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Pride In Beowulf

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Pride usually carries negative connotations. It is an arrogant, malicious trait which can lead to a person's ruin. Pride, however, can also be a source of positive motivation. It can encourage its host to perform great feats and thus obtain honor. This duality possessed by pride can be examined in two famous Medieval poems, The Song of Roland and Beowulf. The protagonists of both poems suffer their demise because of their insatiable pride. However, in both works, this hubris is perceived differently. I will argue that in The Song of Roland, a proud death leads to praise and happiness in Paradise while in Beowulf, pride begets nothing but destruction. With the use of examples from both texts, particularly the funeral scenes contained in each, …show more content…

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What man can guide my army with such a strength and power
When he is dead that at the head thereof was wont to ride?
Ah! Sweet my France, how utterly a waste thou shalt abide! (Roland, l. CCXI)
Not only is the Frankish king utterly distraught, but so are the soldiers at the loss of their most priced commander. The rest of the fallen are consecrated with myrrh and precious incense and put in a mass grave at the site, but special care is given to not only Roland but Olivier and Archbishop Turpin, the heroes of the battle. Their hearts are dissected from their bodies, then wrapped in cramoisie, a crimson cloth and finally placed in small, white caskets. The rest of their bodies are given equal meticulous care. They are purified with wine and spices and then wrapped in leather made from red deer skin. Unlike the other soldiers who are buried together at Roncevaux, Roland, Turpin, and Olivier are taken in separate chariots to their burial sites at the church of Saint Romanus and put in individual sepulchers of white, paralleling the white caskets their hearts are in. At a church in Bordeaux, Roland's gold-filled oliphant is left so that it may be visited by …show more content…

Heaven swallowed the smoke. (Beowulf, ll. 3151-55)
The image presented in these lines is disturbing. Charlemagne expresses his worry for France but does not detail the horrors that will befall it. This description makes the fate of the Geats seem ever more desolate than that of the Franks. The sentence "Heaven swallowed the smoke" is an allusion to how Beowulf, whose essence had transformed into smoke by the fire, has transcended into Heaven but has left his Geat people alone to fend for themselves.
Once the flames were gone, the funeral carries on. They began to build their king’s barrow at sea. The barrow was composed of several jewels, torques, and treasures from the dragon’s lair. The grandioseness of the barrow is essential. Before dying, Beowulf explicitly tells Wiglaf to build him this barrow for the following reason: “[It will be] a reminder among my people― so that in coming times crews under sail will call it Beowulf’s Barrow, as they steer ships across the wide and shrouded waters.” (Beowulf, ll. 8005-8) From these words, it can be interpreted that the barrow is supposed to be a source of honor for the Geats and a cause of fear for their enemies. The true value of the barrow, however, can be contested. It may be constructed to be a deterrent, but it could be a beacon. The many treasures encrusted into in the barrow may call pirates, searching for riches. The barrow itself is also not a protective force in any real sense. It is not a fence, wall,

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