How long is Beowulf?
3182 lines
What information do we have about Beowulf?
Nothing, it only survived in one manuscript. We don’t know the author or when it was written.
What is the opening ‘Hwaet!’ In Beowulf used for?
As an attention grabber (Lo!)
In what place and time was Beowulf set?
Place: it was set in Scandinavia, in the days of Yore around year 500.
Time: it looks back at distant past.
Storyline of Beowulf
- Young Beowulf fights Grendel
- Young Beowulf fights Grendel’s mother
- Old Beowulf fights a dragon
Why does young Beowulf fight Grendel? And why does he fight Grendel’s mother?
Because the monster has been harassing the Danes for years.
The mother comes to take revenge because Beowulf killed her child.
3 details surrounding Beowulf fighting the dragon
- He is old now (and king)
- His kingdom is harassed by the dragon
- He kills the dragon but also dies
Structural facts on Beowulf
- Poem begins and ends with a funeral
- More than 25% of the poem is digression and episodes (comparisons and background stories)
Why was so much of the Beowulf poem digression/episodes?
- Examples of heroic behaviour are given
- Makes the story more rich
- Makes the social world more rich, connects the characters
- They give an idea of how heroic the characters were
Who/what is Grendel?
- Many interpretations
- Poem gives basically no physical descriptions
- Everything normal people are not (‘the other’)
- Outlaw/exile lives alone with mother
- Descendant of Cain (first murderer)
- Does not speak
- No father
- Creature of the night
- Eats people
Synopsis first and second part of Beowulf
- Ship burial of King of Danes (Scyld Scefing)
- Genealogy of Scyldings is mentioned
- Hrothgar builds Heorot (a big hall) and this annoys the swamp monster
- Heorot is attacked by Grendel
- Beowulf hears of Grendel and goes to Denmark, introducing himself to the coast guard and Wulfar
- Hunferth challenges Beowulf
- Poet sets up three verbal fights
- Rejoicing in the hall
- Beowulf prepares for his fight with Grendel, and they fight (arm ripped off)
- Rejoicing in the hall, but then Grendel’s mother shows up for revenge, kills one of the Danes
- Beowulf kills the mother too
Who/what was Beowulf?
Follower of Hygelac, King of Geats, Son of Ecgtheow. He has the strength of thirty men and is a gifted speaker, monster killer.
Most important debates on Beowulf
- Historical source or literature?
- Date of composing
- Christian or Pagan?
- Purpose of the poem
Didactic nature of Beowulf
- Teaches etiquette
- How to become a hero
- How to settle a feud
- Moral lessons
Allegory of Beowulf
Beowulf fights dragon, joined by twelve companions, reference to Christ and disciples.
Dragon = sin.
Relation between Sutton Hoo and Beowulf
There are many references in Beowulf to beautifully decorated weapons and armour (6th c. burial mound of King Rædwald), which is precisely what was found in the Sutton Hoo archeological discovery (1939).
A ship burial was found, and Beowulf also starts with a ship burial.
This included the iconic Sutton Hoo helmet!
Pronunciation of ‘sc’
Usually pronounced /S/ (ship). But within a word, if ‘sc’ occurs before or after a back vowel, it is [sk] (ask).
Side characters in Beowulf
- Hildeburh: daughter of king
- King Hrothgar: king of Danes
- Shield Sheafson: Hrothgar is a descendant, legendary
- Wealhtheow: Hrothgar’s wife
- Unferth: Danish warrior jealous of Beowulf, unable to slay Grendel
