Christianity And Paganism In Beowulf

The poem of Beowulf follows a heroic character who defeats monsters and faces adversity, but approaches it all with what can be seen as Christian beliefs. The author is unknown so there is no way of knowing if the author was actually Christian, and rather it is believed it was orally told in a time period of paganism. It can be confusing to differentiate between the different elements of Christianity and Paganism within the poem. (Topic) In the Beowulf poem, the poet christianized a pagan oral story (Argument) for a christian audience (Reason) because it they were trying to reclaim a pagan past and demonstrate the nobility of Anglo Saxon ancestors. The author of the poem brings in some biblical allusions about Grendel. (Topic) The author had some knowledge of the bible and was related his characters to ones in the bible to provide
This is the mixture of both christianity and paganism, since the author must of not fully changed their actions. (Topic) The author mixed the two religions so that the story did not change as much but had the characters mention christian ideals to cover up their pagan actions. (Point) They seem to be “men who believe in a God whom they thank at every imaginable opportunity. Yet they perform all the pagan rites known to Tacitus, and are not Christian” (Frank 99). (Evidence) The author has the characters say christian things but do pagan actions, and since actions come before words, one can tell they are ultimately supposed to be pagan. (Explanation 1) Therefore there is a mixture of paganism and christianity in the poem which thickens the motives to the characters. (Explanation 2) The author was attempting to aim for a christian audience, but could not completely change the story, so the pagan actions are left with a notion towards christianity in their words. (Explanation 3) The appearance of religion matters to the author to appease their audience.