Religion In Beowulf And The Canterbury Tales

The tale of Beowulf is about a great Geat who has defeated many horrendous monsters such as Grendel, and later on the dragon who ended Beowulf's life. With Beowulf's dying breath, he spoke about thanking God, father of heaven and ruler of the earth. In this story, God has been mentioned many of times. Even though during the era of Anglo-Saxons, there was no God, at least to them their wasn't. There wasn't the Christian God that people worship today.

The story of Beowulf deals with life, death, violence, kings, and monsters. Written around 800 CE, and then picked up hundreds of years later to be rewritten by a monk, it is written well after the coming of Christ. It could be simply read as an action adventure, filled with conquests and elaborate feasts, as were common of Old English tales. The story is not that simple though, and gives us a peek into a culture going through some drastic changes. Once built upon a Pagan belief system void of Christ and saturated with values such as revenge and violence, the Anglo-Saxons did not immediately adopt all of Christianity. There was a lengthy time in which both sets of beliefs were muddled and weaved together haphazardly, where no one religion was distinct. Beowulf is an example of these cultural influences crashing together. While Christianity in Beowulf, the Old English epic poem, looks different than the Christianity we recognize today, the story is built with Christian values.

Within the poem Beowulf, the poet utilizes the Christian religion to symbolize the elements of good and evil and Heaven and Hell. Beowulf is the oldest known English epic poem. The manuscripts date back to about 1000 A.D., when two scribes wrote it down for posterity. The poem was handed down from the Anglo-Saxon period, and through the retelling of the poem, it changed a little each time. The poem creates an oral depiction of an epic hero who strived to fight against the forces of evil. There really was a “historical” Beowulf who helped the Geats and Danes fight off pirates, but he was neither King of the Geats nor Danish hero at any time. In fact, he was not considered a man of any

The expression “Jesus take the wheel” is quite common in today’s world, but just because it is a modern saying does not mean that it did not have any relevance in earlier time. Throughout the story of Beowulf, a comparison between Christianity and paganism had always been a topic discussed both within the text and spoken aloud in the classroom. Likewise, in this instance, man-made issues serves as a mirror of paganism and trust in God becomes Christianity. Many factors throughout section three revert to paganism rather than Christianity because there was no trust in God. Details such as pride, arranged marriage, and death are the major aspects of man-made issues in this section.

Throughout the ancient society of Anglo-Saxons, the pagan beliefs commonly caused people to do things for their own personal gain of fame. On the other hand, Christianity, which had just started to emerge in this society taught values of selflessness and respecting God. Although the story Beowulf was written down by Christian monks, pagan beliefs are prevalent throughout the epic. Beowulf is a character who acts on many values promised by paganism that make up the who he is.

Throughout the story of Beowulf, the concept of religion plays a significant role. The Christianity ideology views state that man can survive and do great things through the protection of God. A strong desire of pride is also represented in the form of a hero in Beowulf, which in a sense goes against Christian morals. This clash with Christian morals in Beowulf was in the context of pride vs. humility and selfishness vs. sacrifice. In the book, Hrothgar first explained to Beowulf that pride without humility will only kill him. Beowulf struggles to find his roots as a follower of God, as well as maintaining his views and actions of Paganism.

Christianity is expressed throughout the story of Beowulf in many different ways, the main ways being by God's creation of the world, God's strength and power, and through the devil and his evil doings. While the story of Beowulf is a piece of Anglo-Saxon literature the reason that it is so Christian biased is because it is most likely that a Christian monk wrote down the story. This would be a reasonable assumption because at that time the monks were the only ones who knew how to write.

Many of the texts written throughout the Middle Ages had one similar theme: Religion. Many of the texts read in the Middle Ages segment of British Literature, have all had at least one element of religion. Stories have ranged from Beowulf to The Canterbury Tales. Sources directly from the text read and from scholarly journals, both have evidence that religion was a huge aspect in readings and life during the Middle Ages time period.

Christianity arrived in Northern Europe over one thousand years ago. This is evidenced by some of the earliest pieces of literature that we have. The epic poem, “Beowulf”, shows many references to the influence of Christianity on English culture. There are many parallels between characters in “Beowulf” and characters from the Bible. Many Christian themes and virtues are also portrayed in “Beowulf”. Throughout “Beowulf”, the theme of Christianity manifests itself through Christ-like images of Beowulf as well as his strength in God allowing him to ward off monsters of paganism.

In Beowulf the differences between Heorot and Grendel’s swamp are personified through setting descriptions, religious context and Beowulf’s heroic traits compared with Grendel’s anathematic characteristics by highlighting the major conflicts between Christianity and Paganism, emphasizing the contrast of man against monster.

"How the Almighty had made the earth a gleaming plain girdled with waters; in His splendor He set the sun and the moon to be earth's lamplight, lanterns for men and filled the broad lap of the world with branches and leaves; and quickened life in every other thing that moved."(Line 92)

Each and every day we encounter struggles, internal conflicts and external battles throughout one's life. When facing conflict, a man will make his move and the other will proceed to as well. A true warrior would not lose without putting up a fight. Every battle shows right and wrong, good and evil. Jesus symbolizes the virtuous, while the devil symbolizes the wicked. Both serve as substantial contributions to the lives of everyone in this world. The devil fights to take over everything in a person's life. All of mankind has an obligation to fight back, to not let the devil take over their souls, and to call on Jesus for help. Jesus stays right by their side at all times, watching over them at all times. God and his righteousness strikes fear in the devil. The devil fears his power may one day diminish and his world would cease to exist. Because of this, the devil puts in a greater effort as an attempt to win the battle against each individual soul. The widely known epic poem, Beowulf, proves this theory. Some people assume that in Beowulf, the Christianity through the story was added in by Christian monks on a mission to lead the pagan communities closer to an understanding and constant relationship with God himself. The two completely different views help bring the story together to create something so advanced that keeps the reader guessing. Through centuries of the poem being told, it has made its way to high school literature textbooks. Every character in the story

In the story Beowulf, there are a few different religions that are represented by the author. All the religions are portrayed in the story through the author’s eyes and his beliefs. The author makes clear what religion he believes in and his views. Some instances in the story also relate to the conflict between Christianity and the code of warriors. Throughout the story, the author is faced with the challenge of trying to portray his beliefs with a character whose actions are in conflict with his beliefs. Beowulf, in this story is based on the total opposite of the author’s beliefs and there are instances when his behavior is shown, and after there is symbolism of Christianity, to show its conflict with his behavior.

Warriors are considered among the bravest of men. In the Anglo-Saxon community, the warriors were of the most respected class, and made up the foundation for their way of living. Anglo-Saxon warriors would not stop fighting until either they were victorious or they were dead. Written during this Anglo-Saxon period, the epic Beowulf contains many pagan ideals, in addition to several references to Christian philosophy. Beowulf is a tale of dual ordeals; an external fight against treacherous enemies, and an internal struggle with human tendencies of pride, greed, cowardice, and betrayal. The story intertwines them with both pagan and Christian beliefs.

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is a number of stories put together. The narrator is the author himself. The stories are told by pilgrims who are headed to Canterbury to visit the remains of Thomas a’ Becket. The character the Host insists that everyone tells two stories. One on the way there and one on the way back to make the trip less tiresome. There are some important details to understand when reading the poem. The first one is the values of the people in the middle ages. The people’s values consist of chivalry, feudalism, Thomas Becket and religion. Next is the influence and expansion of Christianity throughout. The author uses the characters to portray different messages. And lastly the author’s characterization plays a major