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Oct. 2, 2008
Beowulf
Imagine older fathers with families and priorities to their families picking up sports again and trying to show off and win fame over younger ball players. They should be spending time with their families and doing loving things for their wives, but their egos are more important to them. It’s not a guessing game. Just about every one of those men will walk away with an injury, which will impair them from fulfilling their family priorities. Beowulf is noted as honorable, loyal, dutiful and brave, but not as meek and wise. He would and did lay his life down but he did so more out of pride and honor rather than out of love that seeks another’s benefit. Through Beowulf’s character the author demonstrates Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.”
When Beowulf was young he sought glory and fame. Beowulf gave many boasts about what he had done or what he would do. This was part of a hero’s duty. Making vaunts or oaths to each other ensured that they would actually do the daring deeds. Behind all the speeches and vaunting Beowulf’s better motivation is reduced to mere duty. His primary motivation was for his own glory. He says, "On the might of his hand, as a man must do Who thinks to win in the welter of battle Enduring glory; he fears not death" (1420-23 62) C.S. Lewis says in “Virtue and Vice” “The rats are always in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light. Apparently the rats of resentment and vindictiveness are always there in the cellar of my soul. Now that cellar is out of reach of my conscious will. I can to some extent control my acts: I have no direct control over my temperament. And if (as I said before) what we are matters even more than what we do—if, indeed, what we do matters as evidence of what we are—then it follows that the change which I most need to undergo is a change that my own direct, voluntary efforts cannot bring about. And this applies to my good actions too. How many of them were done for the right motive? How many for fear of public opinion, or desire to show off? How many from a sort of obstinacy or sense or superiority which, in different circumstances, might equally have led to some very bad act?” Beowulf is the hero in this poem and he destroys the monsters therein, but one monster he let live: pride. As C.S. Lewis writes that, “Things always work according to their nature” in “The Magician’s Nephew”. Beowulf’s “good” deeds bore the fruit of freedom from monsters just as the fruit in the magician’s nephew gave the witch everlasting youth; but the fruit wasn’t as it was meant to be because it was taken selfishly.
Hrothgar, after Beowulf had killed Grendel and Grendel’s mother, gave a speech to Beowulf, a warning of his pride. “all the world wends at his will, no worse he knoweth, till all within him obstinate pride waxes and wakes while the warden slumbers, the spirit's sentry; sleep is too fast which masters his might, and the murderer nears, stealthily shooting the shafts from his bow!”---“Greedy and grim, no golden rings he gives for his pride; the promised future forgets he and spurns, with all God has sent him, Wonder-Wielder, of wealth and fame. Yet in the end it ever comes that the frame of the body fragile yields, fated falls; and there follows another who joyously the jewels divides, the royal riches, nor recks of his forebear. Ban, then, such baleful thoughts, Beowulf dearest, best of men, and the better part choose, profit eternal; and temper thy pride, warrior famous!” Beowulf didn’t heed any of this advice. 50 years pass and Beowulf becomes king of the Geats and even though he sat with the fame from killing Grendel and Grendel’s mother he still wanted more. At the battle with the dragon he said,” "I should carry no weapon, no sword to the serpent, if sure I knew how, with such enemy, else my vows I could gain as I did in Grendel's day.” An aged man Beowulf is going to battle against a dragon and without weapons. Our hero is being swallowed up by his pride. he goes on, “Now abide by the barrow, ye breastplate-mailed, ye heroes in harness, which of us twain better from battle-rush bear his wounds. Wait ye the finish. The fight is not yours, nor meet for any but me alone to measure might with this monster here and play the hero.” He unknowingly abdicated his throne in attempt for greater glory and fame. When Wiglaf ran to the rescue of his lord they defeated the dragon, but not before Beowulf received his death wound. Beowulf took eleven comrades with him who with strategic planing they could have delivered the dragon to its death much more easily if two did so. But, “till all within him obstinate pride waxes and wakes while the warden slumbers”
As king, when Beowulf put his life into jeopardy he also put his kingdom into it. He didn’t think what would happen to his kingdom and people if he died because he was stuck thinking about his glory and how people would revere him. Although the poem does not specify the momentum of the feuds after Beowulf’s death it does allude to more trouble being initiated because of his death. There was a better rout, which Beowulf could have taken than to seek his own glory. Beowulf’s desire to praised higher than others led to his down fall and undermined what God had made him. There was a way that was more about others than himself. His whole life he sought his fame and neglected weightier matters.
The full legacy that Beowulf left wasn’t one he would have wanted to leave. Though he did many mighty deeds which brought the feuds to peace, his vain desire for more and more glory countered the peace his life brought and when he died peace also died. Beowulf had other responsibilities as a King that were much more important than gaining fame. He abdicated his throne when he went into battle with the dragon. Beowulf let his pride get in the way of his life like a father with a family lets sports or any hobby get in the way, only Beowulf is a king with a kingdom and a much bigger hobby. To Beowulf life was not a game, but the pride he allowed made it a game of who was the best, the bravest, and the most honorable; and at this people would benefit at times as well as perish. Beowulf’s character was very valiant, but valiance’s becomes only a game when the motive is selfish and prideful: that is, a game of destruction. |
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Posted by : Oh yeah, you know who I am 
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It is my goal to be a bright spot in the lives of others,
To express Jesus through music,
To be Free to Free others,
To go on when everyone else has stopped,
To be there for loved ones in this life.
Finally to live life as an adventure
in unity with the one true King,
then to look back at all that has come to pass and hear:
"Well done my good and faithful servant."
...in the presence of the heavenly clouds with the eagles flying above...
I am Joshua, son of the One True Living God,
Going after his heart,
Doing this all with passion.
Oct. 2, 2008 - Untitled Comment