Discuss some christian and pagan elements in the epic Beowulf - Essay Example

Christian religion in the 7-8th centuries did not overcome the pagan worldview; rather, it moved from the official sphere into the background of public consciousness. In Beowulf Grendel is called “kin of Cain” (105-114). The old pagan beliefs mix with the Christian faith. Grendel is cursed; he is called a pagan and sentenced to the tortures of the damned. And yet he himself is like a devil. In this layered understanding of the forces of evil pagan and Christian views are intertwined. Also, understanding of God the Creator in Beowulf is no less specific.

The poem, which repeatedly mentions the ruler of the world, the mighty God, never mentions Christ the Savior. In the mind of the author and his audience Heaven apparently has no place in the theological sense, the way it existed in thoughts of medieval people. The Old Testament components of the new religion, more comprehensible for former pagans, dominate over the teachings of the Gospel about the Son of God and the afterlife reward. Instead, the poem mentions the hero under heaven, a man who cares not about saving soul, but the strengthening of his earthly glory in the human memory.

Bibliography Anonymous. Beowulf Gummere, F.B. trans., Eliot, C.W. ed.. Harvard Classics, Vol. 49.: PF Collier & Sons, New York. 1910. Public Domain etext obtained via the Online Book Initiative. Web 06.04.2011