Beowulf

*contains spoilers*


Unlike ‘The Canterbury Tales’, which (granted, came later) was written in a modern-layman pleasing Middle English, ‘Beowulf’, a text written some time between the seventh and tenth centuries, appears in its original form in Old English/Anglo Saxon. Much has been made of the supposed origins of the text, but what has so far been surmised is that it is a healthy conglomerate of historical events and old tales like so many of the beloved Greek myths. The manuscript from which the story is taken was picked up early in the previous thousand years and passed from generation to generation where, eventually, it was discovered to have survived a house fire (though part of the parchment was burnt, meaning that unfortunately lines 2,226-31 are scrappily guessed at in every translation).


This however only adds to the magic one feels from the piece, as the reader transcends the ages and disappears into an ancient land of Danes and dragons, where warriors swear allegiance to their leaders (and die in shame if they survive the adventures alone), where golden chains, bangles, goblets and crowns are opulently distributed by kings to their finest soldiers post-battle, and monsters descended from the fallen Cain of the Bible eat entire mead-sodden communities. Two translations I would suggest you go for are: Marc Hudson’s in the Wordsworth Classics, and Seamus Heaney’s by Faber & Faber. Both provide really useful introductions and explanatory notes, as well as information on the complexities of the process of translation from the original manuscript. Now let’s talk about the tale itself…


Beowulf, literally translated as “bee wolf”, is the titular hero of this story, and is the fiercest as well as fairest warrior around. On hearing that the Scylding (pronounced “shielding”) king Hrothgar’s famous hall, Heorot, has for the last ten years been constantly assaulted by the monstrous Grendel, this mighty Beowulf believes he can bring peace back to the Danes. He and his men set sail, make their boastful claims on arrival, as is customary in Old English texts involving superhuman heroes, and Beowulf, without the aid of his sword, slays the antagonist; following her vengeful murders, Grendel’s Mother is also slain in her hellish lair.


After fifty years of ruling the Geats, and after slaying a whole new dragon that’s bent on protecting its hoard of gold from Swedish thieves, Beowulf dies a noble death, and much is made of his funeral;


They ignited the dry wood, kindled

The greatest of corpse-fires


Much is made of Beowulf’s seemingly pagan ritual funeral, even though the text is heavily imbued with a Christian core; this could nevertheless be down to the authorship of the manuscript from which all current translations are made, as many suppose a monk to have originally penned it. And as the flames rise, an “old woman with her hair bound up / sang a lament for Beowulf…of the evil in store for them all…” Are we seeing a punishment as a result of this pagan ritual in light of its Christian inflected authorship, or are we seeing retribution for the cowardice displayed by most of Beowulf’s men in the final fight with the dragon? Like these yellow bellies sinking back into the forest as their master dies, the mysteries seep back into the text.

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