|
|
II. Beowulf
Of the earliest poetry in Anglo-Saxon period, Beowulf is the most
famous literary work, and the oldest existent national epic in English
literature. It existed in oral form in the 6th century, and then was written
down in the 7th or 8th century. The manuscript of this poem in Wessex
dialect dated back to the 10th century, and now it is kept in British
Museum. It consisted of 3,182 lines in
alliterative verse, and it was the
longest early poem kept until today. The story based on folk legends of the
northern tribes of European Continent, and Scandinavian historical events.
In the epic, the fights with monsters are folk legends. The un-known
Christian poet probably lived in the middle or eastern part of England. The
poem took the Roman epic
The Aeneid as the example, and combined
pagan oral literature with Christianity, described the ancient tribal
society.
The epic describes three adventures, each of which had
a fight between Beowulf and a monster. At the beginning of the poem, the
heroic behaviors of a Danish King and his successors are highly praised.
Hrothgar, king of the Danes, in order to celebrate the military success, he
builds a hall called Heorot for holding parties and enjoying entertainment
with his followers. The monster
Grendel, the successor of Cain, is angry
about the happy sounds coming from the hall and enters the hall at night,
takes away thirty warriors. This lasts twelve years. Thus Heorot has
dangers. Beowulf, nephew to King
Hygelac of the
Geats, a near tribe in the
south of Sweden, hears the horror news and sails to Denmark with fourteen
followers to help Hrothgar. Hrothgar gives a warm welcome to them. Beowulf
decided either to beat off the monster or to die. Beowulf and his warriors
sleep in the hall at night when Grendel comes and eats one warrior greedily.
Then, Beowulf fights with the monster with no weapons and cuts off one arm
of the monster, which is badly wounded and flees to his cave. Hrothgar held
a great party to reward the hero and celebrate the victory. But in the
following night, Gerendel’s mother, a water witch, comes to revenge and
carries off Aeschere, the King’s chief adviser. Beowulf sets off with his
companions in search of her cave in the water. Thus, the second adventure
began. Beowulf dives into a pool and reaches a house deep in the sea. There
he fights with her for a long time and cuts off her and her son’s heads in
the end. With the heads of two monsters, he returns to the shore where his
companions are still waiting, nearly giving up the hope of victory. Beowulf
is highly praised and greatly rewarded, but at the same time, he is warned
not to be threat to Hrothgar. Then he returns to the Geats, and is given one
part of the Kingdom. In the following year, Hygelac dies and his son takes
the crown, but is soon killed in the battle by the Swedes. Then Beowulf
becomes the king and rules the kingdom successfully for fifty years. The
third adventure happened in his-own land. A fire dragon comes out of its
cave and comes to revenge. Because a fled slave stole the treasure, which he
protects for many years, so he burnt people with the fiery fire. Beowulf,
though being old, with eleven followers, sets out to fight the dragon. They
arrive the shore where the dragon lives. The old King orders his companions
to wait outside while he decides to fight with the dragon by himself. But he
fails to cut through the dragon’s scales, yet has been wounded by the
burning fire thrown up by the dragon. Only one companion called Wiglaf
hurries to help Beowulf while others run away to the wood. Then Beowulf
fails to cut off the dragon’s head with his broken sword and the dragon
grasped his neck with its teeth. At this critical moment, Wiglaf wounds the
dragon and Beowulf kills the monster. But Beowulf is badly wounded and soon
dies. Wiglaf blames the timid warriors and tells them that the king has been
dead. The people visit the battlefield and throw the dragon into the sea and
burnt Beowulf with a big ceremony. At the end of the poem, it described the
hero’s funeral and people’s praise of Beowulf’s contributions to their
kingdom.
Beowulf centers on the story of the
adventures of the heroic figure Beowulf. This epic reflects a life of fights
and feastings in the Anglo-Saxon period. Heroic figures who are proud of
their bravery and physical strength are honored for their scared obligation
and vengeance. Moreover, the forces of
wyrd (fate) control men’ life and
evil is powerful. Thematically, the poem presents a vivid picture of how the
people in Old English period struggle against the hostile forces of the
natural world. The epic is a mingling of nature myths and heroic legends
like Beowulf’s successive fights against the three monsters that can be
interpreted as the conquering of the hostile forces of nature with the
virtues of perseverance. Beowulf is a poem about heroic ideal of kings and
kinship as well. In the rigid feudal society in North Europe, there are full
of violence and battles. The heroic figures should be honored for their
strength, courage, loyalty to the Kings, which are basic virtues .King
should have the responsibility to protect his people to make people happy
and should be generous to his warriors. Beowulf’s wisdom, strength, courage
and sacrificing his death for people is the heroic ideal of Beowulf.
Beowulf, with its great art qualities,
becomes the main representation of Old English literature.
|
