HRUNTING: A RARE AND ANCIENT SWORD
Like most valiant warriors, Beowulf has got special weapons (and above all, swords) in order to take on hazardous fights. Oddly, while other mythical warriors (such as for example King Arthur with Excalibur or Orlando with Durendal) have a single and “personal” sword, representing the “extension” of their strength, Beowulf changes many swords throughout the poem, at least four. In this passage, the reader becomes acquainted with Hrunting, the sword provided by Unferth, a servant of king Hrothgar. It is a “rare and ancient sword, of no small importance”, which “had been tempered in blood”, so namely it had been used a lot and had seen many other battles. Hrunting is mighty because “never failed the hand of …show more content…
Someone says it was due to Unferth, because he was jealous of Beowulf and gave him a sword he knew it could fail, other scholars link this event to the hidden Christian message of the poem. According to this last one, Hrunting failed because it was given to Beowulf (metaphorically seen as God) by Unferth, a heathen.
BEOWULF GETS READY TO FIGHT AGAINST GRENDEL’S MOTHER: HEANEY’S TRANSLATION
Heaney’s translation is very clear and simple: there are few difficult words to understand and the reader immediately understands where the story is going. With few but impressive words, Beowulf’s attitude towards danger is well explained: “He is indifferent to death”. According to my opinion, indifferent is the right word in the right place to descrive Beowulf’s behaviour: he is so fearless that something dreadful like death does not impress him anymore, he is just thinking about honour, pride and eternal reward… There is no room for fear, because he is scornful towards death.
Once again, Heaney uses kennings in his translation, such as “bone-cage” in line 1445, to refer to his rib cage, so he uses the actual word with which a rib cage is actually made of
Like most valiant warriors, Beowulf has got special weapons (and above all, swords) in order to take on hazardous fights. Oddly, while other mythical warriors (such as for example King Arthur with Excalibur or Orlando with Durendal) have a single and “personal” sword, representing the “extension” of their strength, Beowulf changes many swords throughout the poem, at least four. In this passage, the reader becomes acquainted with Hrunting, the sword provided by Unferth, a servant of king Hrothgar. It is a “rare and ancient sword, of no small importance”, which “had been tempered in blood”, so namely it had been used a lot and had seen many other battles. Hrunting is mighty because “never failed the hand of …show more content…
Someone says it was due to Unferth, because he was jealous of Beowulf and gave him a sword he knew it could fail, other scholars link this event to the hidden Christian message of the poem. According to this last one, Hrunting failed because it was given to Beowulf (metaphorically seen as God) by Unferth, a heathen.
BEOWULF GETS READY TO FIGHT AGAINST GRENDEL’S MOTHER: HEANEY’S TRANSLATION
Heaney’s translation is very clear and simple: there are few difficult words to understand and the reader immediately understands where the story is going. With few but impressive words, Beowulf’s attitude towards danger is well explained: “He is indifferent to death”. According to my opinion, indifferent is the right word in the right place to descrive Beowulf’s behaviour: he is so fearless that something dreadful like death does not impress him anymore, he is just thinking about honour, pride and eternal reward… There is no room for fear, because he is scornful towards death.
Once again, Heaney uses kennings in his translation, such as “bone-cage” in line 1445, to refer to his rib cage, so he uses the actual word with which a rib cage is actually made of