Christianity In Beowulf Research Paper

Christianity’s Presence in Beowulf The story of Beowulf is an epic that had been orally spoken and passed down from generation to generation before finally being written down by a group of monks. The epic of Beowulf is the story of the hero Beowulf saving the Danes from the evil Grendel who brings terror to Herot, and also how he saved his homeland of Geatland from the dragon that laid waste to his land. But, the Beowulf that was first orally spoken to the eventual epic that was finally written down is quite different because of the influences that have been made on the epic. The epic gone from a pagan influence to there being an influence of Christianity that added to the epic. This is due to the conversion of King Ethelbert to Christianity by St. Augustine in 597 and the establishment of a monastery at Canterbury, so now Beowulf has both influences from both pagan religions and the religion of Christianity. But, the epic of Beowulf is primarily influenced by Christianity than by pagan religions because of the close similarity of Beowulf …show more content…
An example of a similarity between the two that is evident is when Wiglaf is addressing the other soldiers when Beowulf is being tormented by the dragon. He states, “And now, although he wanted this challenge to be one he’d face by himself alone – the shepherd of our land, a man unequaled in quest for glory and a name for daring – now the day has come when this lord we serve needs sound men to give him their support” (722-778). The connection to the bible is when Wiglaf refers to Beowulf as a shepherd just like how Jesus is commonly referred to as a shepherd. Another similarity is that Beowulf was sent from Geatland to defeat the evil Grendel and save the people of Herot, like how God sent Jesus to all humans from sin. Beowulf was like Jesus to the Geats and Danes, if only Jesus were as cocky as