Response to your Comment #3

Hopefully this isn't too scatterbraned. I felt bad for not responding and this may be a bit premature.

While your comparison with the Green Knight struck me as quite adept when you first emailed it to me, I don’t think there’s really any thematic continuity between that work and this.

Arthur, especially in L’Morte is a Christian King (although Campbell may argue with the execution of that) and Beowulf (Christian imagery aside, per your #3) is still very much in the pagan mindset. In fact, with the Christian imagery throughout, I get the sense that the work wasn’t written down by a well-meaning but clueless monk who was trying to Christianize a well-known but essentially naughty fairy tale, but rather by someone who rather enjoyed the old story and tried to change just enough to get it past the censors.

Now, I couldn’t say how succeeding centuries of listeners interpreted this, whether they kept the “original” (read “Pagan”) version, or if they listened to this “new” (read Christian/written) one. I also couldn’t say whether or not they knew enough about their history and the history of the story to know that it was originally a pagan work.

And to Hrothgar: is he really running away? While the rest of his comitatus group may be able to pack up and head to another thane, he’s pretty much stuck where he is until he can get rid of Grendel and seems resigned to his fate (although in this case, I’m not sure whether it’s a capital “F” or not).

Now, the comparison to Green Knight seems to fall apart a little more: the Knight (per my recollection) is essentially asking if there is anyone tough enough to stand up to him. He is, in effect, chastising the knights for going complacent and not wanting to, well, risk their necks. Arthur’s hesitation is problematic as it shows that he too is imperfect. When Gawain stands up, it’s not necessarily because he’s any better than the other knights, it’s just that he’s the only one with enough balls to stand up to him.*

Now, Hrothgar certainly isn’t throwing all-night keggers either. I get the sense that after his initial round of ass-kicking, he makes a grand monument to self (“A mightier mead-hall than man had known” line 65) and people paid their taxes (lines 66-7). Further, lines 96-98 show

…the lordly warriors lived in gladness
At ease and happy until a beast from Hell
Began a series of savage crimes.

that he’s essentially a good king and everyone’s living peacefully. There is no motivation given for Grendel other than he’s evil and presumably, the Danes are keeping him up at night with their drinking songs.

In lines 758-60 (admittedly further on than you had read when you made that observation) one of his men tries to attack Grendel and it’s not for wont of bravery that he’s killed, but that he doesn’t have “the right stuff”.

However, while Hrothgar’s men are suffering (for 12 years! Line 146), there do appear to be attempts to argue with Grendel (lines 155+)

No strength could move [Grendel] to stay his hand
Or pay for his murders; the wise knew well
They could hope for no halting of savage assault.*

as well as numerous conferences as to what should be done (Hrothgar’s wonderings in lines 175-80).

In a good example of your item #3, it appears that that silly Danes are having so much trouble because they are pagan and worship Satan (lines 175-6).

* An interesting aside on that, the theme there seems to be that you’re only as good as the guys you have supporting you, while Beowulf really puts the power of the individual in the fore, until we get to Wiglaf in “Part III.”

* “Pay for…” of course is a reference to the weregild wherein a cash settlement could be made to stop their feud. I’m stricken by an image of a hapless fellow who tried to explain this to Grendel.