Beowulf concludes with the assertion that its hero was “most eager for fame” (line 3182). Which moments in Beowulf’s life are not fame-worthy?
Beowulf is a classic epic which has survived for over a thousand years in an original Old English copy, but since then it has been translated into many other languages down through the generations of history. Its main character and hero, in whose honor the manuscript has been titled, is often proclaimed as a “hardy” (line 1963) and “glorious man” (line 2189) “of high courage” (line 1888). Indeed, there is no surprise why audiences have celebrated this figure as the most deserving of praise, for the text itself characterizes him as “of mankind the strongest of might/in those days of this life,/noble and mighty” (lines 196 - 198). Although his early accomplishments are numerous and impressive, including such acts as defeating Grendel and Grendel’s mother, however, there are some discrepancies in his behavior once he becomes king of the Geats that must be accounted for. Only then, may we truly be able to understand the hero of Beowulf.
Beowulf is crowned king after his lord and younger cousin Headred is slain for housing the fugitive brothers Eadgils and Eanmund when their super uncle Onela drives them from their homeland. As a young leader who could have easily been replaced by more powerful kinsmen if his retainers had not remained loyal, it is not surprising that Headred would be sympathetic to these exiles’ predicament. As a result, however, Onela ambushes Headred for this act of hospitality, kills him and then retreats from whence he came. Because Beowulf is now the next in line for the Geat-ish throne that yet lives, it is by this sequence of events that he is offered—and this time accepts—the responsibilities as crown-bearer for his people.
As the newest leader and closest kinsman to the deceased, Beowulf has a social responsibility to speak revenge against Onela for Headred’s murder. This system of retribution and loyalty is alluded to when Hrothgar says, “For past favors, my friend Beowulf,/and for old deeds, you have sought us out” (lines 457 - 458), implying that our hero does not travel to purge Heorot of its Grendel-problem out of charity, but rather to return a favor Hrothgar once did for Beowulf’s father Ecgtheow. Now, according to the customs of his society that have previously been established in the poem, Beowulf is obliged to avenge his lord Headred’s death by attacking Onela. When the warrior Beowulf defeats Grendel and then Grendel’s mother for Hrothgar, and later on explains that he has accomplished these feats “to show good will. Still all my joys/are fixed on you [Hygelac] alone” (lines 2149 - 2150), he not only demonstrates that he is aware of this system of governance, but also that he is willingly capable of excelling within these societal expectations.
It is therefore highly uncharacteristic when Beowulf—instead of attacking Onela directly in battle—this new king of the Geats instead, “befriended Eadgils/the wretched exile; across the open sea/he gave support to the sons of Ohthere/with warriors and weapons” (lines 2392 - 2395). While Beowulf aids Eadgils’ cause by sending him men and arms, a campaign that is ultimately successful in defeating Onela, our hero does not personally charge into battle. Why, when confronted with this of all adventures, does he not venture headlong into the task as he would have previously done so readily? What is restraining him?
Beowulf is often renown within general public knowledge as the great monster-slayer of this poem. He battles merefixa (translated from O.E. as “sea-fishes” (line 549)) when separated from Breca, mortally wounds Grendel, and defeated Grendel’s mother. It is not as though becoming king marks the end of his fighting career (as it may have done for Hrothgar), for many years after this sequence of events, when Beowulf is an old man, he does not hesitate to face the terrorizing dragon by himself.*
And it is important to note that Beowulf is not only known for his monster-slaying actions within the poem. It should not be Onela’s humanity that keeps Beowulf from that particular battle, for Beowulf has experience as a valued thane in wars among men in addition to those between men and beasts. Soon after his grandfather king Hershel passes away in old age, “there was strife between Swedes and Geats” (line 2472), and Beowulf with “friends and kinsmen got revenge for those/feuds and evils” (lines 2479 - 2480). Our hero has “paid in battle for the precious treasures” (line 2490) Hygelac awarded him. Therefore, what is it that refrains him from traveling across the sea to encounter Onela? There are a few possibilities that we shall examine here.
The first is that perhaps by aiding Eadgils in carrying out the revenge-act instead of doing so himself, Beowulf is continuing to abide by his previous lord’s final wishes. Our hero has proven himself loyal to Hygelac’s son in the past, because instead of taking Headred’s placee as leader of the Geats when the boy was still too young to rule by himself, Beowulf promises to advise and protect him as he grows older. It is then with one of his few acts as king that Headred offers Eadgils and Eanmund help in their plight when he needn’t to, a situation that is unresolved at the time of Headred’s death. And so, when Beowulf sends Eadgils warriors and weapons, he is extending Headred’s hospitable hand from beyond the funeral pyre. While neither Geat-ish king defeats the super uncle himself, Headred gives the brothers shelter so that they may temporarily escape assassination and Beowulf gives their people the military resources necessary for reclaiming what is rightfully Eadgils’, thereby indirectly restoring order for these allies. When he does not interfere directly here, Beowulf thus begins his kingship by following in his predecessor’s footsteps. This solidifies Beowulf’s right to the throne by easing the transition between Headred’s rule and his own, which can be interpreted as highly honorable and thus a wiser decision than hunting after Onela himself.
As a side note, it may have been advantageous to allow the young heirs to reclaiming their birthright on their own for political reasons. When Beowulf sends men and arms to aid Eadgils in his endeavors, he helps the cause without threatening the youth’s claim on the victorious outcome. In the ancient Anglo-Saxon society depicted in Beowulf, the commander of an army is awarded credit for all important deaths that occur during battle; a system that is demonstrated in the poem when Hygelac is said to have killed Ongentheow when his retainer Eomer is the one who actually swings the death-blow. With this in mind, Beowulf could have taken credit for Onela’s death if he had accompanied his army across the sea and commanded them into battle. Instead, by lending men to Eadgils’ efforts, Beowulf allows Eadgils the fame and title of victor (and perhaps saving himself from immediate danger should they have been unsuccessful).
We can infer that Beowulf’s help would have ensured positive international relations between Eadgils’ kingdom and his own. However, there is not much textual evidence supporting the interworking of Beowulf’s reign apart from “he held it well/for fifty winters—he was then a wise king,/old guardian of his homeland—until/in the dark nights a dragon began his reign” (lines 2208 - 2211). So, we do not know for sure if Eadgils keeps in touch with Beowulf after they settle down in their own lands. Nonetheless, there are no accounts or insertions alluding to strife ever occurring between Beowulf’s and Eadgils’ respective peoples, which in Beowulf is always a good sign. Our hero’s reign is a peaceful one, until the awakening of the dragon that is, and how he handles relations with Eadgils may very well contribute significantly to such peace.
The second most probably reason for Beowulf’s decision to remain on his own lands is that, especially as a new leader of his nation, he is required to stay within the borders of his kingdom in order to keep his people safe. While there is essentially zero character interiority given to us by the poet to explain Beowulf’s actions, the worst events and/or attacks always seem to take place in Beowulf when the leader of the effected group is physically absent from the location where said action occurs. For instance, because Grendel slaughters whoever is in the hall when he attacks, in order to survive twelve years’ worth of onslaught, Hrothgar must be absent from Heorot each night. Due to Beowulf’s success in keeping Grendel from fleeing uninjured, the poem implies that Grendel’s mother is able to escape Heorot unharmed the following night because Beowulf sleeps for that night elsewhere when she attacks. In addition, when the dragon burn down Beowulf’s buildings, our hero is again abiding somewhere safely unseen. And finally, Hygelac perishes while on a greed-driven raid in another land, hinting that if he had remained home he might have lived longer.
Regardless of whether or not our hero is aware of this phenomenon, Beowulf’s location is important to the safety of his people. This is such the case that with “the death of their lord” (line 3149) are certain of “hard days ahead,/the times of slaughter, the host’s terror,/harm and captivity” (lines 3153 - 3155). Indeed, his subjects lament his passing in part because “now this folk may expect/a time of trouble, when… the fall of our king/becomes widespread news” (lines 2910 - 2913). And so, by offering Eadgils aid but remaining behind himself, Beowulf is able to function both as a generous benefactor for the youth and as a successful protector of his own people.
In a classic Beowulf style, the layers of reasoning which underly Beowulf’s inaction during the Eadgils-Onela conflict is complicated further when we take into account his relationship with Wiglaf. While Wiglaf does not play into the poem’s action until he helps our hero slay the dragon, they have an implied history of at least knowing one another due to their similar tribe affiliations as both being half-Swede and half-Waegmunding. It is through background material as provided by Joseph Black’s The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume I: The Medieval Period that the connections between Beowulf’s relations with Wiglaf and those with the Swedish brothers are better illuminated. It is “Weohstan, father of Wiglaf, [who] kills Eanmund on behalf of Onela” (Black, pp. 92). In order to avenge Eanmund’s death Eadgils must kill Wiglaf, but because the last of the Waegmundings dwells in Beowulf’s kingdom and under his protection, “during Beowulf’s fifty-year reign, the death of Eanmund is unavenged” (pp. 92). If Beowulf had gone with Eadgils to reclaim his throne from his uncle Onela, and if he had encountered Weohstan on the battlefield or brought Wiglaf along, our hero might have been forced to either betray his guests or his kinsmen. Remaining behind in his own lands allows Beowulf to appease both sides while he lives, thus safely abiding by the rules of honor and duty so vital to his cultural identity.**
Because it is previously established that ”loyalty to one’s lord was supposed to outweigh the claims of blood-relation” (pp. 54, footnote 1), the fact that Beowulf stands with Wiglaf in the end is a powerful statement. While Beowulf’s choice of inaction in this dispute may be not fame-worthy within his world, through a modern viewpoint he might be. When Wiglaf tells our hero that he is “the last survivor of our lineage” (line 2813), he implies that he and Beowulf are closer in lineage to one another than to anyone else they know, including the many Geats and Danes whom Beowulf has aided in his lifetime. By forsaking the government and society’s customs and expectations, he upholds the values of kinship and friendship above all else. And, perhaps more impressively, he gets away with it throughout his fifty-year reign with seemingly zero opposition.
And so in conclusion, we have interpreted many possibilities that can explain why Beowulf remains at home during the Eadgils-Onela conflict. Perhaps he is acting on Headred’s behalf or in his own best political interests. Maybe he has to stay behind in order to properly protect his subjects and kinsmen, either from monsters within or from armies without. These motivations are each sound in their own way, and multiple explanations could be working simultaneously here, or there could be a better reason lurking somewhere unrealized. Either way, we can only know more and be more confident in our knowledge regarding such complexities with each deeper dive into the fathoms of the Beowulf world. I eagerly await the next one.
*Note #1: While indeed our hero is only able to defeat said dragon with the help of his retainer Wiglaf, Beowulf is fully aware of the peril and yet willingly goes into battle alone, thus securing our respect for his courage during those moments in his life.
**Note #2: This level of complexity also reminds me of Sir Gawain’s predicament in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight when he must maintain the Queen’s confidences while also remaining honest in the King’s presence. Stay tuned, as I am looking forward to when we get to discuss this Middle English poem later on.
References:
Black, J. et al. (Editors). 2009. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume I: The Medieval Period, Second Edition. Broadview Press. Print.
Fulk, R. D. et al. (Editors). 2008. Klaeber’s Beowulf: Fourth Edition. University of Toronto Press. Print.
We have dissected here possible explanations for one of Beowulf’s first acts as king, which is curious because it appears to differ from how he behaves previously within his poem. However, he is not the only king who makes praise-worthy, and perhaps less praise-worthy, decisions. Next time, on “Words About Words”, we will analyze who we can praise for the positive accomplishments and who we can blame for the negative outcomes in “Beowulf”.
Until then, do you agree with these reasonings behind why Beowulf offers Eadgils military aid instead of defeating Onela solo? If not, then why not? And if you can think of any other possibilities for this seemingly uncharacteristic behavior for our hero, what are they?
Keep Reading & Writing!
No comments:
Post a Comment