Beowulf: God and Good Deeds Essay

Submitted By pattymayo
Words: 567
Pages: 3
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Patrick O’Brien
English 2470
2/19/14
Religion in Beowulf to Everyman In this context of Beowulf we find religion to be an very important subject in this time of day. and realize that religion plays a big factor in this writing. In the text Jesus is never mentioned but with that being said the text seems to be somewhat Christianized as there are multiple examples (references to the Cain and Abel stories of the Old Testament) of religion that are very similar if not the same as Christianity. The religion that the text uses would be categorized as Pagan, since the time of this text being written about early medieval Scandinavia. The characters of Beowulf did not know who the Lord was or what he looked like but they did know there was an above power that they did believe in. Also like Christianity, the people in the book do believe there is a heaven that they reach after a good, well deserved life. They thought that there would be a deciding moment where they would stand in front of their creator. With that being said hell is also a place to them likes so of the Christians, where they would go after many terrible things done in life. Believing without seeing is what these people based their religion off of and considered faith the most important asset to their life as religious people. In the book there is a quote saying “they did not know the maker, the judge of deeds; they did not know the one true God, or how to worship heaven’s protector, ruler of glories.” This foreshadows up to what could possibly be the answer to their prayers, Beowulf’s arrival. In the context of Everyman it is similar in many was to the religion of Beowulf and that time. “Everyman” is short for a character or an average human being, just like any ol’ person. In this text it explains how many people start to get carried away in the materialistic world and put their religious beliefs to the side for the feeling of comfort from being “popular” or looking “cool” because of the things they possess. This text shows and states how the
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