Continuing the allusive parallels, this time with Christ’s Agony in the Garden, we are told that, on the eve of battle, Beowulf is “sad at heart, unsettled yet ready, sensing his death.” Later, as battle is about to commence, Beowulf’s appointed followers, “that hand-picked troop,” “broke ranks and ran for their lives”—all except one, Wiglaf, who emerges as the signifier of St. John, the only one of Christ’s apostles who remained at His side during the Crucifixion. Wiglaf reprimands his comrades for their cowardice in deserting their lord, reminding them that Beowulf had “picked us out from
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