Religion In Beowulf

Christianity was brought to the Anglo Saxon culture by Christian monks. The rise of religion helped shape Old English literature because monks could read and write. Therefore, all the oral stories being told were written down and shared through text. Monks not only wrote the stories down, but also included their Christian beliefs in the tales, conforming the pagan view into a Christian perspective. Religion influenced Beowulf tremendously, as Beowulf is constantly giving glory to God for all of his achievements and relying on him for his fate. An epic poem tells the story of a hero that has superhuman abilities used to complete feats that no normal man could accomplish. Epics also involve an antagonist that the hero must defeat. The poet of an epic is omniscient and knows every perspective of the story. Epics are passed down through oral tradition. The hero in the epic always has a task he must complete using his supernatural powers, and throughout his adventure he will face many trials and temptations. Epics are important because they inspire people and give them a code to live by. The hero is the example that every person …show more content…
Beowulf always gives credit to God for his achievements, and even though he knows he has great strength and power he never boasts about his accomplishments. Beowulf says, “a desperate affair that could have gone badly; if God had not helped me” (lines 1656-1657). Although Beowulf killed Grendel and his mother and could have taken full credit for the feat, he is humble enough to thank God for helping him. Similarly, Beowulf goes on to say, “if I should fall and suffer death while serving your cause”(lines 1477-1478). Beowulf says this before entering Grendels mother’s den. He is not so proud that he goes into every fight knowing he will have victory, but recognizes the fact that he could perish. Humility is just another trait out of many that makes Beowulf the hero he