A Debatable and Desert Land

Fa-So-La-La


All the talk about Beowulf lately reminded me of this paper I wrote for school earlier this year. The assignment was to state whether Beowulf was essentially pagan or Christian-- it was a fascinating thing to think and write about. There are some papers that are truly fun to write, and this was one of them.



On Tolkein’s map of Middle Earth lies a region south of Gondor marked ‘A Debatable and Desert Land.’ Does it belong to Gondor – or the Wild Men? Beowulf is debatable land in the realm of literature – to whom does it belong: Pagan or Christian? An answer may be found in comparing Beowulf with The Iliad.

A hero’s motives reveal his ideology – does he serve others, or self? Unabashed selfishness is rampant in The Iliad. Agamemnon rails because he can’t keep Chryseis, Achilles sulks while his comrades die, Hera tricks Zeus into serving her whims. We hear much talk of winning great glory. “My honors never equal yours,” Achilles rages, like a child who counts one less marshmallow in his cocoa than in his brother’s. Beowulf’s motives seem so noble by comparison–

“. . . I come to proffer
my whole-hearted help and council.
I can show the wise Hrothgar a way
to defeat his enemy and find respite–...
I can calm the terror in his mind.” (ll 277-282)

Responses to treasures are also telling. Returning home, Beowulf offers his gifts from Hrothgar to his king. We can scarcely imagine Achilles in so sharing a mood! But Beowulf prefers a good name over great riches, and loving favor to silver and gold. He is contrasted with ancient kings whose treasure he has freed from the dragon–

“The high-born chiefs who had buried the treasure
declared it until doomsday so accursed
that whoever robbed it would be guilty of wrong
and grimly punished for their transgression
. . . Yet Beowulf’s gaze at the gold treasure
when he saw it first had not been selfish.” (ll 3069-3075)

The Iliad, marked by incessant bickering among mortals and immortals, has for heroes men of rage fuming through clenched teeth. Beowulf seeks peace. Even snarling Unferth receives courtesy, though he “was sick with envy” at Beowulf’s coming and “could not brook or abide the fact/ that anyone else alive under heaven might enjoy a greater reward than he did.” When Unferth twists a tale of Beowulf ’s bravery, he is met with mercy: “Well, friend Unferth, you have had your say/ about Brecca and me. But it was mostly beer/ that was doing the talking.” Beowulf upbraids Unferth with reason –

“The fact is, Unferth, if you were truly
as keen or courageous as you claim to be
Grendel would never have gotten away with
such unchecked atrocity, attacks on your king,
havoc in Heorot and horrors everywhere.” (ll 590–594)

Compare this to Achilles’ rant at Agamemnon–

“Staggering drunk, with your dog’s eyes, your fawn’s heart!
Never once did you arm with the troops and go to battle
or risk an ambush packed with Achaea’s picked men–
You lack the courage, you can see death coming.”

A culture of civility is present in Beowulf but absent in The Iliad. Why? Perhaps this reflects the natures of Beowulf’s God and the pagan pantheon. Mount Olympus rings with anger – “Do as you please– /but none of the deathless gods will ever praise you” says Hera to Zeus in a typical exchange. These gods model neither humility nor serving others. Beowulf’s ‘Almighty Father’ is never accused. No vile tales are told of Him, no complaints of intrigue and trickery such as abound in pagan mythology. Men speak of Him with a respect foreign to the gods of Olympus, always calling Him Lord of Ages, God Almighty, Lord of All, Heavenly Shepherd, Holy Lord.

The gods of the Iliad and Beowulf are served differently. The pagan gods are temperamental, requiring continual sacrifice, catered to like bratty toddlers. They turn without warning. Aphrodite’s threat to Helen is particularly chilling– and revealing:

“Don’t provoke me– wretched headstrong girl!
Or in my immortal rage I may just toss you over,
hate you as I adore you now. . .”

These gods are unstable as water, served with instability by men who are ever afraid of them. Beowulf’s just and merciful God is served so differently, with trust rather than sacrifice:

“. . . And may the Divine Lord
in His wisdom grant the glory of victory
to whichever side He sees fit.” (pg. 47, ln. 685-687)

Is Beowulf Pagan or Christian? Perhaps our labels are too convenient. We like history neatly tagged by era, as though Medieval turned to Renaissance promptly on January 1, 1400. But history moves like seasons – who can mark the minute summer has gone?

Similarly, Beowulf chafes at tidy labels. It creaks on the hinge between cultures, where grandfather is pagan but grandson is Christian. Beowulf , the debatable land, is perhaps just south of Gondor– but no longer wholly wild.

Like Beowulf, this paper was written on a hinge – on a Thor’s day in the month of Octavius... in the Year of Our Lord 2004.