Selections from: Beowulf and the Monsters adapted and abridged from the Old English poem, Beowulf by S. R. Jensen Sydney, 1997; corrected edition, 1998 ISBN 0-9585165-0-2 i
PROLOGUE The purpose of this book is to present the story of Beowulf and his fights with the monsters as it once was a source of entertainment. Of course, in an abbreviated Modern English prose translation, some of the flavour of the Old English poem will necessarily be lost, but it is hoped that much of its earlier character will still be apparent in the structure of the text; the words and phrases chosen; the strings of similar-meaning terms; the occasional presence of alliterating words (that is, words beginning with the same letter); the inclusion of the Old English name-forms; and the use of the original words and phrases when they are of particular interest or importance. The poem was composed well over 1,000 years ago and was intended to be recited in front of an audience, but it now exists only in written form in one ancient manuscript, and in two more recent transcripts made after the manuscript was partially damaged by fire in 1731. The tale itself appears to be an old-fashioned detective-story, designed to reveal (by a series of clues) the very human identities of the three so-called monsters with whom Beowulf fights. The text falls loosely into three separate parts, and so have I divided it. Parts I and II tell of the various skirmishes between the Scyldings (the Danish line of kings descended from Scyld ) and their enemies, a pair of human monsters who are feuding with them and of the young Geatish hero, Beowulf, who journeys from across the sea to singlehandedly save the Danes from these marauders. Part III gives the story of Beowulf s last years as king of the Geats, of his fight with a furious and excitable dragon, and of the ongoing battles between the Geats and the Swedes. More detailed discussion is provided in the individual Introductions, in each of which tables of genealogy are given and points of particular interest set down. Also, some notes on Old English words and pronunciation follow this Prologue and are intended to be referred to as necessary. For the Old English text, I follow Michael Swanton, ed. (and trans.), Beowulf (New York, 1978), but I provide my own translations (and occasionally utilise the readings of other editors). I have also divided the work into new and manageable sections, numbered from 1 to 32, and have included footnotes in order to supply additional relevant information, to point out significant features in the text, or to demonstrate how the story may be read either as a monster-fable or as a riddle to be unravelled. S.R.J., Dec., 97. ii
INTRODUCTION TO PART I In Part I, Healfdene, grandson of Scyld, holds the Danish (or Scylding ) kingdom into his old age (and while he lives). The throne then passes to his second son, Hrođgar, who builds the mightiest of mead-halls in the entire land of Denmark, and establishes a very strong force of fighting-men as his support. He holds this kingdom of his most happily and securely until a monster named Grendel attacks the hall. Grendel, behaving as monsters do, devours many members of the warrior-band, and thus greatly weakens the king s power. Across the sea in Geatland, a hero by the name of Beowulf hears of Grendel s attacks on the Scyldings, and journeys to Denmark to help Hrođgar. Beowulf fights Grendel with his bare hands, and tears off his arm at the shoulder, causing him to bleed to death as he returns to his lair. King Hrođgar then rewards Beowulf for his exploit, and for a time it seems as if all is well. Now Grendel is actually said to be human but what are his human motivations? Some clues may be found in our text. Grendel attacks Hrođgar s hall because he is upset by the sound of feasting and rejoicing in the Scylding court that very court whose brightness is said to radiate over many lands and by the recitation of how God had set up the sun and moon to shine as light for the land-dwellers (in this case, the Scyldings). He is painted as a creature who cannot approach the royal gift-throne, wants no kind of friendship (or perhaps truce) with Hrođgar s men, and is the enemy of God and of mankind (again, the Scyldings). He is said to be a hall-thegn, who is deprived of joys and lives in a joyless dwelling at the bottom of a dark, watery pool. He is described as one of the offspring of Cain who has killed his brother, Abel, his kinsman on his father s side, with the edge(s) of a sword, and who has, on account of that crime, been driven far from mankind by God the Provider. He is reported to have spent a time away from Scylding society because of his links with the murderer. And he is twice (and very abruptly) mentioned in the context of a man who will marry Hrođgar s daughter in an attempt to end the Scyldings share of deadly feuds, but who will soon rise up against his new father-in-law. This particular man is named Ingeld. He is said to be the son of Froda. From all of this it is possible to argue that the Scyldings, in their shining prosperity, are held to be above the members of Grendel s own race; that Grendel, somehow linked to Ingeld, has been temporarily stripped of his rights to the Scylding (or the wider Danish) throne, as God s vengeance for the treacherous sword-attack by a man on his half- 1
brother; that he will not accept any kind of compromise over the rights to the kingdom, but prefers to take the realm by conquest, in his war against the Danish race of men; and indeed that he may actually be entitled to a settlement because of something other than his battle-power. But what, then, might be the pointers to the human identity of Beowulf s (supposedly) monstrous opponent or, in fact, to his family-background? Further information on Ingeld and/or on Grendel, is perhaps to be found in two particular Scandinavian texts each later than the date of our poem, but each based on sources and tales somewhat earlier than it. a) One of these, the Saga of the Scyldings, may give us a context in which to set the first parts of the poem: a dispute over royal holdings in Denmark. It tells how Ingeld legitimate son of Frodo kills his half-brother, Half-Dane Frodo s son by a woman not his wife because he begrudges him his particular share of the Danish realm. Such a murder would be reason enough for a vengeful feud between our Ingeld (son of our Froda ) and the son of our Healf-Dene. Although living many years in the world, Healfdene only holds the kingdom while he lives and this may imply foul play. And even though Healfdene is said in Section 1 of our poem to be the son of Beowulf (the First) which Beowulf is not the Geatish hero of the same name it may be that the word Beowulf, as it now appears there, has been written in error, and that the name of the prince referred to, if one such had been given in the first instance, would have been Froda. In fact, three of the family members of Healfdene, son of Beowulf I Hrođgar, Halga, and Hroþulf are exactly matched in the Scandinavian Saga as descendants of Half-Dane, son of Frodo. b) The other text, the History of the Danes, may help us to identify the first monster of the poem. It tells of Ingeld s son a very fierce warrior named Agnar, who fights in single combat with a champion named Bjarki, a personage who is (like Beowulf) a traveller to the Danish court. Bjarki cuts Agnar in half with his sword, removing his left arm, part of his left side, and his right foot but, nonetheless, Agnar dies with his lips relaxed into a smile (or in other words, with his mouth parted only into a silent grimace of pain). And in a similar fashion does Beowulf remove the arm and shoulder of his monstrous enemy although he in fact tears the limb from Grendel s body with his bare hands, having vowed to fight the demon without using weapons. It may be that Grendel is linked with Agnar through his name which is very possibly composed of two Old English elements, gren grin and dælan to divide, shortened and combined, as names often are, to become Gren-del, or Grin-Divid(ed). (The original, Old English form of such a name would have been Gren-dæled.) Certainly, Beowulf 2
(whose name means Bee-Wolf, and so designates Bear ) may confidently be identified with Bjarki (whose name means Little Bear ). Indeed, part of the poet s method is to refer his audience back to other, older, stories which were known to them. And a tale of a man who had, so to speak, died laughing would, of course, be fairly memorable and would be called back to mind readily enough, after some appropriate leads had been provided. In fact, one fairly strong indication of a Grendel-Agnar (or English-Scandinavian) link may be provided by the storyteller himself, for (in Part II) he has King Hrođgar speak words which suggest (and perhaps emphasise) the earlier identity of Grendel, that is to say, his existence before the time of the events of the poem, in a story from times gone by. Even after Beowulf has fought with the monster, and already knows his name, Hrođgar says to him of the creature: þone on geardagum Grendel nemdon, that one, in days of yore, they named Grendel. So in telling Beowulf that people in an age (as the text would allow) prior to his own called this particular oppressor Gren-del the poet (via the king of Denmark, a character in the present story) may actually be stressing to his listeners the two parts of the wretch s name, and so inviting an association between Grendel and Agnar, that man who had, in a much older story than this one, divided his lips into a gruesome smile in order to conceal his overwhelming agony. It seems reasonable to suggest, then, that our poet has taken at least two previously-known tales (of Ingeld and Half-Dane, and of Bjarki and Agnar) and combined them into a single new one in which Grendel (the son of a man who has slain his half-brother) is killed in turn by the Danish champion, Beowulf a story where Hrođgar and Grendel are ultimately meant to be regarded as cousins who are feuding over the succession to the Danish throne. (Indeed, although the Saga of the Scyldings makes only very brief mention of the death of Agnar, it actually describes him as the first cousin of a certain Helgo the very man, Halga, who appears in our poem as the brother of Hrođgar.) In his updated version, however, the Old English poet allows the arm of Beowulf s opponent to be ripped rather than cut off, perhaps because he wishes to present the Geatish warrior as relying not on any weapon, but on the sheer strength of his hand-grip. The lack of realism, such as Grendel s ability to eat men alive, is surely to be interpreted as the means by which he makes his story more appealing to the audience. Note that in Parts I and II certain symbols are used: the Danish hall, often, as the sign of the central kingdom and, outside of this civilised realm, the wasteland, a place where unknown heathen beings live (or rule, like Grendel and his mother do, in their own, lesser fortresses or palaces). This latter is a place of darkness, mist-covered moors, and storms and a region of exile. 3
Also, certain conventions are set forth. For example, when it is said in Part I that a new poem on Beowulf s fight with Grendel is composed according to literary etiquette, with the words being properly linked, it means that the verses in question are composed according to the standard poetic conventions of the time. (Old English poetry followed strict rules of composition, and was based on set patterns of alliterating words rather than rhyme, as today.) Another convention (of which some mention has already been made) is that other stories are quite frequently referred to during the course of the poem, and appear to be used merely to point out particular points of interest in the main account. For example, the futile political arrangement between Hengest and Finn (in Part I) is closely parallel to that mentioned (in Part II) between Hrođgar and Ingeld, but is otherwise irrelevant to the larger narration. A third convention is that poems were often sung at the feast-table, by minstrels attached to the king, in order to entertain the warriors at meal-times. Stories were told and retold according to the whim of the poet, and the interests of the audience. The minstrel, called a scop (or a shaper of poems), would frequently fashion new tales from old in order to entertain his listeners. Such a man could have easily re-cast the early legends of Ingeld and Bjarki and Agnar to make them his own. The fourth and overriding convention, however, and one which is common to all heroic literature, is the pursuit of honour through good deeds. The Geatish hero, Beowulf, wins just such honour during his time at the Danish court. [from Original Pages, Nos 1-4] 4
I (1) [The Danish line of kings begins with Scyld Scefing.] [from Original Page 5] Behold, we have heard of the glory of the Spear-Danes, the kings of the nation in geardagum in days of yore how those princes performed courageous deeds. Many a time Scyld Scefing ( Shield, son of Sheaf ) deprived enemy tribes of their mead-halls, struck terror into his foes, grew in honours, until each one of those who dwelled around him over the whale s road had to pay him tribute. þæt wæs god cyning! That was a good king! Afterwards a son was born to him, sent by God as a comfort to the people. Beowulf was well-known his fame spread wide in Danish lands. 1 So must a young man, whilst still under the governance of his father, perform good deeds, give rich gifts, so that when he is of age, his companions will willingly assist him in times of strife. In nations everywhere it is by noble deeds that a man shall prosper. At his destined time, Scyld passed away into the keeping of the Lord. His retainers carried him to the sea-shore as he had earlier instructed them. They laid his body in the bosom of a burial-ship, loaded the vessel with jewels and with weapons of war. They set a golden banner high above his head; they let the waves take him. II (2) [Scyld s great-grandson builds a glorious hall.] After Scyld had departed the world, his son was known throughout many nations and in turn was born to him the noble Healfdene ( Half-Dane ). Healfdene, old and fierce in the fighting, held while he lived the kingdom of the noble Scyldings. To him, the leader 1 This character is not the same Beowulf who is the hero of the poem. It has been argued that the name given here is a mistake for Beaw (a person who appears in certain old genealogical lists as the son of Scyld, with his name spelt, variously, as Anglo-Saxon beaw, and as Latin beauu, beo, and beow), but it may be that the son should actually (as I have already suggested) be known by the name Froda. The situation might have been as follows: in an early manuscript, the very general word bearn, son, might have appeared (in a phrase which meant something like the son was renowned ); the word in question might have been read by a later copyist as beaw or perhaps beawa (and so found its way into both the written text of the poem and into the genealogies); and it might later still have been emended to read beowulf, as in our particular manuscript, by association with the hero of the poem. Yet the poet s intention might have been to leave Scyld s son, Froda, unnamed until Part II, Section 20, the point at which he suddenly appears as the father of Ingeld. (He might have acted with a view to concealing, for a time, certain information regarding Ingeld s blood-ties to the Danish kings and so to disguising what may be taken as the central theme of Parts I and II, the desire of that man or of his family to gain access to the Danish throne. When, in 797, Alcuin of York complains to the Bishop of Lindisfarne that the clergymen are listening to heathen songs rather than to sermons, he asks the following question of him: What has Ingeld to do with Christ?. Our poem might once have been seen more as a song of Ingeld than as one of Beowulf and the monster now known only as Grendel.) 5
INTRODUCTION TO PART II In Part II, it soon becomes apparent that there is another monster near at hand: Grendel s mother. This second creature seeks vengeance for the death of her son, and Beowulf fights singlehandedly with her as well. The contest takes place in the mother s underwater lair and Beowulf cuts her in two with an ancient sword which he finds hanging on the wall there. Hrođgar again rewards him, and he returns to his home in Geatland, where (as convention demands) he gives his treasures to his lord, King Hygelac, and where he receives lands and a hall and a special sword in return. Then Beowulf recounts to the king his exploits in Denmark, telling him first, though, how Hrođgar s daughter, Freawaru, is to be married to Ingeld, son of Froda, as part of a plan to end the deadly feuds between Ingeld s people (the Heađobards ) and the Danes. He predicts, though, that the arrangement will fail: the Heađobard warriors will become enraged by the sight of Danish men, who come into the beer-hall wearing Bard war-gear previously lost to the Danes in battle; swords will be drawn; oaths will be broken; and Ingeld s love for his wife will grow cooler. And only then does he relate how he has killed Grendel and his mother, thus giving his outline of the monster-fights secondary importance within his narration. As in Part I, some clues to the identity of the monster may come from the known Scandinavian sources. In the History of the Danes, Ingeld s (first) wife who is the daughter of a Swedish nobleman is described as a savage bride and a she-wolf, who might perchance bring forth a (half-swedish) beast to hurt his own father or, put more simply, take the rights to the Danish kingdom away from Ingeld and pass them over to Sweden. In the History, Ingeld is merely urged to put his wife aside but, in the Saga of the Scyldings, he does just that. However, he acts too late, for a son, Agnar, is later born to the woman. It may thus be that our poet has recast this brutish woman of Scandinavian tradition the first wife of Ingeld and afterwards the mother of Agnar (who had died laughing ) as the mother of Grendel (the grin-divided one). Not content with telling of the match between Beowulf and the first miscreant, the storyteller might also have decided to tell of the contest with his monstrous mother (who is set to avenge the death of her beastly son). Also as in Part I, the Old English poet may draw attention to the older Scandinavian material by showing that Grendel s mother is a real woman who is cast out of Danish society, but who is still by no means powerless. 6
Although she is presented outwardly as an evil demon, she is nonetheless human (for she is in the likeness of a woman ). She suffers loss through the deeds of a murderer (for she dwells on her misery, living in cold streams and in terrible waters, after Cain slays his kinsman and flees, marked as a murderer, to the wasteland). And she controls her own realm in the wilderness (for she holds the moors and lives in some kind of enemy hall at the bottom of a lake). The lake itself lies not far from the Danish kingdom. Additionally, the poet seems to suggest an ongoing need for retribution against the woman and her offspring. Beowulf kills Grendel s dam with a sword which he finds unexpectedly in her lair, just after his own blade has failed. He then uses this same weapon to cut the head from the body of her son despite the fact that the he-monster has already bled to death from the wound he has received at Heorot. And he later presents both the head and the sword-hilt which latter is described as an old heirloom to Hrođgar, son of Healfdene. Yet the name of the original owner although it remains undisclosed is said to be engraved on the hilt. It is possible that the sword had once belonged to Healfdene, but had been taken by Ingeld (who is said in the Saga of the Scyldings to be the half-brother, and the sudden battle-slayer, of Half-Dane ) as part of the spoils of combat, and had at a somewhat later date (in the hands of Hrođgar s champion, Beowulf) become an instrument of retaliation against the family of Ingeld for that man s covetous killing of his own brother. (Indeed, in Part III, Beowulf s battle-sword again fails him, but another which comes to him by chance, and which seems also to be linked to the need for vengeance, is successful. There, Beowulf uses it to pay back a dragon for his wicked deeds or, as the poet eventually reveals, to avenge a feud.) There might at first appear to be some kind of inconsistency over the ability of our Ingeld to marry into the ruling Danish line of kings. In the Scandinavian accounts, he will indeed cast his wife aside, which will leave him free to wed for a second time but in the poem, although Ingeld plans to take Hrođgar s young daughter as his wife, this might only be after his first wife (Grendel s Swedish mother?) has been killed off. Here, the ageing Ingeld may be attempting to marry his way back into the royal family, after having been cast out of the kingdom for the assassination of Healfdene. And the need for vengeance on both sides (on account of various murders committed) might have been overlooked. Hrođgar might have been forced to make an alliance because of the dwindling numbers of his men, whilst Ingeld s own crime of slaying Healfdene (?), might have been partly negated by the killing of his own son, ( Grendel?), by the Danish party. Moreover, Ingeld s later attack on the Danish throne may be more of an attempt to seize the Scylding kingdom for himself than a means of avenging his son, or those of his followers slain in 7
battle with the Danes, whilst his marriage to Freawaru may be simply a means to his own ends, with no love lost at any time between him and his much younger second wife. Note that any child in the male line (such as Heardred) has a greater right to the succession unless he is so young that he is unable to rule than any child in the female line (such as Beowulf); and that, although the husband of a king s daughter (such as Ingeld is to be) has no automatic claim on the realm of his father-in-law, he might well attempt to obtain that kingdom by force, using his acquired links with his wife to justify his actions. (It is stated in Part I that there will be sword-play between a son- and a father-in-law, and the son who is mentioned in passing there is later shown to be Ingeld.) Note also that marriages arranged for political advantage, or so as to effect a peacesettlement after a war, frequently lead to disaster. Indeed, they are expected to fail, because one nation will according to the true heroic ideal always feel the need to seek retribution against the other for wrongs done. The women involved in such marriages Freawaru is such a one are often called peace-weavers. (Another, presumably, is the wife of Ongenþeow, who is later to appear in Part III.) Such women come with a dowry of gold and other precious goods. In fact, the betrothed Freawaru is described as being adorned with gold, which means that she will be given to her husband along with a sizeable endowment. And when (as has been seen in Part I) Finn s wife, Hildeburh, is taken back to her own people, Finn s personal property is carried off as well whatever treasures the Danes may find at his house which suggests that when a woman returns to her homeland, so does some of the wealth which has originally accompanied her when she has been given in marriage. In Part II, the lack of realism continues, for example, in Beowulf s ability to swim underwater in full armour for several hours before he meets with Grendel s mother, who is said to be both a woman and a wolf. [from Original Pages, Nos 17-19] 8
INTRODUCTION TO PART III Part III presents an account of a separate feud between the Geats and their northern Swedish neighbours, a historical account set within the context of a dragon-fight. Here, for the third time, Beowulf s monstrous opponent may be identified as a human creature, even though he is never specified as such in the same way as Grendel and his mother are. A brief summary of the story follows. At the time when Beowulf returns to Geatland, Hygelac is king but he later dies during a military engagement, and his widow offers kingdom and hoard (or treasury) to Beowulf, because she thinks that her son, Heardred, is too young to hold the realm against foreign nations. Beowulf, however, refuses her offer because he knows that he has a lesser right to the throne than does his cousin, and instead supports the lad until he is old enough to rule. Yet when Heardred is killed by the Swedes, the throne comes to Beowulf, and he holds it until the time when he goes out to meet the dragon in battle. For many years, the dragon watches over a treasure-hoard lying in a high stone barrow, or burial-chamber but then a Geatish fugitive enters the vault while the monster is sleeping, and steals one of his treasures, that is, a valuable drinking-cup. Thus the worm invades Geatland, burning everything in his path, including Beowulf s own hall. So Beowulf goes out to fight him with a small troop of men, having had a special shield made, all of iron, as a protection against his fiery breath. Early in his struggle with the serpent, Beowulf s own sword fails, and his men desert him all except his own young kinsman, a certain Wiglaf, who happens to be the son of a Swedish nobleman named Weohstan and, necessarily, of Beowulf s own Geatish sister. Wiglaf brings to Beowulf s assistance a sword given to him by Weohstan, a weapon which had once belonged to a Swedish prince named Eanmund. (Eanmund has been slain by Weohstan, and his war-gear has been taken by him, but it has subsequently come to Wiglaf on the death of his father.) Wiglaf uses Eanmund s sword to bring down the dragon, and Beowulf then stabs the reptile to death with his own knife. However, Beowulf is mortally wounded and dies soon afterwards. Now follows a short sketch of the historical matter, and especially of the various conflicts between the Swedes and the Geats. First of all, there is a feud over a Geatish woman. Ongenþeow, leader of the Swedes, kills Hæđcyn, lord of the Geats, and rescues his wife of former years, the mother of Ohthere and Onela. (This woman is probably Hæđcyn s aunt, the sister of Hreþel; and it is clear 9
from the use of the term rescue that she has been taken back by her own people at least once already. And whilst her original marriage to a vigorous Swedish war-king might have given her half-swedish, half-geatish male offspring some slender right of claim on the less powerful Geatish throne held at the time by her brother s sons, her later recapture by the Geats would have nullified any such entitlement, and brought about the need for the Swedes to win her back.) Then, when Hæđcyn is killed, Hygelac succeeds to the Geatish kingdom. His two thegns later kill Ongenþeow who, it seems, is intent on protecting his hoard, his wife, and his child and he rewards them with gifts and with land, and gives his daughter to one of them as a bride, as payment for the deed. (At this time, the wife of Ongenþeow is presumably taken back yet again to her own people, for a certain Geatish lady will later appear at Beowulf s funeral, lamenting her fate, and saying that she fears being captured or perhaps, actually, re-captured once again by warriors. Indeed, to order to restore their right of access to the Geatish throne, however limited or uncertain it might have been, the Swedes would have needed to lead the woman away to their country for yet a third time.) Next, Hygelac is killed in a battle with the Frisians, and the Geatish throne comes to Heardred. Then, at some later time, there is a dispute over the succession to the Swedish kingdom. Ohthere, the first son of Ongenþeow, apparently dies, and the second son, Onela, takes the Swedish throne, even though he has a lesser claim on it than either of Ohthere s sons, his own nephews, Eanmund and Eadgils. These two boys rebel against Onela, and flee to the Geatish court, where they are received by King Heardred (who is in all likelihood related to them, and who might arguably have profited from an alliance with them). For taking them in, Onela kills Heardred, and around the same time, if not in the very same conflict, Weohstan kills Eanmund, and is subsequently rewarded by Onela for that slaughter. Finally, Onela (who seemingly has some major influence over Geatland, either by way of his mother or his military strength, or both) allows Beowulf to succeed to the vacant Geatish throne; but Beowulf eventually makes an expedition against the Swedish king for the killing of Heardred, and so takes vengeance on him, depriving him of his life. (As next-of-kin, it is his duty to seek blood for the death of his cousin.) So then, there is history in the poem, and there is story. But the two do not stand as separate entities. Rather, they are set beside each other so systematically as to suggest that the tale of the war-hero s battle with the treasure-hoarding dragon is a literary account of Beowulf s vengeance on the Swedish king, Onela, for the death of his cousin, Heardred 10
that is to say, the last chapter in the poet s fabulous recitation of an ancient and once-very-real feud between the Swedish and the Geatish peoples. There are several reasons for suggesting this. First, when the dragon realises that one of his treasures has been stolen, it is said that the quarrel is renewed which may refer to a long-standing dispute between the Swedes and the Geats, such as that over the Geatish woman, and could even imply that the stolen drinking-cup is some kind of poetic symbol for the wife of Ongenþeow. (There have been no disagreements, or even any dealings, between the dragon and the Geats before the time of the theft, for the worm simply comes out of nowhere to inhabit the barrow. But it is the very nature of the feud to keep renewing a grudge from one generation to the next.) Second, as a pay-back for the seizure of the cup, the dragon attacks and burns Beowulf s gift-hall which may stand for an assault by the Swedes on the very essence of the kingdom of Geatland, that is, its royal court. (The theft of a single goblet could realistically hardly provoke such a terrible retribution on the part of the dragon.) Third, Beowulf s vengeance on Onela (for the death of Heardred) is mentioned in almost the same breath as his fight with the fire-drake which may imply that the Swedish overking, Onela, and the dragon are one. (Moreover, Onela s attack on Heardred is an assault on the Geatish realm; and Beowulf plans to take his revenge on the dragon for attacking Geatland, whilst his stated intention of winning the monster s treasure is only a secondary theme in the story.) Fourth, Wiglaf brings Eanmund s sword to Beowulf s assistance, and the lengthy history of this sword is given in the very middle of the fight with the dragon which suggests a link between this reptilian beast and Eanmund, the boy who had once sought asylum at Heardred s court. Perhaps the sword is to be seen as an instrument of retribution partly for the death of the young prince, and partly for the simultaneous slaughter of Beowulf s own cousin, Heardred. (The use of a specific weapon to exact vengeance on another is one of the conventions of ancient heroic literature, as is the need for the vengeance itself on the part of an honourable man.) Fifth, Wiglaf stands beside Beowulf, his lord and kinsman, and fights beyond his measure against the dragon which may indicate that he is siding with the Geatish king, Beowulf, his own uncle, against his own father s memory, and against his own father s allegiance to Onela or the Swedes. (The conflict of loyalties, to gold-giver or to familymember, is one of the popular themes of ancient heroic poetry, but Wiglaf owes primary allegiance to Beowulf rather than to his father, because Beowulf is not only his blood- 11
relative but also his lord. The theme of death-before-dishonour is very evident in the poem and had Wiglaf failed to support the king who had provided him with gifts of armour and equipment, he would have been considered both a coward and a traitor.) Sixth, just before he dies from the poison of the dragon at the time when his soul is about to pass into Heaven Beowulf says that he is grateful that God, the Father, will not reproach him for the treacherous murder of kinsmen. In condoning the killing of the first son of his elder brother, who by right of birth has a better claim on the Swedish kingdom than he does, Onela is ultimately responsible for just such a false-hearted (and anti-christian) act of bloodshed. And seventh, after Beowulf s death, it is said that the guardian of the hoard has slain a man, and that the feud has then been savagely avenged (or, to put it another way, that the serpent has later lost his life at Beowulf s hands). Yet the dragon is never actually said to have shed the blood of any man before Beowulf, and the only vengeance specifically said to have been taken by Beowulf (for the death of a man) is his attack on Onela. Thus, the dragon-tale may be a fictionalised version of an all-out war between Beowulf and the Swedish king, Onela, a military encounter in which both combatants are to lose their lives, the final episode in a renewed quarrel between the Geats and the Swedes. Yet the poet seems to reveal his meaning by degrees only, for to show the ferocious draconic enemy in his true colours too openly or too soon would surely be to take away the interest of the tale. [from Original Pages, Nos 31-34] 12