Beowulf in Heaven: A Christian Monk
Suggests Salvation for a Pagan
In reading and studying Beowulf, the influence of the Christian author is evident in the language of
the poem. Repeated references to the Almighty God and Grendel’s important
biblical ancestor, Cain, leads to questions concerning the author’s intentions
with the heavy handed Christian message juxtaposed with the pagan tale. Are
readers supposed to see Beowulf as a Christian character? Essentially, “all”
critics believe Beowulf to be a
heathen poem that once existed in the pre-Christian world of Anglo-Saxons,
without the Christian resemblances (Blackburn, 205), so it is wise to assign
Beowulf his rightful pagan identity while simply acknowledging the author as interpreting
a heathen tale through Christian eyes. However, the fact still remains that the
only version of the tale available fuses a pagan legend with overwhelming
Christian language, and such a synthesis must have been done for a reason. Beowulf’s
exceptionally virtuous character together with the Beowulf-poet’s language used surrounding Beowulf’s funeral suggests
that the Christian poet thought salvation was possible for Beowulf.
The Beowulf-poet, who is believed to have
been a monk or a priest (Robinson, 181), establishes within the first 200 lines
that the Geat people are pagans and
heathens with no knowledge of the Christian God:
Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed
offerings to idols,
swore oaths
that the killer of souls might come to
their aid
and save the people. That was their way,
their heathenish hope; deep in their
hearts
they remembered hell. The Almighty Judge
of good deeds and bad, the Lord God,
Head of the Heavens and High King of the
World,
was unknown to them. Oh, cursed is he
who in time of trouble has to thrust his
soul
in the fire’s embrace, forfeiting help;
he has nowhere to turn. But blessed is he
who after death can approach the Lord
and find friendship in the Father’s
embrace. (175-88)
These lines would understandably lead
readers and interpreters to the conclusion that “they [the pagan characters]
were deprived of the Christian revelation enjoyed in his [the poet’s] own era”
(Robinson, 181), and therefore could not possibly be saved. However, in the
remainder of the poem the poet makes incredible use of foreshadowing. With this
in mind, the lines “blessed is he / who after death can approach the Lord / and
find friendship in the Father’s embrace” (186-88) could be read as a suggestion
of Beowulf’s fate, rather than a simple allusion to the language used within the
New Testament of the Bible.
To jump from the beginning to the middle
of the poem’s plot, Beowulf’s virtuous actions as a warrior and later a king
may very well have earned him a place in heaven. In his defeating Grendel and
Grendel’s mother, he not only rids Hrothgar of a great burden—a virtuous
action—but he successfully defeats the descendent of Cain, who is an enemy of
God. Because Grendel and Grendel’s mother are “identified with the foes of God…Beowulf,
for all that he moves in the world of the primitive Heroic Age of the Germans,
nevertheless is almost a Christian knight” (qtd. in Tolkien, 116). Before the
Christian Beowulf-poet’s influence
upon the poem, it is safe to say that the monsters Beowulf faced were not
described as “descendants of Cain.” The poet’s choosing to associate the
monsters with the enemy of God could not have been done casually, without
knowledge of what such a defeat could imply for Beowulf. Christian-knights
would rarely, if ever, have been thought to go anywhere except heaven after
they die.
After Beowulf’s defeat of Grendel and
Grendel’s mother, Hrothgar gives him an eloquent speech full of praise,
followed by advice and warnings. After praising Beowulf as a man “born to
distinction” (1703) and “even-tempered, / prudent and resolute” (1704-05), he implores
Beowulf to resist the sins of coveting, resentment, dishonoring customs, and
becoming stingy with his gold (1749-50). He states, “O flower of warriors, beware of that trap. /
Choose, dear Beowulf, the better part, eternal rewards. Do not give way to
pride” (1758-60). Within these lines a very Christian message can be
interpreted, with emphasis on the term “eternal rewards”. In the traditional
pagan society Beowulf would have lived in, eternal rewards simply implied the
desire to be remembered after death as a great warrior or as a legend. In this
case the poet’s word choice suggests a duplicate meaning: the eternal rewards
of life after death in heaven. Being remembered eternally as a legend and
achieving Christian salvation can both be achieved by being a fierce warrior, a
just, generous, and sacrificial king, and by avoiding the vice of pride. This duplicate
interpretation of a phrase that fits both pagan and Christian ideologies is an
example of “how close the good pagans of old came in their monotheism to
Christian truth” (Frank, 993); however, some have argued that the poet “never
suggests that such simulation, such groping toward true piety, is sufficient
for salvation” (qtd in Frank, 993). Despite this assertion, the converse can be
argued by the same logic: the poet never states that such closeness to
Christian truth “is insufficient” for salvation (Frank, 993).
The end scenes of the poem provide more
evidence to refute the denial of the possibility of Beowulf’s salvation with
suggestion of a past Geat going to heaven, and language used concerning
Beowulf’s death. When Beowulf is informed of the threat of the dragon and
before he sets out to defeat it, he enters into a recap of his childhood. He
recounts the story of King Hrethel’s grief after the accidental murder of one
of his sons by his other son. Beowulf speaks of King Hrethel saying,
“Heartsore, weary, he turned away / from life’s joys, chose God’s light / and
departed” (2468-69). Significant in this account is King Hrethel’s choice in going to God and departing
from the world. Because of the mention of a singular God, the poet’s Christian
influence is evident in these lines, and he unmistakably gives King Hrethel the
choice of salvation, strongly suggesting the poet’s belief that for virtuous
pagans, or at least virtuous pagan kings, going to heaven was possible.
Because of the Beowulf-poet’s apparent Christian knowledge, it seems fitting that
in his penning of the poem, Beowulf’s death would result in his soul going to
one of two destinations: heaven or hell. With the continuous references to
Christianity, it is doubtful that the poet would leave the afterlife untouched
by Christian influence. Indeed, all words linked to Beowulf’s soul suggest
salvation rather than damnation. In Beowulf’s death scene, the poet writes,
“His [Beowulf’s] soul fled from his breast / to its destined place among the
steadfast ones” (2819-20). Firstly, the word fled is directly associated with
the word fly, implying that Beowulf’s soul did not drain or seep from his body
into the ground towards the netherworld, but flew upward towards the Christian
God. Further, Beowulf’s soul fled to be “among the steadfast ones”. Not only
does steadfast have a positive connotation that would not be associated with
the negative associations applied to the souls destined to hell, but within the
New Testament, St. Paul calls the Corinthians to be steadfast in the work of
the Lord, suggesting that steadfastness is a necessary attribute for salvation
(The Catholic Teen Bible, 1 Corinthians 15:58). Finally, the Beowulf-poet writes that, “Heaven
swallowed the smoke” (3155). Of course, smoke rises regardless of the
destination of Beowulf’s soul. However, the poet again emphasizes the idea of
going or flying upward as he describes Beowulf’s funeral proceedings. This
upward emphasis paired with the direct mention of Heaven makes it hard to
consider Beowulf’s soul going anywhere but up with the smoke to be swallowed by
heaven.
The Beowulf-poet presents a puzzling fusion of paganism and Christianity
that becomes impossible to fully separate when reading and interpreting the
poem. While it is accepted as genius that the Christian poet radically
synthesized two conflicting cultures and belief systems into a profound story,
it seems strange to think that a Christian monk would synthesize pagan and
Christian elements so radically as to suggest salvation for the non-Christian
hero of the poem. However, it seems that such a synthesis is entirely
plausible. Thomas D. Hill said concerning Beowulf,
“Great poets often see more deeply than their contemporaries; and if the Beowulf-poet seems to have anticipated
by generations the humanism and tolerance of thinkers like Erasmus, we need not
be surprised” (Hill, 211). In portraying Beowulf as a Christian knight and
suggesting his soul’s ascension after his death, the Beowulf-poet very well could have been toying with the idea of
Christian faith through actions. Beowulf’s sacrificial fight with the great
dragon for his people is reminiscent of a verse from the Gospel of John: “No
one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (The
Catholic Teen Bible, John 15:13). Though Beowulf was a pagan, the poet of his
character’s epic tale as warrior and king must have had sympathies for the virtuous
and generous king’s sacrifices for mankind, for he wrote Beowulf’s soul into
Heaven where he and the poet presumably dwell together for eternity.
