Beowulf and Pride - Research Paper Example

Beowulf and Pride The Epic Poem as a Cautionary Tale Against Pride At the height of Beowulf’s triumph Hrothgar said the words that would also proclaim Beowulf’s own fall like a prophet who could see the future unfold. That fall would be the result of pride. With Grendel and his mother killed by the hero, Beowulf rightly deserved praise and respect. Hrothgar gave him all that and more. Hrothgar gave him many honors and gifts. He poured praise and riches unto Beowulf. At the same time Hrothgar knew that in spite of Beowulf’s youth and enormous power, he was mortal and human. He was thus prone too to the spiritual and psychological shortcomings that come with being human. That includes the possibility of becoming proud. In the end one can say that it was pride that led Beowulf to his death in that combat with the dragon. He had become old. As Hrothgar probably saw in advance, Beowulf’s pride kept him from seeing his limitations. This being so, he went to do battle with the dragon on his own at the end of his life, and in so doing got killed. Hrothgar’s words therefore ring true. At the height of Beowulf’s success he knew that Beowulf was vulnerable too. He was vulnerable to becoming proud just like all human beings are. As Hrothgar cautions: “Ban, then, such baleful thoughts, Beowulf dearest, best of men, and the better part choose, profit eternal; and temper thy pride, warrior famous!” (“Beowulf”). It is important to see that Hrothgar was speaking from the point of view of experience and great wisdom. He saw that Beowulf was truly remarkable. He was able to do what his best men could not. He was in despair because his peace was gone from Grendel’s attacks. He was powerless to do anything about the dragon. On the other hand Beowulf was able to slay the dragon and also his mother, with his own hands. He was able to do battle with Grendel without using any arms too. Such was his power and his abilities that he was able to do all of this. Moreover, Hrothgar saw that Beowulf was also very popular. His fame had spread very far. In the midst of all these Hrothgar knew that any mortal man would become proud. When he gave out the warning to Beowulf he was not trying to diminish Beowulf’s success. He was trying to protect him in a way from his own self. This self is the self of all men. Men can be blinded by their own success. In modern life we see this all the time. The great actor who is able to generate blockbuster movies often becomes proud and difficult to work with, for example. Rulers of countries become blinded and intoxicated by their own success. Sometimes they become too proud to abandon their posts. Men have this natural inclination to pride. What more Beowulf, who seemed to have superhuman strength and courage? Hrothgar seemed to know that without spiritual maturity Beowulf was in trouble of falling to pride. Indeed at the end one can say that it was pride that finally killed Beowulf. Had he been more humble, he would have asked for help. Instead he chose to do battle with the dragon on his own. Though he was able to succeed again, that battle took his life too. Hrothgar, looking far into the future, cautioned Beowulf to choose spiritual humility over pride. After all even Beowulf was only human. In the end some calamity, or old age, would take him too (“Beowulf”; Stitt). This is not to say that Beowulf was totally proud and blind to the spiritual and psychological aspects of his life. He too had spiritual understanding of some kind. He understood for instance that his fate was not up to him when he did battle. His courage was also somewhat spiritual in this sense. He was courageous because he knew that if he was meant to die, he could die anytime. So whether he lived or died in battle was not up to him. To fight the dragons was how he understood his life was for. On the other hand Hrothgar was also very wise when he saw that Beowulf could not totally understand his own self. For instance he fought Grendel also because he wanted to show the world that he could. One can argue that this is a form of pride already. He was too proud to back off from Grendel and Grendel’s mother. In the end too, when he was killed, one can argue that his battle with the dragon was about pride. True, he wanted to save his people and to avenge the deaths of his people, but pride is mixed in there too. Human motivations are complex. Hrothgar must have seen this too (“Beowulf”; Stitt). Going back, there are several ways to understand the above passage on pride and on the wisdom of Hrothgar. One way is as discussed above. It is as a warning to Beowulf against falling to pride in the future. Hrothgars warning is to choose the spiritual path. Stay humble and know that you will also fail in the future. It can be due to old age, or due to some unforeseen arrow or sword, some natural calamity. On the other hand one can also say that the Hrothgar already saw even then that Beowulf was already proud. One can say that Hrothgar saw that the fame and the success had already gone into Beowulfs head. This is not necessarily bad. After all Beowulfs success in slaying Grendel and the mother was partly because of the pride. The pride was in display when Beowulf chose not to use any weapon against Grendel. He chose to do battle with the dragon using only his strength instead. This was already pride. Lucky for Beowulf he had the strength and the bravery to match that pride. He could back up his pride with strength and with true bravery (“Beowulf”; Stitt). Meanwhile, Hrothgar saw that in the future that same pride may end up putting Beowulf in harms way. Therefore, the way the passage was written was exactly to warn Beowulf about this. Some day his strength will wane, and he will not be as strong to be able to fight dragons on his own. His powers will wane and he may not be able to back up his courage with action. In the end this would prove true. Therefore one can see that even at the height of Beowulfs power and success the seed of his defeat was already there. That seed was in the form of the pride that was in his heart (“Beowulf”; Stitt). Finally the warning against pride is also a warning and a reflection on human frailty. To be human is to be flawed and to be mortal, to eventually perish. Humans are flawed spiritually, and can be easily blinded by success. Success can blind people to their limitations. When one is beautiful and admired for example, one can be blind to beauty fading, to old age, and to disease. When one is strong and powerful one can become victim to pride. One can fail to see that strength will go away, and old age will wither ones body just like everyone else. People are flawed in this way. Hrothgar could see this in Beowulf, even as he himself was probably proud in his day. He was wise enough to understand this. He was wise to warn Beowulf about what was in store for him (“Beowulf”; Stitt). Word Count: 1265 Works Cited “Beowulf (Modern Translation)”. The Poetry Foundation. 2014. Web. 8 October 2014. Stitt, Michael. “The Transformation of the Heroic Beowulf”. English 477, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. n.d. Web. 8 October 2014 Read More