Beowulf Reading Response

Justin Busch

The poem Beowulf I believe to be a deeply Christian poem as Tolkien does.

Throughout the poem the poet exemplifies the futility of the pagan ways. Every time something
goes well for any of the pagan people in the poem something goes bad soon if not immediately
after. For example, Heorot is built, then Grendel attacks, Beowulf kills Grendel, and then
Grendels mother attacks. Next Beowulf kills Grendels mother, and a dragon attacks. Following
that, Beowulf kills the dragon and then he himself dies. This oscillation of good and bad in the
pagan culture show that nothing ever actually changes and evil is never actually conquered. No
good will ever come in this culture of pillaging, plundering, and killing because in the end all
there is to find is death. However, as Hrothgar points out, O flower of warriors, beware of that
trap. / Choose, dear Beowulf, the better part, / eternal rewards. Do not give way to pride. / 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 (1759-1763). Hrothgar is warning Beowulf that he will only be able to
enjoy his riches until his inevitable death, so he should choose to share his wealth generously in
order to enjoy everlasting riches in heaven. Hrothgar explains that these pagan ways of hoarding
wealth are pointless because you can only enjoy them for a limited period of time and that the
better choice is clearly to live worse now to reap the benefits of heaven. The poet further shows
us that the Christian way is the better way when Beowulf defeats Grendels mother: A light
appeared and the place brightened / the way the sky does when heavens candle / is shining
clearly (1570-1572). Here the poet is explaining that because Beowulf defeated this evil Gods
light now shines over the accursed land that Beowulf found himself. Furthermore, Beowulf
didnt even defeat the monster on his own: holy God / decided the victory (1553-1554). Even
the mighty Beowulf, the man who has the strength of 30 in one arm, was unable to defeat this
great evil without divine intervention that rid the Danes of this wild evil.

The poet does show, however, that the pagan hero is still a noble character and deserves
to be remembered for his great feats. Beowulf was a great warrior who rid some evil out of the
world, a great king that gave to his people more than he kept for himself, and a noble man who
repaid the debts of his family. The poet shows this by ending the book with people giving him
praise, crying at his loss, and being thankful for all that he had done for them: Then twelve
warriors rode around the tomb, / chieftains sons, champions in battle, / all of them distraught,
chanting in dirges, / mourning his loss as a man and a king. / They extolled his heroic nature and
exploits / and gave thanks for his greatness; which was the proper thing (3169-3174). This
passage that ends the book clearly shows the respect that great heroes, pagan or Christian,
deserve for their bravery and for their accomplishments; however, the poet also shows that,
although some heroes deserve to be remembered, their culture is flawed. After Beowulf defeats
the dragon and wins a hoard of gold and jewels for his people all was in vain because, So it is
good-bye now to all you know and love / on your home ground, the open-handedness, / the
giving of war-swords. Every one of you / with freeholds of land, our whole nation, / will be
dispossessed, once princes from beyond / get tidings of how you turned and fled (2884-2889).
Now without their king, having disgraced warriors, their whole nation is going to be taken away
from them because in this culture there is only death showing once again the futility of pagan
culture.