Beowulf

• comitatus: bond of friendship structure (king unites with warriors)
• Exile motif
• God as warrior
• Earth as old and decaying
• Ubi-sunt motif: "where are those who are before us"; meditation on life's transience
• Glory gives immortality
• Blurring of Pagan & Christian
• Heroic Code: loyalty to lord, fight for him, remain with him
• royal generosity
• kinship --> king

Beowulf - The protagonist of the epic, Beowulf is a Geatish hero who fights the monster Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a fire-breathing dragon. Beowulf’s boasts and encounters reveal him to be the strongest, ablest warrior around. In his youth, he personifies all of the best values of the heroic culture. In his old age, he proves a wise and effective ruler.

Wiglaf - A young kinsman and retainer of Beowulf who helps him in the fight against the dragon while all of the other warriors run away. Wiglaf adheres to the heroic code better than Beowulf’s other retainers, thereby proving himself a suitable successor to Beowulf.

Grendel - A demon descended from Cain, Grendel preys on Hrothgar’s warriors in the king’s mead-hall, Heorot. Because his ruthless and miserable existence is part of the retribution exacted by God for Cain’s murder of Abel, Grendel fits solidly within the ethos of vengeance that governs the world of the poem.

Grendel’s mother - An unnamed swamp-hag, Grendel’s mother seems to possess fewer human qualities than Grendel, although her terrorization of Heorot is explained by her desire for vengeance—a human motivation.

If the lord is killed...the murderer must pay a "death price", a payment to the family to even the death --> life for life...kill the murderer (Cycle of Revenge) Blood vengeance.

Author is a Christian but was writing about pagan heroes.

"Man at war with a hostile world and his inevitable overthrow in time" - J.R.R. Tolkein

Eventually you will die...no matter how strongly you lived.

Resisting a hostile world:

• strength
• courage
• friendship bonds
• loyalty

"A warrior will sooner die than live a life a shame." - Beowulf

Heroism of Beowulf in conflict with Christianity:

• reward is in this life, not heaven
• cycle of revenge
• pride: glory of winning for self

Anglo-Saxon MSs

Cotton Vitellius A.xv (Beowulf & Judith) - one of four major Anglo-Saxon literature codex...most famous the Beowulf manuscript