Religion In Beowulf Essay
Bayan Dadressan
Mr. Vanalstyne
English 4 Honors
9/8/17
In the epic Beowulf, one could argue that there are multiple elements that represent the Christian philosophy. The Anglo – Saxons were Christian during the time period of Beowulf, but were just introduced into the Christian faith, before then they were Pagan. But we see both religions throughout the novel, yet several parts of the text can be drawn out and connected to the values of the Christian faith. The central focus that one could argue is through Beowulf himself, arguing that he represents Jesus Christ. When analyzing the key elements to Beowulf’s journey through the epic, it involves finding the similarities of his quest to the quest/mission of Jesus Christ. In Beowulf there are …show more content…
So other than that there are smaller biblical references that can be found throughout the text and through Beowulf. Beowulf carries on multiple Christian values but actually has a direct conflict with some morals/values because of the way he acts. For example, humility vs. pride and selfishness vs. sacrifice, we Beowulf grow out of his paganism values and into Christian ones. Reason being is because to earn to protection of God that he received is through values like being courageous, honest and humble, ideal Christian morals. Recently when we discussed archetypes, one archetype brought up was good vs evil, this archetype connects with Beowulf in a way of Christianity vs Satanism. Beowulf represents Christianity the good of the epic, while Grendel represents a devil like creature. Grendel was cursed by God because Grendel’s brother Cain was the biblical son of Adam of Eve. Cain was jealous of his brother Abel, so he decided to kill him, then after God discovered this Cain was then cursed, also cursing Grendel, creating the belief that descendants of Cain are all
Mr. Vanalstyne
English 4 Honors
9/8/17
In the epic Beowulf, one could argue that there are multiple elements that represent the Christian philosophy. The Anglo – Saxons were Christian during the time period of Beowulf, but were just introduced into the Christian faith, before then they were Pagan. But we see both religions throughout the novel, yet several parts of the text can be drawn out and connected to the values of the Christian faith. The central focus that one could argue is through Beowulf himself, arguing that he represents Jesus Christ. When analyzing the key elements to Beowulf’s journey through the epic, it involves finding the similarities of his quest to the quest/mission of Jesus Christ. In Beowulf there are …show more content…
So other than that there are smaller biblical references that can be found throughout the text and through Beowulf. Beowulf carries on multiple Christian values but actually has a direct conflict with some morals/values because of the way he acts. For example, humility vs. pride and selfishness vs. sacrifice, we Beowulf grow out of his paganism values and into Christian ones. Reason being is because to earn to protection of God that he received is through values like being courageous, honest and humble, ideal Christian morals. Recently when we discussed archetypes, one archetype brought up was good vs evil, this archetype connects with Beowulf in a way of Christianity vs Satanism. Beowulf represents Christianity the good of the epic, while Grendel represents a devil like creature. Grendel was cursed by God because Grendel’s brother Cain was the biblical son of Adam of Eve. Cain was jealous of his brother Abel, so he decided to kill him, then after God discovered this Cain was then cursed, also cursing Grendel, creating the belief that descendants of Cain are all