Religion's Role In Beowulf

Beowulf, a man of God who goes through trials that make him braver than any other. The epic of Beowulf, author unknown and translated by Burton Raffel, tells of the hardships throughout battles that a Geat prince goes through. With battles between a monster, the monster's mother, and a dragon, Beowulf is put to the ultimate test involving God’s helping hand in winning the battles. Within this time frame, most people live by the pagan religion. This changes when people begin to adapt to the newest religion of all mankind, Christianity. The religious symbolism throughout Beowulf is portrayed through Beowulf’s legacy.

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.

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.

The significance of Paganism and Christianity are both present in Beowulf. Beowulf was written between the 8th and 10th century’s, when the Anglo-Saxon society was beginning to change from Paganism to Christianity. Many believe that this is essentially a pagan work since the Christian faith hadn’t fully arrived in the Anglo-Saxon society. However, according to Douglas Wilson, “The poet could easily have known individual Christian Anglo-Saxons who had converted from paganism”(page.31); this showing how the author would have been able to retrieve information about the customs and morals of Christianity. Christianity is a religion based upon monotheistic beliefs, belief in one personal and transcendent God and based through Jesus’s teachings. This religion teaches that God has a path for everyone, that people may choose to follow and live by him. The epic poem through the years, has been based upon Christianity but still contains a good deal of Pagan elements. Paganism is a religion founded before Christianity, having no belief in a personal god and based more on the concept of fate, that people do not have control over their life. In Beowulf, God is praised for all of his works by Beowulf himself, and the other characters. While also believing that fate controlled the character’s lives.

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.

"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 character Aldred who is 20 years old and his cousin Alfred in medieval Anglian kingdom in the seventh century, were Alfred has committed a crime by killing someone. Alfred and his family will have to pay a huge amount of compensation as a punishment of the crime. Due the punishments made by the kings no residence of northumbria would think of violating the rules. This punishments helped to reduce the crimes happening in northumbria. Northumbria was ruled by many kings. Also the people of northumbria did not follow a particular religion. The region of Northumbria history has continued to revolt against the government for crime and justice, religion, and origin of Northumbria territory and Anglo Saxon.

If you look at a map of religions today you would find that the country of England is marked with the color used to represent Christianity. Of course, England was at one point not a mainly Christian country. Around the year 597, when Christian missionaries began to evangelize the country of England, it was almost entirely pagan. Somewhere in the years from 700 and 750 A.D. the story of Beowulf was recorded. During this time there was an interesting mix of pagan and Christian beliefs and culture. Beowulf was written by people who knew the one true God. This is shown by how God and his attributes are described, how Beowulf relies and gives credit to God, and how the writer has a knowledge of the Old Testament.

The tales of heroes and monsters have been interwoven into humanity’s storytelling since the age of oral history, through the times of Greek tragedies and Shakespeare, chugged along through the origins of the world’s most famous mouse, and transplanted themselves into modern iterations of the same principal tales. Many of these stories are created in an attempt to explain, rationalize or debunk certain fears, or sociological ideals, that are present in the era. These stories are so diverse in content as well as context that one can only look at a small portion of these fables at a time. A common, recurring theme within these stories is the role that religious interpretation plays in the creation of the monster, a concept that transcends religious