Christian Influences In Beowulf

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The poem Beowulf provides several narratives on past kings in order to show the Christian hero the wrong path. Hrothgar, king of the Danes, welcomes Beowulf with open arms thanks him for coming to help them against the monster plaguing their home. While they feast, Hrothgar has his poet sing the old story of Finn, king to the Frisians. The Danes and the Frisians warred until the Danish leader was killed in combat. Knowing they had lost, the Danes struck a truce with Finn to leave separately but equally. After a brutal winter, the Danes rose against the Frisians and slayed Finn. With Christian influences, this story is painted negatively for it shows the downfall of a king because of his greedy and belligerent nature. It’s a message to Beowulf: one must act with Christian values in mind, humility, grace, and …show more content…
Despite the blessings commended to him by God, Heremond changed and “he grew bloodthirsty, gave no more rings to honor the Danes,” and eventually “suffered in the end for having plagued his people for so long: his life lost happiness.” (151). Further, “He covets and resents, dishonors custom and bestows no gold; and because of good things in that the Heavenly Powers gave him in the past he ignores the shape of things to come,” meaning that he disregards humility and generosity for the naïve notion that because God has blessed him before that he will be blessed again despite any negative actions (152). Hrothgar explicitly states that any success given by God must be addressed humbly and with a sense of sharing, or else the king will bring upon his own doom. He says to Beowulf that he must “learn from this and understand true values,” these values being Christian values (151). Life itself is a gift from God, and if one is weak-valued their “soul’s guard, it’s sentry, drowses, grown too distracted,” then a “killer stalks him” and he will fall, doomed

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It is common opinion that Beowulf was written by a Christian poet. This was probably true because at the time when it was written, most of the few people who knew how to read and write were in the clergy. There are various references within the poem to elements of the Christian religion. However, the story is about Pagan people and certain aspects of their culture are even glorified. The ambiguity of Beowulf’s religious content has caused confusion as to what significance religion had in inspiring…

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