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Biblical Allusions in Beowulf

Lesson Transcript

The epic poem 'Beowulf' contains allusions to several Biblical stories, including Cain and Abel, the death of Christ,
the ten commandments, and the story of the great ood. We'll identify these allusions and explain how they
function in the poem.

Allusions
Remember the famous fairy tale 'Snow White'? In the story, Snow White is tricked by the evil queen
into eating a poisoned apple, but you may not know that the apple can be a symbol for something
else. This brings us to the literary device called allusion. An allusion is just a reference to well-
known people, events, literature, and things. It's a common literary device that authors use to call
attention to a particular theme or to emphasize the importance of a scene. For instance, in 'Snow
White,' the poisoned apple reminds us how Eve was tricked by the serpent in the Bible to eat the
forbidden fruit.

Biblical allusions are by far one of the easiest to identify and probably most used types of allusions
in literature. Today we're going to discuss biblical allusions that appear in the old English epic poem
Beowulf.

Cain and Abel

In the Bible, Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain murdered his brother in an act of
passion and was punished by God; he was marked and su ered to toil the ground, though it would
no longer produce crops for him. Cain was essentially shunned from society for committing this
horrible crime.

In Beowulf, we are introduced to Grendel, a monster who is murdering Hrothgar's men for sport.
When the author describes Grendel, he describes him as a monster and relates him to Cain:

'Till the monster stirred, that demon, that end Grendel who haunted the moors, the wild marshes, and
made his home in a hell. Not hell but hell on earth. He was spawned in that slime of Cain, murderous
creatures banished by God, punished forever for the crime of Abel's death.'

Like Cain, Grendel has committed horrendous crimes and is shunned from society as punishment.
The di erence between the two is that Grendel is committing these crimes because he likes to,
whereas Cain committed his crime in a t of passion. This rst allusion shows us that the Christian
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author was not a fan of Cain and his crimes.

Pagan Worship
In the book of Exodus, God commanded the descendants of Abraham through Moses to not have
other gods before him. Many Christians believe that this means that Paganism is not allowed if one
is following the word of God. This is interesting because Beowulf was written sometime between
the 8th and 11th centuries by an anonymous man; but while the speci c time in which the piece
was written is debatable, it is obvious that the author had knowledge of Christianity and Paganism,
and the reference to Paganism is notable because Paganism was still the primary religion of the
Anglo-Saxons in the time period that the author is writing about (not the one in which he lived).

So where do we see this in the text? The following line is an allusion to the commandment warning
men to not have other gods besides the God of the Bible. The author describes Hrothgar's men in
this fashion:

'. . .and sometimes they sacri ced to the old stone gods, made heathen vows, hoping for Hell's support,
the Devil's guidance in driving their a iction o . That was their way, and the heathen's only hope Hell
always in their hearts, knowing neither God nor His passing as He walks through our world, the Lord of
Heaven and Earth; their ears could not hear His praise or know His glory.'

In this quotation, we see the author referring to their primitive worship as sinful, but he also
acknowledges that this was their only way at the time because they did not have knowledge of
God. It seems that the author accepts their transgressions and is merely stating how they handled
things in the Anglo-Saxon time.

The Great Flood

When Beowulf kills Grendel's mother, there is a Biblical allusion to the tale of the ood. In the
commonly-known tale, God creates a ood to punish the people of the Earth after he looked down
on the world and saw that mankind had become corrupt.

In Beowulf, the blood of Grendel's mother is compared to the waters of the ood:

'Then the sword melted, blood-soaked dripping down like water, disappearing like ice when the world's
Eternal Lord loosens invisible fetters and unwinds icicles and frost as only He can. He who rules time and
seasons. He who is truly God.'

This is interesting. One can assume that perhaps the author is showing that she is an innately evil
being and had to be destroyed to ful ll the wishes of his God.

The Execution of Christ

Beowulf wins all of his battles, but in his nal battle he receives a fatal blow from a dragon that
results in his death. Though his death is not similar to Christ's, his abandonment by his men is.
Christ was abandoned by his followers and was allowed to be cruci ed. In Beowulf, he rewards his
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men with riches and glory, but when he goes to ght the dragon they hide in the woods:

'Too few of his warriors remembered to come, when our Lord faced death, alone.'

This allusion could be showing that Beowulf was a Christ-like gure. He was a savior to the people
in the story, and was alone when he died.

Lesson Summary
Several Biblical allusions are woven into the tale of Beowulf. Though the source of the Christianity
is unknown, it is clear that the translation that we study today has a link to the Bible. Some of the
more commonly-known allusions are to the stories of the ood, the execution of Christ, the Ten
Commandments, and the story of Cain and Abel. Though there are more allusions, this is a good
starting point to help us understand the ways that allusions were used in Beowulf. Biblical allusions
are one of the most common allusions that we see in literature.

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