Grendel, his mother, and the dragon each represent different conflicts and tribulations of character that plague the mead hall and Beowulf. The mead hall symbolizes the center of civilization. Heorot itself is allegorical for a holy place or church, where the community meets. This is another example of how Christianity overlays the Pagan elements of the story. In fact the two fit together and augment the significance in the sanctity of the drinking hall. Hrothgar, King of the Danes, had many successes in war and he built a mead hall to attest to his newfound power. The narrator remarks: “The fortunes of war favored Hrothgar. friends and kinsmen flocked to his ranks, young flowers, a force that grew to be a mighty army. So his mind turned
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However, Hrothgar’s greed and warmongering lead to the once place of light both day and night to be cursed. The night stalker turned the center of Danish civilization into a house of horror. Heorot falls at night to Grendel’s poetic irony. Heorot was built to immortalize the conquests of Hrothgar’s glory in battle; more over, at night when Grendel assailed the mead hall it was met with death. Margaret Goldsmith comments in her thesis “A Christian Perspective to Beowulf” that, “Hrothgar, King of the Danes, builds a towering hall, in which he lives prosperously, untroubled by enemies, until the terrible visitation of a hellish monster, of the race of Cain, who devours his men and parts him from his throne and treasure.9 In retrospect, the old king recognizes this visitation as allowed by God because of his own pride in his power and his wealth” (Goldsmith 74). Grendel plagues the mead hall for twelve years until Beowulf arrives and slays the beast. As Goldsmith mentions, Hrothgar realizes that the horrors his people became subject to were the result of his pride for wealth and power. The once great warrior turns into a greedy king. There is a correlation between Beowulf and Hrothgar in that both men were astounding warriors. Conversely, as kings, they transformed into slovenly men whose hubris eventually leads to their tragic end. Insight into this theory is found within the burning of Heorot. After the dragon bathing …show more content…
With the thrones ruin, Beowulf apprehends his hubris and remembers what it was like as the young noble warrior. The dragon is an allegory for Beowulf’s pride and greed and alludes to the fire that destroyed the God-cursed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The fire of God’s wrath devastated both cities. Goldsmith suggests, “that because the characters of the story live under the Old Covenant the poet has adopted an outmoded moral law for the purposes of his tale. Our sense of the depth of the poem comes not so much from its backward look into "a darker antiquity" as from its own Christian perspective” (Goldsmith 80). Essentially, the slaughter and blaze wrought by the dragon is biblical irony in that the sins of the people and their leader are responsible. Beowulf is only allowed to defeat the dragon when the epiphany of his rule surfaces. Beowulf dies as a result of the battle, connecting the heroism of good defeating evil but also wyrd. The tragic death of Beowulf after his victory supports that man has no control over his fate. Proving that both a Christian and Pagan lens was used to appeal to both
However, Hrothgar’s greed and warmongering lead to the once place of light both day and night to be cursed. The night stalker turned the center of Danish civilization into a house of horror. Heorot falls at night to Grendel’s poetic irony. Heorot was built to immortalize the conquests of Hrothgar’s glory in battle; more over, at night when Grendel assailed the mead hall it was met with death. Margaret Goldsmith comments in her thesis “A Christian Perspective to Beowulf” that, “Hrothgar, King of the Danes, builds a towering hall, in which he lives prosperously, untroubled by enemies, until the terrible visitation of a hellish monster, of the race of Cain, who devours his men and parts him from his throne and treasure.9 In retrospect, the old king recognizes this visitation as allowed by God because of his own pride in his power and his wealth” (Goldsmith 74). Grendel plagues the mead hall for twelve years until Beowulf arrives and slays the beast. As Goldsmith mentions, Hrothgar realizes that the horrors his people became subject to were the result of his pride for wealth and power. The once great warrior turns into a greedy king. There is a correlation between Beowulf and Hrothgar in that both men were astounding warriors. Conversely, as kings, they transformed into slovenly men whose hubris eventually leads to their tragic end. Insight into this theory is found within the burning of Heorot. After the dragon bathing …show more content…
With the thrones ruin, Beowulf apprehends his hubris and remembers what it was like as the young noble warrior. The dragon is an allegory for Beowulf’s pride and greed and alludes to the fire that destroyed the God-cursed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The fire of God’s wrath devastated both cities. Goldsmith suggests, “that because the characters of the story live under the Old Covenant the poet has adopted an outmoded moral law for the purposes of his tale. Our sense of the depth of the poem comes not so much from its backward look into "a darker antiquity" as from its own Christian perspective” (Goldsmith 80). Essentially, the slaughter and blaze wrought by the dragon is biblical irony in that the sins of the people and their leader are responsible. Beowulf is only allowed to defeat the dragon when the epiphany of his rule surfaces. Beowulf dies as a result of the battle, connecting the heroism of good defeating evil but also wyrd. The tragic death of Beowulf after his victory supports that man has no control over his fate. Proving that both a Christian and Pagan lens was used to appeal to both