1. Beowulf continued

2. Comitatus The bond between a Germanic warrior and his lord. One of its features is that neither leaves the field of battle before the other. “To survive the leader and retreat from the battlefield is a lifelong disgrace and infamy.”

3. Wyrd Anglo-Saxon word corresponding to fate and personal destiny Beowulf invokes fate as a determining factor in his actions (see the end of his first speech to Hrothgar But the poet frequently assures us that the Almighty has a hand in the outcomes of the battles and the action of the poem.

4. Pagan and/or Christian? Pagan: invocations to fate, funerary rites that are not Christian, warrior code Christian: monsters are demonic, Almighty God is thanked, Hrothgar thanks God but the poet points out that he and his men are unfortunately NOT exposed to Christianity? What is the effect of these inconsistencies?