Beowulf

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Christian and Pagan Elements in Beowulf

Beowulf is an epic poem written by an anonymous author approximately during the time that Christianity had begun conquering Europe . The predominant belief then was paganism and it figured in most of the epic poems of the region . Smith ( Paradise Lost and Beowulf ) asserts that Beowulf may have started to be an epic poem considering the fact that its origin may be rooted in the oral tradition before it was written down . However , the intrusion of Christianity in Europe

may have prodded the anonymous poet to blend in some of the Christian elements in the poem . The result of which is a hybridization of pagan and Christian elements in the epic poem , juxtaposing theological and humanistic themes

The particular element which exhibits the blending of paganism and Christianity in Beowulf is the hierarchy presented between king , hero and evil . In Beowulf , the structure of this hierarchy highly resembles that of the Biblical hierarchy composed of God as the king , Christ as the hero and Satan as the ultimate personification of evil . Smith ( Paradise Lost and Beowulf ) suggests that the parallelism between the biblical hierarchy and that in Beowulf is due to the fact that the anonymous poet of the epic poem may have drawn inspiration from the Bible and other apocryphal texts which began to spread around Europe at that time . In this essay , the author will outline the parallelism between Beowulf and the Christian elements in the Bible while...