2. Background A poem of three thousand lines about: A Hero Epic – Battles supernatural monsters – Knights who boast of courageous deeds – Torch lit drinking halls – Kings offer gilded swords and armor as rewards

3. Concepts for Understanding Beowulf The poem is a witness to the past and to the thoughts and fears of people living in medieval civilization. Entering the world of Beowulf is a way of understanding this past. The reader can return to Anglo- Saxon England where the poets and audiences feared the super natural and believed in super human deeds.

4. Beowulf is sometimes confusing and frustrating….

5. Knowledge is strength It stops and starts with little reasoning and absolutely no rhyming.

6. What you need to know: The fact is Beowulf comes from an oral tradition in which stories are sung to an audience, not silently read by an individual Foreknowledge- the original audience of Beowulf were familiar with similar stories retold hundreds of times. – They knew the hero, kings, queens, knights, dragons and monsters – They even knew the ending.

7. To Understand Beowulf the reader must : Try to understand the way of life in the medieval ages There were small bands of warriors – Who owe their loyalty to a chieftain – Take personal vengeance to those who wrong them – Carry on blood feuds lasting for generations – Where independence and solitude was greatly feared and avoided There was conflict between two worlds – The Old World of the Pagans – The New World of the Christians

8. The characters in Beowulf live in a transitional world in which the pagan ways are slowly surrendering to Christian virtues This is what gives the poem its – Inner conflict – Violent combats And the reader is never quite certain which ethos: Pagan or Christian will, or should triumph

9. Beowulf as Performance Art The Anglo-Saxon listener judged the performance on the skill in the telling not on the plot or the finale. Most scholars believe that the original Beowulf story was a folktale. – Known to entertainers-Scops – The Beowulf Poet was one of these performers – The Scops sung tales of old for the entertainment of kings and members of the court. – Long winter nights of these songs and poems could last for many hours – The Scop had to be able to grab and hold the attention of the toughest audience, the listeners who had heard it all before. – Beowulf represented a “hit” and the Scop would weave the story according to the audience.

10. Themes in Beowulf Beowulf is a tale of a hero who clashes with demons in the act of pure glory seeking heroism in order to save the court of a Danish king from destruction. In the end the hero dies and leaves the Geats once again vulnerable to destruction from the outside world. Many of the principal themes reflect the concerns of the audience of that time. They were emerging from an illiterate pagan past and adapting to a new religion and a new kind of society Author James Earl states, “This period…is what we find reflected in narratives of the Heroic Age like Beowulf. Beowulf depicts a struggle to impose order on real social chaos.”

11. Civilization and Nature The natural world during this time represented a dangerous, chaotic menacing force. The story and setting of Beowulf reflect a primal fear of nature. Nature is represented most vividly by the demon Grendel and his mother.

12. Loyalty and Gift Giving In the past the giving of gifts and loyalty to a chieftain was vital The worst event that could befall a pagan warrior was to have no war company. This would mean living alone and without protection where he must defend himself in the hostile, deadly natural world. The heroes and knights of Beowulf depended on one another for survival. The relationships arose from a society constantly prepared for war and honorable death in battle The chieftain gives gifts in return for this loyalty The gifts consist of treasures, slaves, weapons, horses, slaves and women won in battle or a raid on a enemy town or camp. When the system of loyalty and gift giving is broken or violated the consequences can be dire.

13. The Virtue of Vengeance In the pagan Germanic world, humility and sacrifice were not honored They valued courage in battle and loyalty to their kin and their chieftains, and the righting of wrongs by personal vengeance If a king or any member of the clan was slain it was the duty of the clan to kill as well. It was a matter of sacred honor. The honor of the clan would not be restored until the death was avenged.

14. The Mysterious Workings of Fate In the Beowulf the notion of heaven and hell was just emerging in the Christian religion In the world of the Anglo Saxons heroes and monsters, there was no escaping one’s destiny, or fate, no matter how cruel that may be. There was no heaven or hell there was only fate, which was determined before one’s birth and ultimately ended at one’s death.

15. A Virtuous Hero Christianity now represented a drastic change in culture and society Beowulf’s actions are motivated not only for the quest for glory but also by charity towards others Anglo-Saxon kings had accepted Christianity and allied themselves with organized church. However they still lived by the code honor and they still valued courage in battle The Christian virtues of charity, modesty, and piety were replacing the old ideals of courage in battle and loyalty to chieftains.