If at any moment you found yourself lost in the hefty narrative of Beowulf, treading alongside the many songs and flashbacks, in class on Thursday we discussed the introduction of our “thought” aircraft marshall, Wiglaf. Beginning shortly after line 2626, Wiglaf (a “new to this” young fighter and kinsmen of Beowulf’s) enters stage left with two handheld illuminated beacons to attract our attention and interest; to garner attention to his “wise and fluent words” on our hero. Filled with sorrow, he rallies the troops with images of their bodies “robed in the same burning blaze as my gold-giver’s body” to both establish glory in battle and a debt to fighting alongside Beowulf. Dr. Hedman proposed that Wiglaf’s purpose is to direct our response to a figure like Beowulf during the “speech before the battle cry” and ultimately, Beowulf’s death, moment of the narrative.
Inserting the phrase “spoiler alert!” just then was not necessary due a proleptic prophecy of this dragon battle leading to Beowulf’s death. The oral storytelling tradition could have been a main reason why the story remained popular, even if everyone already knew the ending, …show more content…
Instead, he wished for all of the gold to be brought before his eyes so that he could gaze upon it before he passed -very Scrooge-esque. We then talked about the differing values, ethics, and aesthetics, of generations and how our own values could be clouding our interpretation of the text. Power and consolidated wealth definitively mark a dastardly individual in Christian narratives, which in turn causes us to shudder at Beowulf’s last request. What does this mean? Is it okay for a hero to be greedy; to be ultimately held down by his love of money? But before we travel down that path of thought, aircraft marshall Wiglaf frantically waves his beacons to get us back on
Inserting the phrase “spoiler alert!” just then was not necessary due a proleptic prophecy of this dragon battle leading to Beowulf’s death. The oral storytelling tradition could have been a main reason why the story remained popular, even if everyone already knew the ending, …show more content…
Instead, he wished for all of the gold to be brought before his eyes so that he could gaze upon it before he passed -very Scrooge-esque. We then talked about the differing values, ethics, and aesthetics, of generations and how our own values could be clouding our interpretation of the text. Power and consolidated wealth definitively mark a dastardly individual in Christian narratives, which in turn causes us to shudder at Beowulf’s last request. What does this mean? Is it okay for a hero to be greedy; to be ultimately held down by his love of money? But before we travel down that path of thought, aircraft marshall Wiglaf frantically waves his beacons to get us back on