Germanic and Christian influences in Beowulf
? # 1
Throughout history, many different people from separate cultures end up living together. As a result, religious integration happens and many aspects of the different cultures merge or incorporate each other’s stories. For example, the integration and substitution of many greek deities in Roman myths. A similar integration happened with Germanic and Christian cultures. Beowulf is a Germanic myth written around 750 BCE that was passed down from oral tradition. Beowulf incorporates Biblical characters, Biblical creationism, Biblical story plots, and acknowledgment of the Christian God. Beowulf may have been a Germanic oral tale at first but once written down it became a Germanic myth for …show more content…
The creation story in Beowulf very similar to the bible’s especially when it say’s “the Almighty created the earth, a bright and shining plain, by seas embraced, and set triumphantly, the sun and moon to light their beams for those who dwell on land, adorned the distant corners of the world with leaves and branches, and made life also, all manner of creatures that live and move.” Beowulf also gives an explanation for monsters that the Anglo Saxons would recognize from their previous Scandinavian and Norse mythology, “From thence arose all misbegotten things, trolls and elves and the living dead, and also the giants who strove against God for a long while”. This part of the story synthesizes the two worlds in order to convert and introduce the germanic tribes to Christianity. It is easy to see a synthesis between the two cultures because of the way the two main characters of Beowulf and the Bible. Beowulf is the main character in Beowulf and Jesus is the main character in the bible to Christians. Even though the two characters end up dying differently the reason for their dead was the same. Both Beowulf and Jesus were betrayed by their company and severed deadly due to it. For example when Beowulf is fighting the dragon “His comrades, hand-chosen, sons of noblemen, did not take their stand in a troop around him with warlike valour-they fled to the woods and saved their
? # 1
Throughout history, many different people from separate cultures end up living together. As a result, religious integration happens and many aspects of the different cultures merge or incorporate each other’s stories. For example, the integration and substitution of many greek deities in Roman myths. A similar integration happened with Germanic and Christian cultures. Beowulf is a Germanic myth written around 750 BCE that was passed down from oral tradition. Beowulf incorporates Biblical characters, Biblical creationism, Biblical story plots, and acknowledgment of the Christian God. Beowulf may have been a Germanic oral tale at first but once written down it became a Germanic myth for …show more content…
The creation story in Beowulf very similar to the bible’s especially when it say’s “the Almighty created the earth, a bright and shining plain, by seas embraced, and set triumphantly, the sun and moon to light their beams for those who dwell on land, adorned the distant corners of the world with leaves and branches, and made life also, all manner of creatures that live and move.” Beowulf also gives an explanation for monsters that the Anglo Saxons would recognize from their previous Scandinavian and Norse mythology, “From thence arose all misbegotten things, trolls and elves and the living dead, and also the giants who strove against God for a long while”. This part of the story synthesizes the two worlds in order to convert and introduce the germanic tribes to Christianity. It is easy to see a synthesis between the two cultures because of the way the two main characters of Beowulf and the Bible. Beowulf is the main character in Beowulf and Jesus is the main character in the bible to Christians. Even though the two characters end up dying differently the reason for their dead was the same. Both Beowulf and Jesus were betrayed by their company and severed deadly due to it. For example when Beowulf is fighting the dragon “His comrades, hand-chosen, sons of noblemen, did not take their stand in a troop around him with warlike valour-they fled to the woods and saved their