Beowulf and Tolkien
Julian and Preston
Beowulf and JRR Tolkien
- 1936 Tolkien wrote Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, a widely used piece
of literary criticism, in which he espoused the importance of monsters in the
poem as they tell us about the values of Anglo-Saxon culture.
- Tolkien did not just write the Lord of The Rings Trilogy. Other works of his
published concerning Arda, or his version of Earth, are The Silmarillion, The
Hobbit, The Children of Hurin, The Tales of Tom Bombadil and other short, mostly
unfinished tales
Arda
• . Arda is Middle Earth plus the Dark Lands to the South, the Undying Lands
(which don’t actually exist until an immortal tries to sail to them), the Land
of the Sun to the East and formerly the Island of Numenor. In the Trilogy
Arda is now round, though it used to be flat, and the stories take place in
Middle Earth, which is where all the main characters live.
• The concept of Middle Earth is most directly linked to Midgard, or one of
the 9 worlds of the Germanic prehistory filled with monsters, fairies and
elves.
• Tolkien imported settings from around Europe that he knew to create
Middle-Earth. For example, the Shire, where the hobbits live, is supposed
to resemble the English countryside.
• It is important to understand the “time period” and “setting” of Tolkien’s
novels.
• The majority of his novels, including all of the Lord of the Rings trilogy,
take place in Arda. Arda is our Earth 6,000 years ago, but with a
completely different history
Direct References
Rohan - Scandinavia
Rohan- Land of the Horse Lords
Language- Rohan is the only society for which Tolkien does not invent a new language, Rohirric is actually Old English
Rohirrim (people of Rohan)- “Beowulf on horse-back”, ironically the horse is what contributed to the defeat of the early Anglo-Saxons
as they didn’t have any
Heorot – Edoras (Capital of Rohan)
“Edoras those courts are called, and Meduseld that golden hall” (135)
Heorot- “It’s glittering roofs visible far across the land.”
Meduseld- “The light of it shines far over the land”
Meduseld- Anglo-Saxon for Mead-Hall
Hama and Eomer- Theoden’s Guard and his nephew, same names as characters in Beowulf
Theoden’s Exorcism – Beowulf and Grendel
-Gandalf comes to rid the grand hall and lands of King Theoden of the evil of Saruman
-Similarly, Beowulf comes to rid Hrothgar of the evil of Grendel
- Both kings have been aged and weakened by the evil in their halls
-- Both heroes greeted with hostility by the King’s advisors, Unferth and Wormtongue
- Both have come on perilous journeys to reach these golden halls,
Gandalf with his fight with the Balrog and Beowulf his journey across the sea
- Both are successful in purging the evil from the Golden Hall and restoring hope to the land
Of Dragons
• In Beowulf, the treasure hoarding dragon becomes enraged
and starts burning Geatland after an anonymous cup thief
steals from him
• Similarly, Smaug, the dragon in the hobbit who guards the
the stolen treasure of the dwarves in the Lonely Mountain,
begins to burn the town of Dale after Bilbo steals a golden
cup from him.
• Both dragons guard their treasures with extreme greed,
they notice when even a small cup is stolen from their
hoards, and both dragons are slain. Though Smaug is killed
by the arrow of Bard of Dale. Additionally, both possess
poisonous qualities, as Beowulf’s dragon poisons and kills
him and Smaug poisons the lake in which he dies in.
Beorn - Beowulf
• In Old Norse Beowulf means “Bear”
• Beorn is a shape-shifting man who takes on the
form of a black bear
• Beorn possesses incredible strength, lives by a
strict code of honor, and goes out every night to
fight orcs, whom he rips apart with his grip.
• Beorn most closely resembles Beowulf in that
they share the same “berserker” mentality.
Neither character is given much more of a
purpose than to kill and gain honor in battle, and
they both do it well.
Gollum - Grendel
• Grendel- “greedy and grim, he grabbed thirty men
from their resting places and rushed to his lair”
• Gollum- “a small slimy creature…as dark as darkness,
except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face”
• Both creatures possess superhuman strength, lack
humanity, attack at night, relentlessly pursue their prey
based on unexplicable anger and greed, and live in an
underground lake.
Themes/ Values
Legend
• In his lecture, Beowulf: The Monsters and The Critics,
Tolkien argued that Beowulf should not be regarded as a
history book of the Anglo-Saxons, but rather as a work of
art elementary in establishing a poetic tradition of England.
He wanted his books to do much the same.
• “I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected
legend… which I could dedicate simply to England, my
country… I would draw some of the great tales in fullness,
and leave many only placed in scheme”- Tolkien
• Tolkien wanted to create not just a story, but a legend and a
tradition for story telling in his native land and he had to
draw upon the older Anglo-Saxon tales, including Beowulf,
to do so.
Good vs. Evil
•
The conflicts in Beowulf occur between the good, Beowulf, and the terribly evil. Beowulf is
meant to epitomize the ideal Anglo-Saxon with his strength, courage and loyalty, and the
monsters he faces, especially Grendel, commit unexplainabe acts of terrible violence and
cruelty. The book is also loaded down with contrasts between the light and the dark,
expressing this theme of Good vs. Evil.
•
Tolkien’s books have much of the same conflict. In The Silmarillion, Tolkien introduces the fall of the
first evil god, and from that point there is always a force of evil plaguing the people of Middle Earth
which must be destroyed. This evil is almost always represented by much of the same mysterious,
merciless evil that characterizes Grendel . The evil lord in the trilogy, Sauron, is referred to as the
shadow and these books are filled with conflicts between the light and the dark ex. Gandalf vs. the
Balrog, Eowyn vs. the Witch King, Sam vs. Shelob.
“It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger,
they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy?
How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end,
it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the
sun shines it will shine out the clearer.”
For the characters of Tolkien and the Anglo-Saxons, the conflict between right and wrong ruled
societies built on ethics, honor and violence.
•
•
Monstrosity
•
•
•
•
•
Both tales focus on the defeat of monsters and the thin lines between strength and
monstrosity. Beowulf focuses on the battles with Grendel, Grendel’s mother and the Dragon,
and each one of Tolkien’s books features numerous encounters between the protagonists
and the monstrous.
The name for the Orcs, the common enemies of the people of Middle Earth in battle, is
derived from the word Orcneas which appears in Beowulf as creatures who, like Grendel and
his mother, are descendants of Cain.
Tolkien argued that it was he monsters and the fairy-tale nature of Beowulf, not the historical
content, that made it a great piece of Anglo-Saxon literature and that the monsters, being the
anti-thesis of many aspects of Anglo-Saxon culture, reveal much about the culture itself. In
Beowulf’s enemies we see unstoppable bloodlust, a fierce, unmarried woman, and a greedy
dragon, the opposite of a generous king and ring-giver.
The One Ring represents the arbitrary nature of the powerful and the monstrous, just as
Beowulf does.
With the Ring one becomes all-powerful, and has the ability to usurp Sauron, however with
these extreme abilities comes the corruption of the soul, and the ring-bearer becomes a
monster. That is why the only successful ring-bearers, Frodo and for a short time Sam, are the
smallest of folk who want not power and abilities, but peace in their hobbit-holes.
Honor/Loyalty
•
•
•
•
•
In Beowulf, as with the Anglo-Saxons, honor and loyalty are incredibly important.
Beowulf seeks neither gold nor women but honor for his King Hygelac and his
fellow Geats. Additionally, Wiglaf becomes Beowulf successor because he is the
only one loyal enough to stand with Beowulf against the dragon.
“And now that thane unequalled for goodness with his own hands washed his
lords wounds” (Beowulf)
Boromir, Captain of Gondor and son of the Steward, is perhaps the best example
of this code of honor in the Trilogy as he is always thinking about how he might
best bring back glory to the people of Gondor. Samwise Gamgee is the ultimate
example of loyalty in the Trilogy, as he stays with Frodo no matter what, while all
of the evil characters in Tolkien’s books have committed some terrible act of
betrayal.
“I’m glad you are here with me. Here in the end of all things, Sam.” (Return of the
King)
“I would see the glory of Gondor restored. Have you ever seen it, Aragorn? The
White Tower of Ecthelion, glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver, its banners
caught high in the morning breeze. Have you ever been called home by the clear
ringing of silver trumpets? ” (Fellowship of the Ring)
Kingship
•
•
The Anglo-Saxons warrior kings were supposed to lead their people through
strength in battle, and Beowulf is the ultimate Anglo-Saxon hero as he epitomizes
a warrior king. Also mentioned in Beowulf are the great kings Sigmund and Shield
Sheafson who are considered great because they both fight for the glory of their
people while King Heremod, whom “evil entered” as he killed his own people, is
juxtaposed against the best of the kings, Beowulf.
The two main kings of men in Tolkien’s stories, Aragorn and Theoden, are always at
the front of the charge in battle and Aragorn is portrayed as one of the most
skilled swordsmen in Middle Earth and an incredibly generous king. Lord Denethor,
steward of Gondor and King Regent, can be seen as a King Heremod type, as he
sends his own son to his death, communicates with Sauron, and eventually
commits suicide.
Fate/Wyrd
•
•
•
•
Wyrd or fate was a large part of Anglo-Saxon philosophy. Wyrd is not the
“inexorable fate of the Greeks” but is a continuous occurrence. While the AngloSaxons of Beowulf’s time may not have had a definitive religion, they certainly
believed in a constantly unfolding plan for the lives of men.
“Wyrd often saves an undoomed hero as long as his courage is good” (Beowulf)
Fate is huge in Tolkien’s books. The Creator God, Iluvatar, has a plan for the
unfolding of time from beginning to end. Fate brings the One Ring to many of the
ring bearers and it could only be part of a predetermined plan that events in the
Hobbit directly affect those in the Trilogy Additionally, in Tolkiens books almost
every civilization or great hero meets their own foreshadowed ruin. Perhaps the
greatest example of this is Turin Turambar, whose father Hurin is cursed by
Morgoth, the lord of evil, who dooms the Children of Hurin, and Turin ends up
marrying his sister and killing himself along with all of his friends .
“Then the themes of Iluvatar shall be played aright, and take being in the moment
of their utterance, for all shall understand fully his intent in their part”
(Silmarillion)
Religion
• Tolkien, a devout Christian, didn’t think epic tales
should explicitly contain Christianity, which is one of
the flaws that he saw in Beowulf and the Arthurian
legends.
• While Tolkien’s books do contain a theology, and he
believed that they inevitably related to the Fall and
man’s relationship with God, the lives of the
inhabitants of Middle Earth are shaped by the concept
of wyrd, and not divine intervention, and his form of
Judgement Day resembles that of the Norse Ragnarok,
where old heroes come back and battle evil.
And so it ends…
Works Cited
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ancalagon. "Tolkien and Beowulf." Tolkien and Beowulf. Valar Guild, 2007. Web. 07 Oct. 2012.
<http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/papers/Ancalagon/TolkienandBeowulf.htm>.
"Anglo-Saxon Warfare: Good or Evil?" Csis.pace.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2012.
<http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projs2002b/Anglo%20Saxon%20Warfare%20Text.htm>.
Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2000. Print.
"Beowulf: Good Vs. Evil." Bukisa. Bukisa, 20 Sept. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2012. <http://www.bukisa.com/articles/357663_bewoulf-good-vs-evil>.
Kightley, Michael R. "Heorot or Meduseld?: Tolkien's Use of Beowulf in "The King of the Golden Hall"" HighBeam Research. HighBeam Research, 1
Jan. 2006. Web. 7 Oct. 2012. <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-146063133.html>.
Tierney-Hynes, Rebecca A. "The Heroic Ethos: Reality and Representation." The Heroic Ethos: Reality and Representation. N.p., 2000. Web. 07 Oct.
2012.
<http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/1001TierneyHynes.htm>.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings,. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967. Print.
Tolkien, J. R. R. 1892-1973., and Christopher Tolkien. The Silmarillion. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print.
Tolkien, J. R. R., and Christopher Tolkien. The Tale of the Children of Hurin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Print.
"Wyrd: The Role of Fate." Wyrd: The Role of Fate. Octavia, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.octavia.net/anglosaxon/Wyrd.htm>.