Immortality In Beowulf

Death. An idea that permeates human thought. Symbolically embodied by the fictitious character Hrothgar from Beowulf as, “...an archer who draws a deadly bow,” (Beowulf 1744), its nature, its finality, strikes fear in the hearts of those who have yet to accept it, for it is a final inevitability escaped by no human. The idea that there is nothing afterwards has undoubtedly crept into the minds of even the most devoutly religious persons to walk the Earth. Consequently, any reprieve from the concept is welcome with open arms by scores; the nature of solutions embraced, however, vary culturally and individually. The epic poem Beowulf presents a protagonist, Beowulf, who is no more immune to this mental puzzle than any other man, and, depending

The effect of this immortality can be seen through Beowulf’s apparent death in the eyes of Hrothgar’s party during his battle with the hellish beast, Grendel’s Mother. Beowulf and Christ had a certain relation by experience and deed; both figures descended to a place of utter evil to win victory over an archetype of wickedness. Beowulf entered the mere abhorred by the Danes, a place so despicable that it was said that even animals at the brink of an inevitable death refused to enter; “...the hart in flight from pursuing hounds will turn to face them with firm-set horns and die in the woods rather than dive beneath its surface,” (Beowulf 1369-1371). Jesus descended into Hell, a place created as the heart of all wickedness, by the archetype of hatred who he defeated, Satan. Grendel’s mother and Satan are equivalents, the matriarch a beast that chronologically preceded and overcame the wickedness of even Grendel, who to that point had given the appearance of the most vile creature that could be, while Satan became the first to ever so hatefully betray God. However, both Jesus and Beowulf defeated their demons, despite the doubt of their companions. Just as Apostles and Disciples lost faith in Jesus, Hrothgar and his brave men lost their formerly resolute faith in

The pagan, with no idea of Christianity, faced the task of securing his own immortality, completing tasks no other mere mortal would dare take on, all for the purpose of making sure that he, as a matter of fact, did not possess the status of a mere mortal. The addition of God into the epic, replacing fate with a guiding, loving, eternal patriarch, allowed the Christian Beowulf to be more satisfied with himself, changing the mood of the poem enough to show the reader the value of Christianity. Beowulf's struggle with his own mortality, his fleeting, delicate life, lessened because of the religious promise of a Heavenly reprieve after death. He would be able to rest easier knowing that even if he became forgotten on Earth, he would live on in the uplifting afterlife. With a resolute faith, the possibility that the dying Beowulf, resting near his final trophy kill, wondered whether or not he had accomplished enough physical deeds altogether disappears. No longer must he rely on only himself to create immortality. Just as Camus’s Sisyphus must be imagined happy despite all of his toiling, the Christian Beowulf must be imagined content at the moment that his life faded, believing that the devotion injected into his life would provide him a happy safeguard in