Beowulf in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

Jan 14, 2016 Carrie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, school, translated

This was a book for university.

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Sep 27, 2023 Vincent Darlage rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

For this reading, I am also reading translations by David Wright (a prose translation), Burton Raffel (a verse translation), Kevin Crossley-Holland (a verse translation), and J.R.R. Tolkien (a prose translation). They really don't vary much, so basically you can choose a translation you like, and you get the story pretty much the same.

I thought this verse translation was very readable, but not much different than the prose translations - the prose vs verse was just a matter of formatting, really For this reading, I am also reading translations by David Wright (a prose translation), Burton Raffel (a verse translation), Kevin Crossley-Holland (a verse translation), and J.R.R. Tolkien (a prose translation). They really don't vary much, so basically you can choose a translation you like, and you get the story pretty much the same.

I thought this verse translation was very readable, but not much different than the prose translations - the prose vs verse was just a matter of formatting, really.

Beowulf begins with a tribute to King Hrothgar's ancestry because patriarchal lineage was important to identity within this culture. It's interesting that the first king, Scyld Sceffing (Shield of the Sheaves, which shows the importance of the king for protection and the harvest) was a foundling with no known ancestry. This idea of lineage comes into play a lot in this book. Reputation and lineage both are major themes in this work.

The first monster is Grendel, a monster with no known father - in other words, no lineage (beyond being a descendant of Cain in the distant past). Grendel personifies Envy. Grendel is envious of the Danes because he can never share in mankind's hope or joy. Grendel resents men because God blesses them but will never bless him. The bright lights and sounds of joy emanating from Hrothgar's magnificent mead-hall, Heorot, especially annoy the ogre... kind of like the Grinch regarding Christmas and Whoville.

In many ways Grendel reminds me of the Grinch. Grendel hates the Danes and their Hall because of all the noise, noise, noise! Grendel is a type of dragon symbol, representing a rival religion or culture. As a threat to Christianity, it is evil. Also, Grendel could represent a Celtic invasion. Either way, Beowulf is entirely confident of his ability to fight Grendel. The concept of treasure is also introduced, and it is interesting. The story takes place during pagan times, but the author is also clearly Christian now, so he shines a Christian light on everything and kind of pretends the pagan isn't really happening. This makes for an interesting conflict with the concept of treasure: the pagan version is that treasure symbolizes victory and is meant to be shared (not hoarded) while the Christian idea is that treasure symbolizes greed. While the dragon (at the end) hoards his treasure, and evil kings do too, the good kings share their treasure with everyone in their clan/village... or even people who just help them out.

After Grendel is defeated, Grendel's mother comes around in vengeance, and the idea of the blood feud is fully introduced in the story. It was hinted at earlier (when Grendel wouldn't pay the blood price for his murders), but now it is on. Grendel's mother is wrath, the personification of revenge. I thought it interesting that to fight Grendel's mother, Beowulf had to fight her in her lair, basically giving up the home court advantage he had in the first fight. Also the scene involves a long descent through a hellish landscape - a clear descent into Hell motif. Beowulf then kills Grendel's mother and rises out of the water, a clear rebirth.

Beowulf is next seen much aged. In the earlier fights, we see the warrior confident in his indestructibility, but now Beowulf is old, and we see a warrior aware of his own mortality. It's an interesting change. And a dragon has been awakened, a dragon that hoarded his treasures. Beowulf fights the dragon and wins... but he also dies. And he absolutely wants to see the treasures at the end because, for him, treasure means victory. Unfortunately, the treasure is all rotten because it wasn't cared for - just hoarded.

There were a lot of concepts in this novel - including the idea that using women as peace tokens (marry her off to an enemy so they would become allies) doesn't really work in a culture that takes spoils of war - when former enemies see their heirlooms in the hands of their conquerors, they get angry again and there goes the peace!

It was a great read. Highly recommend. ...more

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