How Does Shakespeare Present Religion In Beowulf

Beowulf: Telling Others Who God Is Beowulf is an epic poem written by an unknown author in 8th century England. Set in Scandinavia, this saga has its roots in pagan tradition. This well-known Old English work tells the fictional story of Beowulf, a hero who must defeat three monsters. Throughout Beowulf the characters and narrator give credit to God for victories, Beowulf’s fabled strength, and man’s existence. Although some pagan themes are expressed in Beowulf, its original author possessed a knowledge of God.

Beowulf Character Study Essay There are many religious influences and implications in Beowulf, ranging from the characters, to their journeys and their religious beliefs. One of the main religious implications is Beowulf himself, in the text Beowulf appears as a “Christ-like” figure. Beowulf and Christ follow very similar journeys, both men travelled to an exotic land, and began to save and protect the people that lived on it. Beowulf traveled to Danish land; in order to protect them from the incoming threat of Grendel, who also plays a sort of religious character by being a “devil-like figure”.

In Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney, religion and hell are referenced to many times throughout the story. “Because the poet 's obvious references to religious matters are infrequent and elementary, he would-appear to have had a slight grasp of Christianity as we understand it, unless he disguised his erudition with characteristic Anglo-Saxon understatement (Whallon).” Chapter two of Beowulf “is most interesting when it collects the familiar evidence for Christian education in the early Anglo-Saxon (Parker)” era. When he speaks of the arrows of the devil in lines 1743 through 1744, “Grown too distracted. A killer stalks him, An archer who draws a deadly bow,” “one may therefore look to a passage in Ephesians, observe that the image was common

Nicholas Desmarais Mrs.Altman English 4 14 August 2023 “Beowulf” Paganism and Christianity play a significant role in “Beowulf”. Within the story of Beowulf there are poems about demonic creatures that are living on earth harming people. This is a pagan belief. There is also talk of a single god. This is a christian belief.

Even though they were portrayed as being evil, they were able to prophecies about the future just as God is able to see our future. For example the sisters told Banquo that his descendants will become great and will increase in number. You can also compare this with Noah in the bible when God told him that his descendants will amount to the number of stars in the sky. “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Genesis 12:2.

I chose to write my essay over the first topic given in the unit one Assessment document. I analyzed how religion was a common motif throughout “Beowulf”, “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight”, and “ The Wife of Bath Prologue”. In the Poem “Beowulf”, him and his community had a tendency to view god highly, and thank him for their accomplishments. They were highly influenced by religion, which is why they applied it in their every day life. Then in “Sir Gawain and The Green Knight”, the community also was influenced by religion because of the code of chivalry.

Beowulf is a literary composition regarded as a literary composition of two differentiating religious beliefs. The original religion held in Europe, Paganism, was centered around the belief that there were many gods, and followers of the Pagan religion prayed to them for a specific outcome of success and fortune. Christianity was spread time-accordingly with the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. It is centered around the belief that there is only one higher power and prayer should be used to give thanks to God, rather than to pray for something an individual desires. Understanding the differentiation in the religions held within Beowulf and in the outer historical events is very important to understand where the English language originated.

Belief systems are an integral part of not only culture, but also self-image. This becomes evident in Beowulf, with both the overall story and the individual characters. Christianity and paganism vie for control of all aspects of Beowulf, just as they did with the Germanic tribes a century earlier. Although much is known about the history of the time is documented, the story is shrouded in mystery. The author and even the date it was written are educated estimates at best.

Even though there are many examples of christianity in the poem, it points more towards pagan beliefs because of the time of creation, the fact that it talks about vengeance, the ancient belief in wyrd, the use and naming of swords,and the tradition of ship burials . Beowulf was written in the anglo-saxon period by an unknown anglo saxon poet. It is best known by the scholars as The Beowulf Poet. When the poem was written it was influenced by paganism even though christianity is prevalent amongst its verses. Anglo-saxon were invaders of britain (Angles, saxons and jutes)

The thing that stands out when reading the stories of Beowulf, Sir Gawain, and the Canterbury Tales is that the writers use Christianity to show conflicts in human nature. Also with these stories taking place in different times with writers who have different opinions about Christianity and how it has influences Society. For example, in Beowulf, the writer chooses to mash up the ideas of Christianity and paganism because during the time that the writer was transcribing the story there were missionaries trying to convert the Anglo-Saxons that lived in Britain, so the missionaries used Beowulf as a way to reach the pagans. This is also been done to other stories like in the Viking legend Thor god of thunder where at the end of the story the world

Beowulf holds onto two different religions, Paganism and Christianity since it was written in the time when Rome had control over Britain developing roads and public baths but most importantly, Christianity. Later on Rome withdrew itself from Britain because it was too weak to even sustain itself which led Britain become England. As they were able to unify England due to the reemerge of Christianity after the invasion, they started to accept Christianity simultaneously. During 1000 CE. Monk Scribes who lived in Anglo-Saxon England made the Beowulf manuscript, inserting some Christian elements in the poem.

Hecate; is also a mythological being that stems from greek mythology as being a goddess who ruled over Heaven ,Earth and the Sea. In the book version of Macbeth; they reference the witches or fates in the name of Hecate. Other than these two outside-Christian references the rest of the play is centered around Christianity and its beliefs. Connecting to Christianity Shakespeare built Macbeth around Christian beliefs; so much so that they’re one or more reference to the Bible in every scene. Most of the hidden or less obvious connections, to our generation and time period, use the dialog to reference specific passages in The Bible.

He was aware that the king had strong feelings towards religion and witchcraft , so he included both of these in macbeth. Shakespeare wrote macbeth intentionally playing on his King’s interests in order to impress him enough to receive a large paycheck. Throughout Macbeth topics that involved the king are alluded to. The play was performed in 1606, which is only one year after the famous gunpowder plot.

Christian faith was slowly evolving during the middle ages in Europe. The most common principle of Christian faith in medieval Europe revolved around the belief that everything comes from God and is part of a greater plan. As the Christian faith grew more powerful in medieval Europe, forms of non-Christian religions were banned and frowned upon. “Beowulf” is an ancient Germanic story about a respected pagan hero, even though it is the work of a Christian poet. During this time, the idea of a Christian poet writing about a pagan legend seemed like a conflict of religion.

Elements of Paganism and Christianity in Beowulf In this day and age, the pagan religion had not been totally disassembled, and it had been around in the meantime as Christianity. The friar, I accept, was battling an inner fight with himself. Two religions conflicting within him, taking up arms through the very content he was modifying. In the start of the content he includes substantial measures of Christian impact however pagan convictions, for example, superhuman quality, retribution, fate still wait in the midst of the Christian references (Chickering 46).