disregard for law and
  custom he refuses to negotiate a peace
  settlement or to accept tributes of gold.

12
Grendels Mother

• Grendel's mother is supposedly a smaller creature
  than her son. She is a vengeful creature who
  illustrates the constant cycle of war in the
  poem, even when the enemy appears to be defeated.

13
Grendel and His Mother

• As part of a mythical giant race, both Grendel
  and his mother appear impervious to normal
  swords, hence the difficulty the Danes must have
  had in trying to deal with them. Beowulf
  eventually finds a sword forged by the giants
  themselves in order to defeat them, but their
  blood runs hot enough to melt even that blade.

14
Christian Elements

• Beowulf is heavily embedded with Christian
  elements as are most early texts.
• However, one can easily change the Christian
  elements to pagan by the replacement of a word or
  omission of a phrase, thus seeing how scribes may
  have done so in the past. Reversing the
  Christianizing process, we may see that at some
  point, Beowulf may have been an entirely pagan
  text.    
• What is clear about the religious coloring of
  Beowulf is that while it is clearly Christian,
  there is little Christian doctrine. References
  are only to the Old Testament narratives and
  concepts easily refigured from their pagan
  equivalents. It seems that Beowulf tells of a
  period in the midst of religious change being
  neither entirely pagan, nor fully Christian or
  to be an attempt to integrate Germanic history
  into an old testament time frame.

15
Possible Reasons?

• The sympathetic treatment of the pagan values in
  Beowulf provides a framework that allowed the
  Christian to admire the pagan.
• the poet knew of the ambivalence of the symbolism
  used and utilized these to his advantage
• Example The great hall and the treasure seem to
  embody grandeur and wealth, the hero's reward,
  while to the Christian audience they exemplify
  man's pride and are to be viewed as costly and
  worthless

16
Christian Elements

• We can classify these Christian elements
• Passages containing biblical history or allusions
  to some scriptural narrative. These include
  references to Cain, Abel, and the flood.
• Passages containing expressions in disapproval of
  heathen ideas or heathen worship. There is one of
  these in the introduction to the Danes near the
  beginning of the poem.
• Passages containing references to symbolism
  distinctively Christian references to heaven,
  hell, and the day of judgment. We can find ten
  cases in the text.
• Incidental allusions to the Christian God. We can
  find some fifty-three cases.

17
PAGAN ELEMENTS

• Beowulf's funeral ship
• The observance of omens
• The practice of cremation
• Gold/wealth as a heros reward
• Ancient warrior society the thane and his lord
• Boasting
• Lack of belief in an after-life pagan
  immortality
• Concept of fate wyrd
• Monsters

18
Beowulf- Grendels Beginning

• Long ago, in the gray mists of the Danish
  marshes, a monster born of the hatred of Cain
  rises up to terrorize Heorot, the great mead hall
  of King Hrothgar. Until the beast's appearance,
  Hrothgar's kingdom--and the kingdoms of his
  father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, the
  long-remembered and much-loved Scyld Scefing--had
  prospered without fear of the vile shadow
  creatures in the forests, lakes, fens and caves.
  But one day, the sounds of good cheer and
  merriment at Heorot enrage the Cain-born monster
  Grendel. So he crosses over from his netherworld
  into the realm of men to kill and destroy. He
  preys on Heorot after nightfall, consuming up to
  thirty warriors in a single raid. 

19
Beowulf Call for Help

• For twelve years, Grendel's raids continue,
  robbing Hrothgar of men-at-arms and plunging the
  court into a deep abyss of qualm and trepidation.
  To the east, in the land of the Geats in Sweden,
  a mighty warrior named Beowulf--nephew of the
  King of the Geats, Hygelac--hears of the plight
  of Heorot and sails across the dark seas with
  fourteen lusty men to come to Hrothgar's aid.
  After Beowulf presents himself at Heorot, he
  tells tales of his exploits how he battled
  trolls, killed sea beasts, and painted himself
  red with the blood of his enemies. Hrothgar, a
  friend of Beowulf's father in earlier times,
  greets Beowulf warmly and welcomes his help. 

20
Beowulf A Critic

• But Unferth, an envious Heorot warrior full of
  drink, scoffs at Beowulf's exploits, claiming
  Beowufl lost a swimming match at sea lasting
  seven days. Noble Beowulf then defends his honor
  with his own account of the match. One day he and
  his childhood friend, Breca, decided to test
  their swimming prowess, one against the other, in
  a sea match, each carrying a sword for protection
  against the ocean beasts. On and on they swam for
  five days until the roil and pitch of the water
  separated them and foul beasts churned up from
  the depths. One by one, Beowulf slaughtered the
  beasts, nine in all, until calm returned and
  Beowulf washed up on the shore of Finland.  
• Beowulf next lays a heavy charge against Unferth
  Rather than satisfying his blood lust on the
  field of battle fighting enemies, he resorts to
  fighting and killing his own kin, a crime for
  which he will burn in hell. So speaks Beowulf.
  And, Beowulf asks, if Unferth is so great a
  warrior, why has he not ended Grendel's raids? 

21
Beowulf The Hero

• After Hrothgar's wife, Queen Wealhtheow, welcomes
  Beowulf, he vows to fight Grendel that very night
  without weapons. The Danes bed down. Beowulf and
  the Geats await the arrival of Grendel in the
  mead hall. They know he will come it is only a
  matter of time.By and by, the hell-beast opens
  the door in the darkest hour of the
  night--thirsting for blood, his eyes aflame--and
  attacks and kills a Geat, consuming limbs and
  lumps of flesh. Turning then to Beowulf, Grendel
  wields an open claw against the hero. But
  Beowulf, thirty times more strong of arm than any
  other mortal, locks into Grendel with a hand grip
  so powerful that the monster cannot shake it. As
  the great hall trembles at the fury of the
  battle, Beowulf's men strike at the beast. But
  their swords do no not penetrate, for no weapon
  forged in fire can harm Grendel. No matter. In
  the end mighty Beowulf wrenches off Grendel's
  arm, and the beast flees, mortally wounded. 

22
Beowulf Grendels Mother

• The following day, Heorot rejoices and Hrothgar
  heaps praise on Beowulf. Unferth has nothing to
  say when the they see the arm of Grendel, its
  claws harder than the hardest iron. The hall is
  then repaired, a feast is given, songs are sung,
  tales are told, and gifts are presented. 
• But the rejoicing is short-lived. For, when night
  falls, Grendel's mother wrathfully descends upon
  the hall, kills Hrothgar's counselor, Aeschere,
  and drags him into the bogs. Beowulf and Hrothgar
  follow with warriors, but Beowulf chooses to
  battle the monster alone under water. Sea
  hellions come to her aid and tear and rip at the
  Geat. When he strikes her with his sword, it does
  not pierce. She strikes back with a dagger. By
  the grace of God, Beowulf's chainmail deflects
  it. He then sees a great sword in her armory, a
  weapon brandished long ago by giants who walked
  the earth. In spite of its impossible weight,
  Beowulf wields it against the hell-beast's neck
  and kills it. When he sees the corpse of Grendel
  nearby, Beowulf beheads it and returns to Heorot
  with his trophy. 

23
Beowulf The Aftermath

• After more rejoicing, Beowulf receives a bounty
  of gifts and returns home to the land of the
  Geats. There, he presents his gifts to King
  Hygelac and tells him of his great adventures.
  Hygelac, in turn, rewards Beowulf with a vast
  estate. Years pass. After Hygelac and his son die
  in battle, Beowulf becomes king and reigns for
  fifty years. 

24
Beowulf More Controversy

• Then great terror spreads across the realm of the
  Geats after a dragon abandons its lair to wreak
  death and destruction by breathing fire. The
  dragon is furious because an intruder had entered
  its lair and took a gem-studded goblet from a
  hoard of treasure the fire-breather had been
  guarding since ages past. 

25
Beowulf The Hero Strikes Again

• Beowulf, now a very old man, ventures forth with
  eleven warriors to send the monster to hell. But
  after Beowulf engages the dragon in battle, all
  his cohorts retreat save for one--brave
  Wiglaf--who goes to his master's aid. In a storm
  of smoke and fire, Beowulf slays the dragon with
  the help of Wiglaf. But, alas, Beowulf suffers a
  poisonous wound.

26
Beowulf The Death

• Realizing he will soon die, Beowulf bids Wiglaf
  to bring forth a sampling of the dragon's
  treasure hoard that he may look upon it, and
  Wiglaf does his bidding. Beowulf gives thanks to
  God for the treasure that will sustain his people
  in times to come, then dies after instructing
  Wiglaf to have a barrow (a mound of earth or
  stones) constructed to mark the burial site of
  his remains from the funeral pyre. Wiglaf
  banishes the ten deserters and arranges for the
  king's funeral even as new troubles loom on the
  horizon--wars with neighboring tribes, including
  the Franks and the Frisians.