Historical Background of Glorious Epic Poem Beowulf - Essay Example

HISTORY-BEOWULF It has aptly been viewed that the study of history is actually the analysis of the life and achievements of great personalities. Itis the heroic deeds and laudable accomplishments of such wonderful personalities that not only people from all corners of the globe admire their valor and appreciate their attainments, but also try their best to link such magnificent gallant deeds with their own culture, society and sets of belief in order to display the accomplishments of extraordinary persons belonging to their own civilization. It is therefore history is thought to be either prejudiced or concealed because the historians scare lest the true depiction of incidents may prove the faith and culture of the opponent and rival countries as the more sublime and inspiring ones in comparison with their own belief and traditions. The same is the case with the glorious epic poem Beowulf, which is attributed, by different religious groups, to be revealing the teachings of their faith. Since both pagans and Christians have been in daggers drawn regarding the historical background of the anonymous poet of this great piece of literature, it becomes evident that humans maintain unabated passion for looking superior and elegant and dominating over all the creatures as well as their fellow-beings with the help of power, pelf, possession, traditions, cult, art and literature. The same is applied regarding patronizing and adopting of the remarkable literary work i.e. the superb epic poem Beowulf by pagans and Christians. Religion is an essential part of every civilization, because it is in the nature of humans that they look at someone supernatural or metaphysical for the solution of their problems and for the elimination of their pains and sufferings, whenever they find themselves helpless to deal with such problems. It has given birth to the idea of the origin of different religions and faiths. Historical records reveal the very fact that humans have always been affiliated with one religious belief or the other. Hence, belief in the supernatural powers and metaphysical objects has been an essential part of religious faiths, cultural values, social norms and prevailing cult of almost all societies and civilizations since ever. Sets of such beliefs gave birth to mythology that contains valuable place for the future generations to come and plays vital role of a guiding star in respect of observing their religious practices and performing social activities. Humans have formed their own beliefs (called probability belief in mathematics and science) about the set of unknowable elements of the universe. They have branded their beliefs about the unknowable as religion. (Acharya, 2006) Different cultures have different characters and personalities in their mythology, which can be viewed in their art, literature and other historical records of their culture; same is the case with the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Hindus, Jews, Christians, Muslims and others, which interpret the same work, writing or record keeping in mind their own beliefs. The same can be observed by going through the critical appreciation of historical poem Beowulf. Some of the critics take the renowned epic poem Beowulf as representing the pagan heroism in style and diction, while others attribute the poem with Christian faith and ideology. The frequent allusions to the power of fate, the motive of blood revenge, and the praise of worldly glory bear testimony to the ancient background of pagan conceptions and ideals. However, the general tone of the epic and its ethical viewpoint are predominantly Christian; the sentiment has been softened and purified” (Clark: quoted in modelessay.com) By going through the whole poem in a critical way as well as analyzing the characterization and incidents, described in the poem, I vehemently declare the very reality that the poem Beowulf is entirely the product of pagan brain, where the Christian elements are mere delusion created by the orthodox scholars and theorists. The story of the poem Beowulf revolves around the Scandinavian Prince Beowulf, whose help is sought by the King of Danes while undergoing the threat from the monsters. Beowulf is a brave warrior, who rises to the occasion to save the Danish royalty and public from the clutches of the monster Grendel and his mother. Though the prelude of the poem reflects the Christian elements by Beowulf’s seeking of God’s help in his way to win triumph over the monsters, yet it is also fact beyond suspicion that the Greek pagan kings also used to seek the help and support of gods and goddesses while surmounting the hills of difficulties as well as facing serious threats from rivals forces and opponents. The literary sources view Beowulf as the product of Christian mind, where many references have been extracted from Biblical stories. There is considerable scholarly discussion, Cliffnotes.com states, concerning the concept of Christianity in Beowulf. The epic makes no mention of Jesus, and references to one omnipotent God are more Old than New Testament. Harold Bloom (Bloom’s Reviews: Beowulf, 1999, p. 5) says that the epic is a Christian poem but “just barely.” Hrothgar and Beowulf sometimes refer to a single, all-powerful God; there are instances of symbolic rebirth in the epic. (Retrieved from Cliffnotes.com) On the contrary, non-Christian sources refute the idea that description of God is found only among Christians. It has often been found in both Greek and Roman pagan mythologies that the gods play an immense role in the lives and fates of the mortal dwellers of the earth. (Stephen, 1997) For example, Athena is considered as the goddess of war in the ancient Greek literature, who rescued King Odysseus from his opponents and miseries during the course of war. Since Athena is a very prominent personality among the ancient Greeks, whom Homer views as an outstanding beauty, superb intellect and brilliant thoughtfulness, her support is aptly sought by many warriors and rulers. Though Athena is the goddess of war, according to the ancient Greek mythology, yet she won great recognition and admiration because of her extraordinary wisdom, foresight, vigilance and sacrifices rendered to various gods and goddesses particularly during the course of war. So, seeking the help of God in the prelude might either be the outcome of the same exercise, observed and applied by the Greek pagans, or it might be an addition at the hands of the monks and priests of the earliest Christian centuries. We cannot declare it as the element of Christian faith, as seeking the help of supernatural powers had always been the tradition of warriors since ever. The idea of fate is absolutely the pagan one, which has aptly been stated by Beowulf in the poem. Beowulf says that fate often saves the undoomed man when his courage is good, (Quoted in csis.pace.edu), which specify pagan elements existing in the epic. Fate has been the powerful way of defining the end of the destructive elements in pagan faith. In addition, burial rites in Beowulf completely support pagan faith in Beowulf. It is therefore, the critics and Beowulf scholars including Kl‘ber, Robinson and Whitelock declare the epic based on pagan elements. (Retrieved from 123helpme.com) Beowulfs battle with nine sea-monsters in his youth, according to bookrags.com, reference both fate, or wired, and the Christian name of God, as being responsible for assisting him. When he is fighting with the first sea-monster, "fate let me/ Find its heart [monsters] with my sword". Later, upon his arrival on the Finnish coast: "Gods bright beacon/ Appeared in the east, the water lay still,/ And at last I could see the land, wind-swept/ Cliff-walls to the coast. Fate saves/ The living when they drive away death by themselves!" (Beowulf, lines 569-574) The monster Grendel and his mother have been described as the descendants of Cain in Beowulf. According to the Christian sources Cain is a Biblical figure that portrays mischief and evil, because Cain had killed his innocent brother Able in utter rage and jealousy. But the critics like Coppersmith (1997) found no clue of the Cain’s descendants anywhere in world, particularly in Danes and Scandinavia. But there is no Cain in any pagan literature; rather, the character can only be found in Abrahamic Scriptures. Thus, the Beowulf sometimes appears as the brain-child of a Christian poet. It is the essential element of all religious beliefs that good and evil remain in constant conflict with one another throughout human life. Since these elements are the main idea on which the theme of the epic poem Beowulf has been edified, it sometimes detracts the readers regarding the faith of the author. Good and evil is one of the main conflicts in the poem Beowulf. How is Grendel affected by the concepts of good and evil? Grendel is an alienated individual who just wants to be a part of something. His desire to fit in causes him to do evil things. (directessays.com) Beowulf appears as the sign of bravery and goodness, while Grendel represents devilish powers in the poem, which inflicts pains upon the helpless humans and Beowulf appears as the savior to take the people of Danes out of their distress, during which he comes across serious difficulties and problems. The problems faced by the warrior Beowulf during his campaign are also taken as the sufferings faced by the Christian personalities including Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Job and others. The Hebrew Bible, Old and New Testaments and the Quran also contain some personalities, which had rendered their services to their beloved. In the mythology of Abrahamic religions, holy prophets, noble saints and pious men are the characters, who rendered their services out of their love for One and the Only i.e. Almighty God, the Supreme Being. Almighty Lord is the central figure as well as the addressor to the humankind in Abrahamic religions. He narrates the stories of His favorite personalities, which were inflicted with all sufferings, but their determined feet never shivered or trembled to tolerate every trouble only to please their God and communicate His message to the children of Adam and Eve. As Job suffered a lot when God got him under His trial and captured all the riches and blessings he had been blessed with by the will of God. Consequently, all his sheep, camel, oxen and asses died one by one, and the same was the fate of his servants; not only this, but also all his children also gave up their ghosts, leaving their father in grief. In addition, God also took back the gifted sound health of Job, who fell very ill subsequently. There were boils in all parts of his body and worms and insects got their place in these boils and wounds. But it is also fact that Athena maintained deep feelings of kindness for Odysseus, the king of Ithaca and the protagonist of Homer’s great epic Iliad, and supported him time and again particularly during his campaigns in the battlefield. Athena had developed deep attachment for Odysseus and sought the permission of her father Zeus, according to the Iliad, to provide Odysseus with unconditional support and services. She undergoes hunger, thirst and pains in order to help her beloved King Odysseus accomplish his tasks of winning the battles and overcome his rivals and enemies. Not only this that she protected the great warrior, from calamities, disturbances and problems, during his war campaigns, but also, she guises herself many times in the form of a bird, a shepherd boy, a little lass and others to help him reach his destination safe and sound. Her valuable counsels turned the tables in favor of her beloved and the opponents had to lick the dust during bouts and fights. Her utter feelings of unabated, unwavering and unconditional love and affection have been described by Homer in his Iliad: “Two of a kind, we are, contrivers, both. Of all the men alive you are the best in plots and story telling. My own fame is for wisdom among the gods - deceptions too. Would even you have guessed that I am Pallas Athena, daughter of Zeus, I that am always with you in times of trial, a shield to you in battle” (Odyssey line 240: quoted in richeast.org). She also tolerated many difficulties as Beowulf suffered in the poem. To sum up, finding out the authentic religious affiliations of the author of Beowulf is really hard nut to crack. But the in-depth study and thorough analyses of the poem make it completely a Christianity-based work of Anglo-Saxon era. Beowulf’s seeking God’s help, time and again, while confronting with the monster and his selfless efforts regarding the protection of the Danish population prove very fact that the theme of the epic alludes the great services and sacrifices of Jesus Christ for humanity. REFERENCES: Acharya, Sankarsan. Religion, God and Science. (Quoted in prosperity.com/NewsFeed.html) March 17th, 2006 Mega Essays. Pagan Elements in the poem Beowulf. (Retrieved from http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/26108.html) Epistle of James. The Book of Job. Holy Bible (Retrieved from http://www.christnotes.org/bible.php?q=Job+3&ver=kjv) Graves, Robert. The Greek Mythology Penguin Books Volume I 1960 133-182 Homer. The Iliad. (Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/19300/data/etexts.htm) Christian/Pagan Rituals (Quoted in http://www.bookrags.com/notes/beo/TOP1.htm) Vengeance the Pagan and Christian Inspiration (Retrieved from http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projs1a/page.html) Read More