Strength In Beowulf's Journey

“Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6). In Deuteronomy, Divine Inspiration bolsters the idea that as God’s people, we should not “fear” others or give in to “them,” pagan gods, for our Lord, the true God, has our backs. One can easily assume that the wisest move any man can make would be to follow God because the true almighty God will not forsake those who follow Him. Beowulf understands this lesson and God in turn truly does not “forsake” him. Beowulf’s wise ways of worshiping God causes God to give Beowulf the mighty strength he has. The poet utilizes God as a way to give Beowulf strength in order to promote Christianity above paganism in

The Poet asserts that worshiping God exemplifies wisdom, so worshiping God must make Beowulf wise. Before the introduction of Beowulf, the poet explains that “he who in time of trouble” and has “thrust his soul in the fire’s embrace, forfeiting help” curses himself, for “blessed is he who after death can approach the Lord and find friendship in the Father’s embrace”(183-188). The poet claims that some Danes who find themselves “in time of trouble” when the misanthropic Grendel attacks give their soul to “the fire’s embrace,” pagan gods, therefore “forfeiting help” from God. However, the “blessed” Danes do not turn

Beowulf first demonstrates his strength when Grendel “was overwhelmed, manacled tight by the man who of all men was foremost and strongest in the days of his life,” causing him to scream a scream described as “a God-cursed scream and strain of catastrophe, the howl of the loser, the lament of the hell-serf keening his wound”(785-789). The poet indicatively calls Beowulf the “strongest” and reiterates Beowulf’s strength with the juxtaposition of “hell-serf” to “catastrophe,” “loser,” and “keening.” This juxtaposition shows that Beowulf turns an inherently strong “hell-serf” into a “keening” “loser” suffering his own “catastrophe,” exemplifying the magnitude of strength Beowulf has. Later Beowulf’s demonstrates his strength again in the battle with the dragon when “the war-king threw his whole strength behind a sword-stroke and connected with the skull. And Naegling snapped… he wielded a sword, no matter how blooded and hard-edged the blade his hand was too strong, the stroke he dealt (I have heard) would ruin it” (2678-2680, 2685-2688). The poet juxtaposes the action of Beowulf using “his whole strength” in his attack, causing the sword to snap with the statement that Beowulf’s strength can break any sword, “no matter how blooded and hard-edged the blade.” This juxtaposition creates the notion that Beowulf’s strength reflects the supernatural as it has already broken a