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Tamatha Anne Rabb Andrews (A87807)
SP-7711 Lectura Dirigida I (British Literature)
Prof. Alvaro Salas Ch.
September 10, 2009
Beowulf:
The Delusion of Evil in a Patriarchal Society
“And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be
taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill
him” — Genesis 4:15. According to the Old Testament, Cain, a tiller of the land, was the brother
of Abel, a shepherd to his sheep, who in the heat of jealousy slew his own brother after God
favored Abel’s sacrificial lamb over Cain’s crops. With this one act, the first murder had
transpired on the face of Mother Earth itself —the mother to us all. The conflict between these
two brothers reflects the ancient tensions between those who believe in the Triad of Divinity in
a matriarchal society based on the Triple Goddess —“the Goddess in Her phases of Maiden,
Mother, and Crone” (Morrison 4)— as opposed to the threefoldness of the patriarchal one God.
As such, feminist mythic critics deal with what drives the social system of a culture and the
underlying “norms and patterns” (Meyers 20) by analyzing a literary work through close analysis
of its archetypal symbols and motifs. Such cultural symbols are manifested throughout an old
Scandinavian story — Beowulf— which addresses the universally perceived issue of evil (Cain)
in a patriarchal muted society. This epic poem was used as a tool by the English Christian
monks who wished to convert the “pagans” —which simply means people who live in the
country based on its Latin root word Pagani— to Christianity and a patriarchal order. A smear
campaign thus commenced against non-Christians. As a means to extend the growth of the
Church, monks put pen to paper and transcribed oral poems of old which were then grafted
with Christian elements. These elements in Beowulf took the form of portraying the matriarchal
Triple Goddesses as monsters —the Maiden as Grendel, the Mother as Grendel’s mother, and
the Crone as the dragon— in order for the common people to forsake the Old Religion.
The first of these “monsters” depicted in the poem takes the form of a “fiend from hell”
(97)1 called Grendel by Hrothgar and his thanes. The characterization and imagery exploited by
the author illustrates his desire to associate Grendel with evil. The foremost delineation of this
character comes in the form of juxtaposing the creature with Cain: “He bore the curse of the
seed of Cain/ Whereby God punished the grievous guilt/ Of Abel’s murder” (103-105). The
description continues in noting that Grendel is a decedent of Cain whose ancestors have been
defeated time and time again by the Lord Almighty:
Of his blood was begotten an evil brood,
Marauding monsters and menacing trolls,
Goblins and giants who battled with God
A long time. Grimly He gave them reward! (108-111)
The patriarchal depiction of Grendel expands further with the use of a variety of kennings to
portray this personage as evil to the very core of its being: “shepherd of sins” (708), “foe of
God” (746), and “hell-thane” (748) as it was the wish of the Church to deface the matriarchal
deities in order to eliminate a rival religion. The author’s employment of other descriptive words
1
All quotations in this paper, unless otherwise cited, are from the epic poem Beowulf.
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furthers this smear campaign at a word choice level such as the use of “demon” (99, 158, 670,
and 699), “hell-thane” (748), and “fiend from hell” (97). The pattern of depicting Grendel as evil
goes one step further by consistently associating “the savage monster” (692) with death,
destruction, and darkness as the author describes the following scene:
Not longer was it than one night later
The fiend returning renewed attack
With heart firm-fixed in the hateful war,
Feeling no rue for the grievous wrong. (133-136)
“The fiend” (667) who haunts “the hall in the hateful dark” (166) is portrayed as having no
remorse, whatsoever, for the slaying of thirty men the night before which was motivated by a
lust for evil, according to the patriarchal telling of this tale, and Grendel’s inability to endure the
song of the bard singing about the story of Creation in lines 85-95. The contents of the scop’s
song of God’s creation of the world contrasts with Grendel and his world which can be
associated with destruction through the lens of “the One.” Grendel’s lair may also be associated
with death, darkness, and destruction as images of the “fiend from hell[’s]” (97) mere is
juxtaposed with the image of hell:
The antlered hart hard driven by hounds,
Invading that forest in flight from afar
Will turn at bay and die on the brink
Ere ever he’ll plunge in that haunted pool. (1254-1257)
At a misogynic, archetypal level, Grendel’s characterized evil would place the Maiden into the
category of the femme fatale as this “monster” (720) is constantly being linked with “fear,
danger, darkness, emasculation [up until he met Beowulf in battle illustrated in line 766 to line
768], and death” (Guerin 187). But by shifting the “lens” to view Grendel —the giant— in a
matriarchal representation through the use of symbology, one may be awakened to the muted
truth so long buried by Christianity. According to Cirlot, the giant is characterized as a guardian
in folklore and “defender of the common people against the overlord [who uphold the
individual’s as well as the tribe’s] liberties and rights” (Cirlot 118). As such, the Maiden is
portrayed using the “the positive aspects of the Earth Mother” (Guerin 187) as she watches
over the fertility of crops as well as the tribe, but Christian tradition muted the Old Religion’s
characterization of the giant by associating this being with night, subterranean life, and Satan,
according to Tresidder.
The second “monster” portrayed as evil in the Scandinavian story of Beowulf concerns
Grendel’s mother. The author again associates this “monster” (1161) with the Old Testament
curse of Cain:
From ancient ages when Cain had killed
His only brother, his father’s son.
Banished and branded with marks of murder
Cain fled far from the joys of men,
Haunting the barrens, begetting a brood
Of grisly monsters; and Grendel was one, (1153-1158)
By relating this personage with the first murder, the Christian clergy were able to guarantee an
aversion to the Triple Goddess as it was deemed a heinous act among Anglo-Saxon noblemen
to kill one’s kindred as Wergild, man-payment, was not a satisfactory recompense to the
relatives of a slain kinsman. Death by kindred by kindred, then, could not be appeased. Word
choice and several kennings were also used to portray Grendel’s mother as an evildoer in a
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patriarchal society: “hag” (1150, 1183, 1384, 1426), “demon” (1219), “fiend” (1504), “sea-troll”
(1386, 1403), “she-wolf” (1392), and “sea-wolf” (1484). By gazing at this epic poem through a
clear “lens” one may observe over the course of history that the “gods of an old religion
become the devils of a new” (Buckland 4). This poem represents the struggle which began with
the birth of the man-made Christian religion which continuously debased itself with the use of a
campaign slander in order to obtain followers. “Missionaries were particularly prone to label all
primitive tribes upon whom they stumbled as devil-worshipers, just because the tribe worshiped
a god or gods other than the Christian one” (Buckland 4). The depiction of Grendel’s mother as
having the same diabolic aspects as her son in the case of the poet’s images of death,
destruction, and darkness further debases the Old Religion while supporting the new patriarchal
order. The reader first becomes aware of her dark, fatal nature when analyzing the following
lines from the poem: “She stole to the hall where the Danes were sleeping, / And horror fell on
the host of earls/ When the dam of Grendel burst in the door” (1171-1173). “The hag” (1183)
at this point has been provoked by the demise of her son through the agency of Beowulf. As
such, her attack on Heorot holds a twofold purpose: on the one hand, to obtain revenge for the
life of Grendel and on the other, to reclaim “the blood-stained claw” (1194) of her son. With the
act of seizing and beheading Hrothgar’s “closest of counsellors” (1213), she achieves her first
aim, and the taking of the battle-“token” (787) from “the gabled hall” (789) the second.
Grendel’s and his mother’s lair are again associated with death, darkness, and destruction as
illustrated through the poetic imagery: “Sudden they came on a dismal covert/ Of trees that
hung over hoary stone, / Over churning water and blood-stained wave” (1300-1302) which
once more contrasts with the image of Creation sung by the bard toward the beginning of this
tale:
A skillful bard sang the ancient story
Of man’s creation; how the Maker wrought
The shining earth with its circling waters;
In splendor established the sun and moon
As lights to illumine the land of men;
Fairly adorning the fields of earth (88-93).
Then at a patriarchal, archetypal level, “the mother of Grendel, a monstrous hag” (1150) can be
placed in the category of the terrible Mother as she is consistently being depicted as a hag or
witch not to mention being characterized as a lamia and a dealer of death. Once again by
shifting the “lens” to a matriarchal perspective of the Mother’s personage of the goddess, one
may unearth her true self as the embodiment of fertility. As such, women are the bearers and
nursers of the young since time began. “The Goddess was her representative as the Great
Provider and Comforter; Mother Nature or Mother Earth” (Buckland 2).
The third and final “monster” used to attenuate the Triad Goddess as an evil being in a
Christian patriarchal society is namely the symbolic dragon or “worm” (2153). This creature was
not directly tied to the sins of Cain but to a much older sin in the Garden of Eden, “who
persuaded Eve to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and thus brought about the
expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden and the advent of death” (Ferrer 186). Through
this perspective, the dragon is perceived as the personage that foreshadowed the arrival of evil
and more specifically death itself on earth. “In the Christian scheme the serpent of Eden
became ‘the great dragon’” (Ferber 186) which was later directly attached to the devil in the
New Testament. “Christianity was the primary influence behind the evolution of the dragon into
a generalized symbol of adversarial evil” (Tresidder 157). The poet took this to heart with his
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uncanny ability in word play in portraying an evil, dark, destructive antagonist in the world of
men as seen in the following kennings and descriptive phrases: “fire-drake” (2082, 2160),
“waster of peoples” (2144), “hoard-warden” (2168, 2411), “hostile flier” (2180), “deadly worm”
(2265), “monstrous warden” (2277), “dire destroyer” (2372), “flying serpent” (2386),
“monstrous dragon” (2392, 2542), “great worm” (2423), “flame-breathing dragon” (2425),
“hideous foe” (2524), and “evil beast” (2553). Once more, a pattern was used to characterize
the “monster” (2154) as a representation of death and destruction with an evil intent on the
world of man:
Then the baleful stranger belched fire and flame,
Burned the bright dwellings— the glow of the blaze
Filled hearts with horror. The hostile flier
Was minded to leave there nothing alive. (2178-2181)
The evilness of “The guard of the mound[’s]” (2169) action was roused after a thief plunders a
jeweled cup from among the treasures he was sleeping upon for hundredths of years. Again,
the poet depicts the “monster” as having no remorse for the fiery hells it rained upon the world
of man. As with the tale of Grendel and his mother, creation is once more contrasted with the
destructive actions of a monster. Whereas at the beginning of Beowulf when the scope sang of
God’s creation of the world, the poet now sings of the screams and shrieks of pain due to the
battle for the survival of Creation which has been repeated for the third time in this poem, but
under the “lens” of a patriarchal Christian order, God will rein in the end as seen in line 111.
Finally, at an archetypal viewpoint, the dragon, or Crone under the Triple Goddess, is seen as
the symbolic serpent which encompasses “evil,” “corruption,” and “destruction” according to
Guerin. Then again, as always, one should awaken when analyzing a work of literature to see
an inverse characteristic being depicted. Thus, according to Cirlot, women were equated with
dragons symbolically as a “mother-image” (Cirlot 88). These beings were also “turned into an
allegory of prophesy and wisdom” (Cirlot 87). Through this matriarchal perspective, the Crone
or dragon may be seen in its positive aspects of “energy,” “pure force,” and “wisdom” ---above
all--- by Guerin. As seen with each of the “monsters” recounted in this tale, Christianity had
inverted the tales of old to bring about the new religion based on a patriarchal society. That
being said, one may take a different interpretation of the serpent in the Garden of Eden as
having the creature “trying to bring true wisdom and divinity to Adam and Eve, who were
trapped in the fallen world by a wicked creator god” (Ferber 186).
Beowulf reveals the hypocrisy of Christianity, and the lengths it took to convert the
“pagans” of old to a new system of beliefs by creating images of evil overlaid on the once
beloved goddesses of the Old Religion. The poem unveils an age when the stories of the
Original Sin and the curse of Cain shaped the belief system we have today. Since the dawn of
putting tales to paper, the hegemonic group dominated the will of society. With its use of
smear campaigns over the centuries against any religion that did not belief in the three-folded
God, we are now in an age of evil that enfolds and encroaches upon us daily. How
heavyhearted to know that once upon a time there was a peaceful religion where “people were
good, happy, often morally and ethically” better off “than the vast majority of Christians”
(Buckland 4) . . . but we just had to be converted.
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Works Cited
Buckland, Raymond. Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft. Minnesota: Llewellyn
Publications, 1996.
Cirlot, J.E. A Dictionary of Symbols 2nd Edition. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1971.
Ferber, Michael. A Dictionary of Literary Symbols 2nd Edition. UK: Cambridge University
Press, 2007.
Guerin, Wilfred. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature 5th Edition. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2005.
Morrison, Dorothy. The Craft 5th Edition. Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 2003.
Pacheco, Kari. The Perceptive Process: An Introductory Guide to Literary Criticism.
Costa Rica: Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica, 2003.
Tresidder, Jack. The Complete Dictionary of Symbols. San Francisco: Chronicle Books,
2004.