!Beowulf's Fight with Grendel

The extract for the exam covers lines 702-897

significance of the use of the word ‘aglæca’ in the extract

an instance of unfortunate glossing which means interpretations of the text have been obscured

tendentious translation – used to describe Beowulf and all of the monsters → confuses the identity of being heroic or monstrous

Dobbie suggests that in the Germanic period, the translation need be no more specific than ‘formidable [one]’

Klaefer suggests translating it as ‘wretch, monster, loathsome one’ when describing Grendel and the dragon, and ‘warrior, hero’ when describing Beowulf and Sigemund

list some christian elements of the poem

• Biblical allusions (Cain and Abel)

• Moralising comments from the narrator → poet is Christian and is expecting an audience that can understand Christian framework 

• Two levels of knowledge

  • pre-Christian text yet voices Christian values rather than heroic virtues (i.e. Hrothgar’s sermon against pride); careful not to condemn the humans in the poem (we get told Grendel goes to hell, but not where his soul goes)

  • Deliberately inserts ambiguity? 

• Beowulf as Christ/saint?

  • interest in creating the possibility of salvation for his pre-Christian characters  

Three phrases relating to Grendel as being associated with hell/an absence of light

• ‘scriðan sceadugenga’ (‘shadow-goer/shadow walker’)

• ‘fyrena hyrde’ (‘shepherd of sins/fire shepherd’) [idiomatically translated]

• ‘Godes andsacan’ (‘God’s adversary’)

Humanising description of Grendel walking ‘in exile’, ‘earmsceapen on weres…

‘earmsceapen on weres wæstmum wræclastas træd’

he ‘wretchedly trod the paths of exile in the form of a man’

significance of the word ‘scealdugenga’ in ‘scriðan sceadugenga’

‘scealdugenga’ = ‘the shadow-goer’

hard to locate/map someone who acts in the shadows, marries to the idea of him coming from the ‘misty slopes’ and later retreating to the ‘fenhleoðu’ (hapax)

double alliteration blurs the line between humans and monsters + applies a sonic effect of foreboding, conducive to the tradition of oral recitation of poetry which would have been popular at the time of Beowulf’s publication

significance of ‘bad bolgenmod’ in ‘bad bolgenmod/beadwa geþinges’

not clear who is ‘waiting with warrior’s wrath/cruel in malice’

first instance of confusion between Beowulf and Grendel/assimilation of their identities

the intentions behind both figures’ actions are entirely speculative besides Beowulf giving his speech to the Danes

consider anger as a sin → both fighters transgress against god?

use of the word ‘com’ in the extract

repetition/refrain of ‘com’ throughout the beginning of the extract as Grendel gets closer

builds suspense (has been praised by scholars)

significance of ‘Com þa to recede,/rinc siðian’

‘rinc’ typically means ‘man’ or ‘warrior’ in Old English poems and is used after this instance to describe the Geats sleeping in the hall and Beowulf

but is used here to describe Grendel

O’Keefe points out → Grendel journeys to the hall as an exile, a man deprived of the joys of society. But if Grendel assumes a human identity in proximity to the hall, the hall, tainted by Grendel's evil presence, assumes something of him

significance of ‘se synscaþa/under sceadu bregdan’

synscaþa = demon/ghoulish foe

amended from ‘scynscaþa’ to ‘synscaþa’:

• garbles the meter, perhaps it was not a familiar word to the scribe

• 'scynscaþa’ not attested in the corpus of Old English

Grendel is often described with compound words with ‘syn-’ or ‘sin-’

significance of the line ‘Grendel gongan,/Godes yrre bær’

= ‘with God’s wrath, Grendel came stalking’

question the relationship between Grendel and God

lexically separated between the A/B lines, but also a means of connection through the double alliteration

question the intentions of Grendel as he has supposedly adopted a sense of the divine → Grendel as a descendant of Cain

analysis of ‘mynte, se manscaða/manna cynnes’

‘manscaða’ = also ‘ravager’ or ‘evil-doer’; chimes with ‘manna’ → slight echo/internal echo

‘mynte’ carries intentionality; Grendel cast as a being with a capacity to intent and think; thought and emotion as something which defines humanity (anthropomorphism) 

Grendel’s humanity being supported by him having a mind at all → ‘bealohydig’ = ‘the evil-minded one/bloody minded’ [line 742a]

significance of ‘goldsele gumena/gearwost wisse//fættum fahne’

variation in the framing of the hall → first referred to as a wine hall, and now ‘goldsele’ (gold hall/ hall where gold is distributed)

compounds give the hall a sense of grandeur and elevation → hyperbolic, indulgent descriptions

makes Grendel seem even more monstrous for undoing the binding of the community

‘fahne’ = stained, but is often used when referencing being stained with blood → sinister tone/foreboding

contrasts between the misty wasteland and the decadence of the community hub

analysis of the line ‘heardran hæle/healðegnas fand’

‘[never before found] harder luck or hardier hall-thanes/hall-thanes with hardier luck’

ambiguity → could be dative or accusative, which confuses the narrative as the meanings are parallel to one another

Question of cases matters because who this bad luck is for → Does Grendel have bad luck or does he find them with bad luck?

dative = ‘hall-thanes with hardier luck’

significance of ‘dreamum bedæled’

= ‘bereft of joy or peace’

juxtaposed with the aforementioned joy of the hall-thanes; lexicon used commonly in elegiac poetry too – does it make us feel sorry for him? 

wording maybe borrowed from the wanderer

Drawn into considering what Grendel has lost? 

We know that Grendel is able to feel joy, but only at the prospect of destroying the Geats’ community → ‘Þa his mod ahlog’

significance of ‘fyrbendum fæst,/syþðan he hire folmum æthran’

‘fyrbendum fæst’ = ‘Fast in its forged (fire) bands’

verb promoted, accentuates his audaciousness, a complete disruptor of peace

ironic that it says it was held fast with fire-forged bands right next to when it was swung open (next line 723a ‘recedes muþan’) → shows the vulnerability/fallibility of human skill + indicative of how strong Grendel is/how weak humans are 

Human craftmanship v. the strength of his hands + foreshadowing the imagery of his hands being cut off by Beowulf 

significance of ‘recedes muþan’

‘he swung open the hall-mouth/mouth of the hall’

kenning

O Keefe reading → cannibalism as the word ‘rinc’ is used to describe Grendel, the hall assumes something of him

predator/prey subversion/subversion of hall acts (you eat in a hall)?

significance of ‘rinca manige//swefan sibbegedriht/samod ætgædere//magorinca heap’

variation/repetition/tricolon of descriptions of the men sleeping together → accentuates their multitudinous nature

+ ‘swefan sibbegedriht/samod’ → double alliteration accentuates this

significance of ‘Þa his mod ahlog’

Grendel feeling joy → ‘then his mind laughed’

Grendel has a mind = humanises him

The prospect of disturbing peace is the only thing that has brought him peace

a grotesque parody of the joys of feasting/pleasures of the hall are cruelly perverted by Grendel