Forward: The following is a literary response to Burton Raffel’s translation of Beowulf, focusing on the misappropriation of the Christian monks who transcribed the original poem for use as propaganda. Beowulf – epitome of the human spirit, or living proof of the divinity of God? Originally a fierce warrior
with days “filled with glory”(95), the Beowulf of his namesake Anglo-Saxon epic, originally composed by pagan
scops, was slyly appropriated as Christian propaganda by the clever monks who later transcribed this classic
masterpiece; with the addition of several references to God’s support of the protagonist’s clash against Grendel,
apparent devil-spawn, this Anglo-Saxon legend has been corrupted into an homage to one God, and his pawns,
as opposed to the barbaric bloodshed and strength that the original poets valued. The result is a noticeable
duality of Christian motifs juxtaposed with Anglo-Saxon narrative: glorious buildings that “reach higher toward
Heaven than anything…ever known to the sons of men”(7), housing divine thrones, inhabited by Anglo-Saxonesque “harps rejoicing”(26) as “comrades and kinsmen”(2) revelled until the “drinking was done”(39). If one was
searching for evidence of this Christian contamination, they need look no further than the opening lines of
Grendel’s coming, for the Danes were certainly not followers of “he whose word was obeyed all over the
earth”(15) in the biblical sense. Following this, the Christian monks set the stage for the adaptation of the Dane’s
hero; if first the enemy is converted as religious propaganda, then the hero contrasting it can soon follow; the
reader is met with Grendel, once a demonic beast whose purpose was to be an infinitely malignant force,
conquered by human kind, but instead a creature that “made his home in a hell”(31) on earth, “spawned in that
slime”(32) that is “Cain, murderous creature banished by God, punished forever for the crime of Abel’s
death.”(34) This allows him to still safely be referred to as “mankind’s enemy”(86), as any enemy of God,
master of men, is inevitably a human enemy as well (but not vice-versa). By turning the Danes into a Christian
God’s people, the monks turn their enemies into a Christian God’s enemies, and thus their hero into a Christian
God’s hero. In other words, they appropriated Grendel in order to assume Beowulf as their own. This is
confirmed when “Grendel went up to Herot”(37), to disrupt the palace of God’s men, which contained that
sacred area: “Hrothgar’s glorious throne, protected by God – God, whose love Grendel could not know”(90).
Further descriptions only reinforce this, as the “shadow of death”(81) hunts and claims souls as the biblical devil
would. The reader is finally introduced to Beowulf, pagan warrior-hero of men turned Christian mercenary,
whose sole objective is to fight the monster Grendel; it was for “God [to] decide who will be given to death’s
cold grip”(127). “Bearing God’s hatred”(143), Grendel is doomed from the start, with Beowulf’s impending
victory cementing the kindness of God to the Danes. This battle is the main vehicle for appropriating our hero,
who drives his divine road rage on the stage set by the monks, into what is now known as the “Almighty’s
enemy”(212): “hell’s captive”(215). Right here is Beowulf made holy, as there is now absolute certainty that he
has done the lord’s bidding, and disposed of a “sin-stained demon”(230) with an “evil soul”(228). The
chauvinistic, ethnocentric statement made by the Christian monks in Beowulf’s absolute victory over God’s enemy
truly reflects on Christian doctrine; Christian beliefs hold that humans are the universe’s master species,
authorized to rule in the image of God Himself, and far superior to all others. Beowulf, a man, still claims victory
– the Anglo-Saxon influence of Fate – yet his methods are divine in origin, thus the Christians’ piggybacking on
his valour as a human to evidence the Christianity’s involvement. By pagan standards, humans would be nothing
but another player in the game, warriors with insurmountable challenges to face. As a Christian hero, Beowulf
was instead made the obvious victor, protected by holiness and never threatened by what the pagans held to be
“the afflictor of men, tormentor of their days”(237). By the conclusion of this epic’s battle, Grendel has been
shown not what it was to tempt Wyrds of Fate, but “what it meant to feud with Almighty God”(238). “To hell he
could go, swept groaning and helpless to the waiting hands of still worse fiends”(235).