Now that I've gotten that out of the way...
This is roughly the third time or so that I've read Beowulf, or at least parts of it. This being said, I've always found Beowulf to be a very strong and admirable tragic hero. This time however, just reading the first section makes me feel differently. His overly-pompous character aligns perfectly with "Rule Brittania."
As acknowledged, he approaches without any warning and immediately begins to promote himself and how "awesome" he is and his accomplishments are. Awesome appears more than once. Additionally, as soon as Unferth claims that "sheer vanity" (509) drove Beowulf's swimming triumph, Beowulf becomes extremely defensive and continues on to not only boast about what "really happened," but to tear apart Unferth in cold-blooded detail which makes Beowulf extremely unattractive and not in any way admirable. He even goes to claim that Unferth will "suffer damnation in the depths of Hell" (589.)
As for Grendel, I'm very pro-Grendel. The text uses words such as "banished" (105) and "outcasts" (107) which infer that Grendel once possessed the land on which the mead-hall now occupies. More than likely, he is simply grumpy with the fact that his home has been taken over and turned into a folly drunken wonderland for the Danes. This makes Grendel's terror situational rather than "malignant by nature" (137.)
Now I come to acknowledge a possible tragic flaw for Beowulf: reliance on physical ability. His strength is clear and his awareness of it even more so, as seen by his willingness to battle Grendel with his hands alone. Because of this, he relies on his strength to solve problems while overlooking the need to seek out underlying issues. Beowulf claims that without him, Hrothgar will "live with grief for as long as his hall/ stands at the horizon, on its high ground" (283-285.) Ironically, Beowulf is unintentionally but exactly right. If the mead-hall were not to be standing there on Grendel's homeland, it is likely that all would be well in the world of the Danes.
On a fun little side-note!
Line 481 claims that "seasoned fighters got flushed with beer" and THEN they discovered this new found confidence to take on the beast and protect Heorot! Sounds like an early warning of the effects of alcohol on judgement if you ask me.
I do agree with being Pro-Grendel. As a character in the novel Grendel is a demon that slaughters so many Danes. Reading more into the character, Grendel and his mother are descendants of Cain from the bible. This suggests to me that he is part of an evil scheme. Which in fact means that he is one of the worst characters in this book possible, especially with killing his own brother. Although he is known to be biblical, there are many times in the novel where he is seemed to be a demon figure. For instance, “Then his rage boiled over, he ripped open the mouth of the building, maddening for blood, pacing the length of the patterned floor with his loathsome tread (723).”
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I have read Beowulf, which may influence my feelings about the protagonist, but I don’t think he is boastful to the point of spoiling his heroic character. Beowulf goes about his monster-killing proposition in the right way, arriving armed and ready, with a socially acceptable lineage as his basic credentials, and like Hrothgar says, he not only has the brawn but the brains for maintaining positive political relations. As for him correcting Unferth on what really happened during Beowulf’s race against Breca, sure that can be blamed on being British (or alcohol), but I see this same scenario played out by college students all the time. No one likes rumors that put themselves in bad light. I found that part of the poem relatable instead of distancing.
ReplyDeleteI don’t see Beowulf’s reliance on his strength as problematic. In fact, I took note that there are several things that I find interesting about Beowulf that I don’t usually notice about other hero stories (then again I don’t usually read about superheroes). As outrageously strong and talented at winning hand-to-claw battles he is, Beowulf also has a strangely intense reliance on luck. Did anyone else notice that many times his well-crafted chainmail armor is described, and his good lineage is mentioned? Unferth lends him the sword Hrunting, and Beowulf also just so happens to find the sword that was able to kill Grendel’s mother. Obviously this story has a lot of hyperboles, but for a story so unrealistic, I was surprised that Beowulf always brings up the very real dangers he faces (horrifying death).