Isaac Atayero
Mr. John Campion
A.P. English Language
10/13/11
The Anglo-Saxons were in an age of darkness without literacy until the arrival of the Christian monks, who wrote down the poems of the Anglo - Saxons. In an attempt to convert the heathen to Christian monks tampered with the poems and brilliantly inserted Christian motifs into the poems of the Anglo- Saxon poems. Beowulf, essentially a Christian allegory, is an example of the insertion of Christian themes in Anglo-Saxon poetry.One way the reader knows that Beowulf is an allegory of Christianity is because the Anglo- Saxons the literary elements in Beowulf are beyond the knowledge of the Anglo-Saxons. Another reason that proves that Beowulf is a Christian allegory is the absence of any Anglo- Saxon gods. The multiple allusions to the Old Testament present in Beowulf are also testament to the poem being a Christian allegory.Any reader aware of the story of Christianity cannot read Beowulf without noticing the unusual similarity between the traits of the Christian God and the “god” in Beowulf. Undeniable parallels between the villain Grendel in Beowulf and the devil in the bible help bear witness to support the idea that Beowulf is inevitably a Christian allegory. Finally,any reader aware of the story of Christianity cannot read Beowulf without noticing the many striking similarities between Jesus and Beowulf .
When the Christian monks, missionaries from Iona, first arrive in the land of the Anglo- Saxon, the Norsemen were in the dark ages. This means that there was no form of reading or writing going on in the land of the Anglo- Saxons. The monks were the ones who wrote down the stories and poems of the heathen. Beowulf is obviously a very well thought out poem and there are literary devices present in Beowulf that the Norsemen were not capable of cultivating. As Gerald Walsh chronicles in Medieval Humanism “the Norsemen knew comparatively little of composition or literary creation”(Walsh, 3). The complex structures and motifs carefully placed throughout Beowulf must have been placed in the poem by someone with the knowledge and skill of the monks.These same literary devices in Beowulf are sprinkled all over Christian literature. Coincidence? Absolutely not! One brilliant example of a literary device in Beowulf that the Norsemen were not capable of is the foreshadowing of Beowulf’s death at the funeral of Shield Sheafson. The narrator chronicles “They stretched their beloved lord in his boat,laid out by the mast, amidships.the great ring-giver. Far-fetched treasures were piled on him, and precious gear” ( 34-37) . The complex structure present in Beowulf is just one of the examples that prove that Beowulf is without a doubt a Christian allegory.
Any reader familiar with legends of the Anglo- Saxons will note that they always mention their gods by name in their literature. The Norsemen were not known to refer to their gods as “god” but they referred to their gods by their names. As H. Munro Chadwick notes “The word god is of very frequent occurrence and always used in the Christian sense”(24). For example the first part in Beowulf it says:
Afterwards a boy-child was sent to Shield a cub in the yard, a comfort sent
by God to that nation. He knew what they had tholed,the long times and troubles
they'd come through without a leader; so the Lord of Life, the glorious Almighty, made this man renowned. (12-17).
In this passage, there is a mention of “God”(with g in capital letters),there is also a mention of “Lord” and “Almighty”. These are words foreign to the vocabulary of the Anglo- Saxons and can only be introduced by the Christian monks present in the land of the Anglo-Saxons at the time.Another note to take from this quote and many other quotes from this epic is that whenever an hero achieves a heroic feat they always credit God for the success. M.B. McNamee , S.J. note that “There is no doubt whatever that the Beowulf-poet has gone out of his way to exclude all the old pagan gods...in his poem”(332).The absence of these gods is not a coincidence but a sign pointing to the fact that Beowulf is a Christian allegory.
Another thing Christian readers reading Beowulf will notice are the multiple allusions to the Old Testament. In verses 102-114 of Beowulf there is a direct reference to the story of Cain and Abel from the Old testament and it reads:
Grendel was the name of this grim demon haunting the marches, marauding round the heath
and the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain's clan, whom the creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel
the Eternal Lord had exacted a price: Cain got no good from committing that murder
because the Almighty made him anathema and out of the curse of his exile there sprang
ogres and elves and evil phantoms and the giants too who strove with God
time and again until He gave them their reward. (102-114).
Readers of Beowulf that are familiar with Christian literature, especially the Old Testament, will note that the writer of the epic makes multiple allusions to the Old Testament throughout the poem. This is one of many examples of allusions of the Old Testament present in Beowulf. Another example is the flood in Beowulf that is very similar to the flood that occurs in the Old Testament, McNamee chronicles that “the flood sent by God to destroy the sinful race is shadowed forth o the carvings of the flood on the hilt of the magic sword which Beowulf brings back from the mysterious mere” (334). These allusions were an attempt by the monks to influence the Anglo-Saxons’ idea of biblical characters and then eventually converting to Christianity. The reader also knows that this is true because “Christian passages or references cannot as a rule be removed without breaking a rhythm” (Chadwick, 26). This is a very important point because it is one of the characteristics of Beowulf that is inserted directly from the Bible to make Beowulf a Christian allegory. H. Munro Chadwick chronicles that “there are four distinct references to incidents in the early part of Genesis” (24).The following are the events that Munro was referring to, early incidents in Genesis, the Creation, the story of Cain and Abel and the flood. In verses 86-98 of Beowulf, there is a parallel to the story of creation and it reads :
Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark, nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed
him to hear the din of the loud banquet every day in the hall, the harp being struck
and the clear song of a skilled poet telling with mastery of man's beginnings,
how the Almighty had made the earth a gleaming plain girdled with waters;
in His splendour 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. (86-98).
These two examples point to a direct influence from the Christian influence present in the land of the Anglo-Saxons at the time. The Christian monks are not the first to influence another culture’s literature with themes and motifs from theirs.To this cause, Kemp Malone writes “Christian literature in the Latin tongue is no novelty”(138). This further proves that Beowulf is a
Christian allegory written in an attempt to draw the heathen to Christianity.
Continuing on the trend of the unusual absence of any Anglo-Saxon gods in Beowulf and the even more unusual mention of “god” in capital letters, the poet of Beowulf is the striking resemblance of the god in Beowulf to the Christian God. Beowulf begins with the story of creation of how "The Almighty making the earth, shaping these beautiful plains marked off by oceans ... made quick with life"(7-12). The notion of a God creating the world is peculiarly Christian and not at all Anglo - Saxon. McNamee notes that “God is referred to throughout the poem as the Creator and Lord of all”(333). Another factor dealing with the God in Beowulf is the belief that the characters in the epic have that they are being protected by God.Pride is one of the characteristics of Anglo-Saxon heroes but we see multiple examples of humble acts of characters. Humility is a very Christian virtue that Norsemen would not include in their poems. The reader can note this trait when Beowulf talks about having to conquer Grendel, he says he is not too worried because he knows that God will be with him. The reader can take note of this theme again when Hrothgar talks about Grendel and he says"Surely, the Lord Almighty could stop his madness, smother his lust!"(212-213). Here Hrothgar puts his trust in God and he admits it, a very Christian trait.“The religious utterances”(Chadwick, 25) of God in Beowulf are far from coincidence and too closely similar to the Christian version to not be placed in it intentionally. This trait helps the reader come quicker to a conclusion that Beowulf is an allegory.
Another major character present in Beowulf that comes directly from Christian literature into Beowulf is Beowulf’s nemesis, Grendel. Grendel is inevitably the devil from the Bible and one way that the reader is aware of this is Grendel’s relation to Cain, another character from the Bible. In Beowulf, “Grendel is represented as a monstrous offspring of the murderer Cain”(McNamee, 334). Grendel, like Satan, in Beowulf is the most evil of all and his dungeon is too similar to the Christian hell to not be a direct reference to it. Grendel is said to be "Conceived by a pair of those monsters born of Cain, murderous creatures banished by God, punished forever for the crime of Abel's death"(20-23). Satan , just like Grendel, was “banished by God” and “punished forever” and was eventually Jesus’ arch-nemesis. This is another clear cut reference from the Bible into Beowulf. These similarities help the reader draw the conclusion that Beowulf is a Christian allegory with traits of pagan cultures sprinkled in it.
Finally,The undeniably striking similarity between Jesus and Beowulf is one of the biggest factors in Beowulf that marks the poem as a Christian allegory. Edward B. Irving Jr. notes that Beowulf, like Jesus, “seems to perform acts of public service by casual instinct”(63). Beowulf shares another characteristic with Jesus that Margaret Pepperdene notices, which is that he was “mild and gentle and kind”(409-19). Jesus is called by God to give up his life for humanity and likewise Beowulf is summoned by Hrothgar, the God-like king of the Danes, to come and save the Danes from the Satan-like , Grendel . As McNamee notes “idea of a Redeemer sent by God to save man from consequences of his own sins”(334) is uniquely Christian and the fact that it appears in Beowulf clues that it was inserted by a Chri
stian. Beowulf, like Jesus , realizes that he might die during this conquest but he goes ahead and does it anyway. Like Jesus, Beowulf is also fair in his dealing with his enemies, he says “My hands alone shall fight for me"(172-173). Like Jesus, Beowulf ends up dying after his conquest and commands his followers to spread the word about them. Finally it is important to note that Beowulf, like Jesus, was the only one capable of accomplishing the feat of defeating the villain. This is further prove to the reader that Beowulf is a Christian allegory disguised as a pagan story of heroism by the Christian monks.
It is important to note that although Beowulf does include many Anglican themes, the root for all the story lines are undeniably Christian. The pagan influences serve more as embellishments to make the Norsemen believe in the story and make comparisons with their legends. Beowulf is essentially a Christian allegory because the literary devices that are present in it are beyond the knowledge of the illiterate Norsemen, who were just coming out of their dark ages. The presence of “gods” and the nonappearance of any Anglo-Saxon gods in Beowulf are also key to proving that Beowulf is undoubtedly a Christian allegory. Apart from not including Anglo- Saxon gods, Beowulf ‘s God has a striking resemblance to the Christian God. Multiple suggestions to the Old testament in Beowulf also suggest that Beowulf is a Christian allegory. The parallels of Grendel and Beowulf to Jesus and Satan are also factors that help prove that Beowulf is a Christian allegory.
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