Kevin Benjamín Marcel

Sara Medina Calzada

English Studies

April 10, 2018

HEATHEN & BELIEVER:

The Image of God in “Beowulf”

Beowulf is one of the most well-known Old English works in history and, as both

the content and context suggest, it has a heathen setting (Blackburn 1897, 205). However,

although there are some instances where this background comes to light, there are many

others where a second element looks forward to being taken into account: God. Even

though this figure is going to show up almost on every page, it can also be realized that it

is considered as an extra element. Nevertheless, this does not mean its importance rests

in the background. On the contrary, one can find that He has several roles that should be

considered: first, as a decider; second, as a conditioner; and finally, as a receiver. The

purpose of this study is to develop each of these characteristics that God presents

throughout the poem and their role in order to advocate a consideration of Him being an

influential figure throughout Beowulf.

To conduct this research, it is important to list at least most of the instances where

God, or His various epithets, are mentioned and afterward analyze the context where they

appear to understand their usage. Inside this listing, one can come to the conclusion that

God’s participation inside the poem can be catalogued inside three main categories—

decider, conditioner and receiver—and three subcategories that can be either embedded

inside one of these categories or be a role that is aside from them but that has not much

presence inside the poem—donor, assistance and judge. All the main categories will be

explained and assigned a title that fit them to help to understand the concept that is being
discussed; besides, the other subcategories are going to be developed in their respective

areas.

“God’s will”: God as a decider

The idea of God presence having something to do with the curse of the plot is not

new. In fact, this way of participation is discussed by Mary C. Wilson in her work: “God,

Fate and the Hero of ‘Beowulf’”. However, what Wilson (1975) suggests is that God’s

interventions are limited to the moment in which a person is not destined to die in a

particular event (164). Although in Christian terms God does not fix a path through which

the human being just walks, He has somehow the power of deciding whether somebody

will achieve victory or not. This type of intervention can be noticed in these lines from

Beowulf:

The son of Ectheow would have surely perished

and the Geats lost their warrior under the wide earth
had the strong links and locks of his war-gear
not helped to save him: holy God
decided the victory. It was easy for the Lord,
the Ruler of Heaven, to readdress the balance. (1550-1556)

Wilson (1975) asserts that in the poem somebody can be either fæge—fated to

die—or unfæge—not fated to die—and that God intervenes if and when that person is

unfæge (163). Nevertheless, in the lines mentioned above, God is being given the merit

for the victory without mentioning anything about fate as it does, for instance, in lines

2291-2293:

So may a man not marked by fate (unfæge)

easily escape exile and woe
by the grace of God.”

Therefore, it is possible to conclude by saying that God’s mediations as a decider

can be separated from fate as well since God is being conceived as a decider without
being associated to fate, one of the heathen elements present in this poem. However, it

can also be said that this role is intrinsically liked to the role of God as a conditioner since

God’s decisions about whether one side or the other will achieve the victory or not are

done by means of acting, not just predicting as fate does. Despite all these facts, the

importance of the presence of God as a factor that would draw away the attention to

heathen elements present in the poem—such as fate— should not be minimized (Whallon

1962, 81). This event has been deeply investigated and discussed, but God’s presence as

an element that plays a meaningful role apart from being just to “Christianize” this work

should be appreciated as well. In addition, Charles W. Kennedy points out in his work:

“God and Wyrd (fate) are brought into juxtaposition in such manner as to imply control

of Fate by the superior power of Christian divinity” (quoted in Wilson 1975, 161). In her

work she quotes a few lines in which this juxtaposition is visible:

[…] My household guard

Are on the wane, fate sweeps them away
into Grendel’s clutchesbut God can easily
halt these raids and harrowing attacks! (476-479)

In these lines both elements are taken into account; however, what it is presented is

the sovereignty of God above the heathen conception of fate. This example is useful to

show the possibility of God taking a more relevant level besides the fact of being crucial

to a more Christian conception.

“God-cursed”: God as a conditioner

God acting as a conditioner is the role that has much more presence. By

conditioner what it should be understood is that God somehow intervenes in the plot,

mainly by means of blessings or curses. What one must bear in mind is that God blesses

some characters in the poem, for instance, Beowulf, who is provided with a singular
strength that assists him in his deeds; whereas others are cursed, such as Grendel. And

even though this cursing does not kill him, it does lead him to his destruction on the hands

of the blessed.

Another example of God’s intervention as a conditioner that could make it clearer

to understand would be the secondary role embedded inside this category: God as an

assistant. By this, one has to understand not somebody that is just limited to provide

everything that is asked, but rather somebody that accompanies. In lines 938-941, this

assistance is mentioned and shows clearly how God’s favor affects the curse of the plot

by means of a continuous favor, thus making clearer God’s role as a conditioner:

[…] But now a man,

with the Lord’s assistance, has accomplished something
none of us could manage before now
for all our efforts.

There is another role that is assigned to God by Gould (1985): God as a magical

donor (98). Even though this role has not been taken into account nor explained, it does

not mean that it has no presence in the poem. In fact, there are several mentions in which

God’s intervention cannot be described as a “condition” but He rather intervenes in a

more material way, for instance, when God directed Beowulf towards the sword that will

be afterward used to kill Grendel’s mother (Gould 1985, 100). Despite this difference,

what God is doing is intervening in either case, thus making us understand that His role

as a donor can be also included in the category of “conditioner”. Nevertheless, there is at

least one instance in which what God gives is a gift in the strict sense. Wilson (1975)

comments: “Beowulf’s victory over the dragon is a gift from God” (166). According to

this perspective, there is no way of interpreting this issue as a condition applied by God,

thus causing to consider God’s intervention as a donor as another category outside the

three outstanding ones.

“The King of Glory”: God as a receiver

Even though there are some instances in which the result of a battle or an event is

attributed to the pagan concept of fate in which destination to die or not is very rooted,

there are many other situations in which the attribution of such result is being given to

God. For instance, when Beowulf gives the glory to God after defeating Grendel’s mother:

[…] So I praise God

in His heavenly glory that I lived to behold
this head dripping blood and that after such harrowing
I can look upon it in triumph at last. (1778-1771)

This moment is not the only one in which the credit for a victory is attributed to

God since what Beowulf first utters after being incapable of moving because of the

dragon’s venom was also an attribution to God. Therefore, the fact that Beowulf is seen

as a warrior whose success is continuously being attached to God’s grace can be also

pointed out (Wilson 1975, 161).

God as a judge

God as a judge is, as mentioned before, a secondary role that God performs;

however, it does not fit inside any of the aforementioned categories. Even though this role

has not much presence throughout the poem, its importance must be considered as well.

The significance of such role is mainly to expect God’s direct intervention and work

towards a certain character. In other words, they expect God punishing justly according

to somebody’s acts. Therefore, they hold the warranty that if somebody is not penalized

by their actions on Earth, then God will end the job in his divine trial.

To conclude, it can be noticed that God’s participation inside the poem is an element that

should not be underestimated now that one is able to recognize these different roles that

are performed and whose importance inside the poem is not only to give a Christian aspect
but also, for instance, to explain happenings that otherwise would not have much sense

(Fanger 1958, 175); or symbolize the difference between the good and the evil since God

is somehow showing and marking a difference between what is pleasing to Him and what

it is not as it is mentioned in lines 180-181. Moreover, it should be said that God’s

attributions to be the one assisting the human kind against injustice—by means of his role

as a conditioner—also makes Him be a relevant figure throughout this poem.

Bibliography
Anon. 2002. Beowulf: a Verse Translation; Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism.
Edited by Daniel Donoghue. Translated by Seamus Heaney. New York: Norton
Blackburn, F. A. 1897. "The Christian Coloring in the Beowulf." PMLA 12 (2): 205-25.
doi:10.2307/456133.
Fanger, Donald. 1958. "Three aspects of Beowulf and his God." Neuphilologische
Mitteilungen 59 (3): 172-79.
Gould, Kent. 1985. “‘Beowulf’ and Folktale Morphology: God as Magical
Donor.” Folklore 96 (1): 98-103.
Wilson Tietjen, Mary C. 1975. "God, Fate, and the Hero of "Beowulf"." The Journal of
English and Germanic Philology 74 (2): 159-71.
Whallon, William. 1962. "The Christianity of "Beowulf"." Modern Philology 60 (2): 81-
94.