An Achilles' Heel Full of Pride

This is my second time reading “Beowulf” and even though the text remains exactly the same, the way I have absorbed the poem has completely changed since five years ago. The first time I read it, we were reading merely for plot, and if you can believe it, we were to create a puppet show. With the embarrassing but successful puppet show behind me, and the plot already in mind, I was much more focused on the flow of poetry and the words chosen for this particular translation. Seamus Heaney provides us with a smooth and simple read that is delicately intertwined with great descriptive adjectives and leaves a positive taste on the tongue if read aloud.

After finishing the poem and reading through the first batch of blogposts, it is almost overwhelming to realize how many directions you can run with this in. I have chosen to somewhat run back to the start. I think that the character of Beowulf definitely is symbolic of many things, but I mostly think that he is a forewarning of some sort. At the time that this was written, there obviously were not several copies of this floating around. As Dr. MB shared, this was the only copy of the poem and we almost lost it to a fire. Poems and stories had to mostly be shared by word of mouth. “Beowulf” could certainly be a poem that was spoken to an audience or performed with music and style.

There are so many great verses included, but one in particular stands out to me. Line 1758 states, “O flower of warriors, beware of that trap. Choose, dear Beowulf, the better part, eternal rewards. Do not give way to pride” (121). This line of warning stands out to the reader and foreshadows that Beowulf will kill himself with his own pride. It is easy to imagine that this poem could be a warning not only to Beowulf but to a community. It could be a religious warning to not fall towards Paganism and to embrace Christianity, or it could just be a lesson to not be prideful and to love and work towards your community and family.

The verse continues, “For a brief while your strength is in bloom but it fades quickly; and soon there will follow illness or the sword to lay you low…” (121). This line continues to predict the plot. Beowulf seems unstoppable in every swim meet and fight he fancies to join and he certainly seems almighty and superior in the fights against Grendel and his mother. But soon we see Beowulf grow older and he seems to be far from the strong and mighty, unstoppable warrior he used to be. The verse finishes with, “your piercing eye will dim and darken; and death will arrive, dear warrior, to sweep you away” (121). The last line is chilling and ominous to the audience, but I do not think Beowulf takes it seriously.

The passage reminds me a lot of Greek Mythology and the stories told by the muses about peoples’ fate and how they will meet their downfall. Beowulf does not try to run from his fate, but he does not try to swallow his pride and it is his pride that takes him in the end. Beowulf ventures off towards the dragon claiming that this is his fight and his alone. I wonder if he truly means that this is his fight to die in? It is his pride that kills him as he could have easily fought the dragon with all of his men, but instead, he remains prideful and now goes straight into a fight to the death. It is almost as if he knows that death is calling him in his fight and that it is his time to go. He never rids himself of pride, but he almost accepts it. I believe it truly sinks in when he calls for his men and only Wiglaf appears. He must realize that no one comes, because he has always fought alone because of his pride and ultimately, he must face the results of that pride alone.