Before I start this week’s episode, I must explain something about history. While facts and figures are great, they don’t give us the personality of our ancestors. They simply state when and where an event happened and possibly how many people were involved in it. I feel that literature is very important to history. While scholars, clergy and politicians wrote plenty of texts, these were usually written in a more restrained and proper tone. Fiction took more liberties and was able to show what the common man was like, he, who was not able to normally record his ideas like an educated man. Fiction could also show how people spoke. Throughout the Middle Ages, Latin was usually used by the clergy to write. Yet most people spoke some variation of English. I look at Charles Dickens’ writings and I can almost hear the London street urchin as I pick through the cockney. I read Chaucer and I can see the Wife of Bath in all her attitude. Literature is very important to our history. (Soapbox)
This week’s episode deals with the Old English epic, Beowulf. The tale is believed to have been written any time between the middle of the seventh century and the end of the tenth century. Only one manuscript has survived, as far as scholars today are aware. This was discovered in the eighteenth century after it barely survived a fire. Even now, there a few pieces of the tale missing and the edge of some of the pages are charred. Yet even though Beowulf is a fairly newly discovered text, it has become one of the most important standards for English scholars.
J.R.R. Tolkien who wrote the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books was a professor of English language and is one of the many figures to translate and study Beowulf. In fact, there are a few elements of Beowulf that probably influenced Tolkien when he wrote his novels, such as the wyrm Beowulf fought and the phrase “Middle-Earth”.
The tale is a great epic that contains many battles and heroic deeds. There are feasts and rewards and feats of massive strength. There are even stories within the story. The main character, Beowulf, is a Geat from a northern Scandinavian country. He hears of the plight of the Danes and sails to aid them. For twelve years, the Danes have been attacked by the monster Grendel. The king Hrothgar is worn and at his wits end when Beowulf arrives. It’s not entirely clear what exactly Grendel is, but there is a line, “Grendel was the name of this grim demon haunting the marches, marauding round the heath and the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts.” (Heaney 9) This line actually tells the reader two things. First, many scholars believe it implies Grendel was of Cain’s lineage. Yes, the very same Cain from the Bible who slew his brother Abel. It also shows there are strong Christian references in the tale.
Beowulf was certainly an oral tale long before it was written down. There were also still fairly strong pagan beliefs among the Anglo-Saxons when the tale was created. Some scholars believe the Christian elements that we read now, were not always present. When the tale was finally recorded, Christian symbols were probably put in to give the epic some acceptance among the clergy. If it strictly promoted paganism, it would never have been accepted and it may well have never survived the centuries, but destroyed as heathen literature.
Beowulf tells Hrothgar he will rid the Danes of the creature Grendel and one night, when Grendel attacks, the two fight to the death. Of course, as befitting an epic, Beowulf is earlier described as “[…] the mightiest man on earth, high-born and powerful.” (Heaney 15) Not only is he the strongest man in the world, but he’s also of good birth. At this point, most characters in tales were not the common man, but the nobles. Commoners could be loyal and aid a nobleman, but they were not the focus of the tale and certainly not the hero.
Just after Beowulf swears he will defeat Grendel, Unferth challenges him and tells of a swimming contest Beowulf once lost. Beowulf turns around and explains that while he may not have crossed the sea before his opponent, Breca, he fought a greater battle. When Beowulf swam against Breca, he was the stronger swimmer. But after five nights of swimming while holding a sword and wearing chain-mail for protection, a sea monster came up and dragged him to the bottom of the sea. While he was under the sea for a night, he proceeded to kill nine sea monsters and then drifted back to shore.
As you can see, Beowulf is not your ordinary human. He was able to swim for five days, not float, but swim a race for those five days. Then even after he exerted himself so much, he killed nine fierce sea monsters while completely under water for a night. There’s not too many people that I know of, who can stay under water for more than a few minutes, without oxygen tanks, let alone hold their breath a whole night and exert themselves further.
Beowulf again demonstrates his amazing ability to hold his breath under water when he fights Grendel’s mother. Counting on his mighty strength, Beowulf swears not to use his sword against Grendel, but fight him in hand-to-hand combat. After their fight, Grendel was wounded and tried to get away, but Beowulf would not let go. He held on so tightly, that Grendel’s arm ripped off at the shoulder. Grendel escaped to die in his lair under the waters.
Grendel’s mother later comes to avenge her son and Beowulf follows her into her lair in the swamp. His sword would not penetrate her flesh, so he eventually had to fight her hand-to-hand as he did her son. When he came upon a strange sword in the lair, he found that would cut through Grendel’s mother and hurried to end the battle. He then goes on to decapitate the monster and brought her head to Hrothgar as a trophy. The whole battle under water lasted nine hours. Again, an amazing example of breath-holding.
All of this is just the first half of the epic. It is an action packed adventure that can capture the imagination of any child and adult. The second half of the epic has Beowulf as the new king of the Geats and back in his homeland. There he goes on to fight a wyrm, or dragon that is guarding a magnificent treasure. It is also the last battle for this great man. He is now old, but able to save his people in one final and amazing show of strength.
Aside from the wonderful battles and heroism, there are also a few lessons to be learned about honor. The warrior Unferth, who challenged Beowulf’s boasts earlier, is quickly shown to be a dishonorable man. Beowulf explains how Unferth only boasts, but never has the courage to fight with honor. In fact, he killed some of his own kin and will be judged in the afterlife for it. Later when Beowulf goes to fight the wyrm, the warriors that accompany him get scared and run off, leaving him on his own. Only one person remains by his side. A boy, who is not a great warrior, named Wiglaf. For his loyalty and honor, Wiglaf is named Beowulf’s successor and goes on to be the next king of the Geats. This is an example of how honor can pay off in the end.
At times throughout the tale, other tales are told. When Beowulf and Hrothgar are feasting, a poet tells the tale of Sigemund and how he slew the dragon. This is another heroic tale. I am not too familiar with the Scandinavian version, but will use the Germanic version for this discussion. Siegfried or Sigemund slew the dragon that guarded the Nibelungen hoard. Beowulf is contrasted with King Hermod in this tale, who is a man past him prime and angry that others are mightier than him. He is not a rock for his people like Sigemund and Beowulf are.
This sub-tale can also be used to foresee Beowulf’s future. He, like Sigemund, goes on to defeat a dragon and return a great treasure to his people. If you follow the story of Sigemund, you will learn that the treasure is actually cursed. The same could be said for the treasure Beowulf uncovers. It was originally found by a peasant and he stole a cup, which brought the dragon’s wrath down upon Beowulf’s people. The treasure was a catalyst and the death of Beowulf was the outcome.
I am getting a little too into Sigemund’s tale, as that can easily be an episode in itself, so I will stop here. But the point is, to the listener of Beowulf, seating in the feast hall back in the so called “Dark Ages”, he is hearing a new tale about this warrior Beowulf. Yet he is also hearing an old tale of Sigemund. The poet is connecting Beowulf with other great heroes in some of the lessons to be learned and also some of the feats he manages.
One of the reasons why Beowulf is a staple of early English studies, is for the language it brings. This is pretty much the largest tale written in Old English. While there are histories that are longer, this is the longest piece of fiction. At over three thousand lines, it is an excellent resource for learning the language. Even to the casual reader it can be an interesting etymological study. I am not well versed in the language and thus will not attempt to slaughter it by reading a few lines. But I have had professors who have read passages and it’s a very lyrical language. It doesn’t flow as well as the Romance languages, such as French or Italian, but is a little more guttural like German. Even still, it has a wonderful rhythm and can be a joy to listen to.
You can also see the beginnings of our modern language in some of the words. I looked at my Old English grammar book and learned that the letters c g pronounced together made the “dg” sound. Then I looked at the word, spelled “brycg”. All of a sudden it clicked. Using the pronunciation guide, I realized “brycg” was bridge. Even after more than one thousand years, some of our words are the same, only spelled a little different. There are also words that while they have changed in English, German uses the old English version, such as “bett”, which is “bed”.
I apologize, I cannot provide a traveler’s note for this episode, as I have not been able to travel to any place in Scandinavia. But I can still suggest a book. There are many translations of Beowulf, such as J.R.R. Tolkien’s, as mentioned before. Yet the one that many reviewers are praising right now is a newer version, translated by Seamus Heaney. First published in 2000, Heaney uses a lyrical style based on Irish storytelling his family used to do. The book itself is split. On the left-hand pages, the Old English is written out, with the modern English translation on the right. It’s a relatively easy read and quite enjoyable. There is also a little family tree in the back of the book, which shows Beowulf and Hrothgar’s lineage.
Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2000
Mitchell, Bruce. A Guide to Old English. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2003
