Beowulf as an Archetypal Hero

Beowulf, Seamus Heaney's Translation and Joseph Campbell

by

Ingrid Elisabeth Derfler Ingalls

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of

The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Arts

Florida Atlantic University

Boca Raton , Florida

December 2002
Copyright by Ingrid Elisabeth Derfler Ingalls 2002

II
 Beowulf as an Archetypal Hero: Beowulf, Seamus Heaney's
Translation, and Joseph Campbell

by
Ingrid Elisabeth Derfler Ingalls

This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate's thesis advisor, Dr. Mary
Faraci, Department of English, and has been approved by the members of her
supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt
College of Arts and Letters and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Arts.

Date

iii
 ABSTRACT

Author: Ingrid Elisabeth Derfler Ingalls

Title: Beowulf as Archetypal Hero: Beowulf, Seamus Heaney's

Translation , and Joseph Campbell

Institution: Florida Atlantic University

Thesis Advisor: Dr. Mary Faraci

Degree: Master of Arts

Year: 2002

The title character of Beowulf functions as an archetypal hero who

can be analyzed through the work of mythologist, Joseph Campbell.

Beowulf's adventures follow the separation-initiation-return pattern

described by Campbell. Furthermore, Seamus Heaney's translation of

Beowulf adds to mythological understanding of the poem which is clarified

by reading it in light of Campbell's theory. Just as sixty years ago,

Tolkien 's work gave the reader a new way of understanding Beowulf,

Heaney's interpretation allows the reader to notice fresh aspects of the

poem . Additionally, Heaney's reading , with its emphasis on the "mythic

potency" of the work, is especially receptive to interpretation in the light of

the mythic undercurrents that Campbell examines so extensively. The

introduction , too, stresses the universality and timelessness of these old

tales. Moreover, comparing these folkloric elements to similar ones

found in fairy tales might broaden the reader's understanding of the poem .

IV
To Mary Frances and Katharine
 Table of Contents

Introduction ... .................................... ............. .. ... .... ... .... .. ..................... 1

Heorot. .... ..... .. ...... .... ... .. .. ... ..... .... ... .. ........... .. ...... ...... ............ ... ... ... .. ..... 18

Grendel. .... ....... ..... ... ..... .... ..... .... .. .. ............. .. ... .. ...... ... .......... .. .. ... .. .... ... 29

Grendel's Mother .. ... ...... .... ... ...... .. ....... ... ..... ... ... ..... .... ..... .... ......... .. ... ... 38

The Return of the Hero and the Slaying of the Dragon ... ..... ......... ...... .55

Conclusion ....... .... .... ... ..... ....... ....... ... ............ ................................. ....... 68

End Notes .. ....... ... ...... .. ................ ... ... ......... .. ...... .. ................ .... .. .. ... ... .. 71

Works Cited ...... .... ... ....... .... ... ....... ..... ..... ... ... .... ... ..... ... .. ..... .. ...... ..... .. ... 73

v
 Introduction

It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to

supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward . (Joseph
Campbell , The Hero with a Thousand Faces 11)

The great Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf, was written between the seventh

and tenth centuries by an anonymous poet. While the poem is still read and

studied today, around one thousand years after its composition , it is fortunate

that the work has survived .

The only surviving manuscript dates from the late tenth or early eleventh

century (Kiernan 13), and is known as the MS Cotton Vitellius AXV, for it was

owned privately by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton who kept it on the first shelf in the

fifteenth row of his library. On top of the shelves sat a bust of the Roman

Emperor Aulus Vitellius. In 1700 the Cotton library was donated to the British

public by Sir Robert's grandson . Because the house was in such poor condition ,

the collection was moved to the Ashburnham House which ironically lived up to

its name and burnt. A quick-thinking librarian saved the manuscript by throwing

it out of the window (Kiernan 66-68) .

I will very briefly summarize the well-known story: the great mead hall of

the Danish king is threatened by the man-eating monster, Grendel , whom none

of King Hrothgar's thanes are able to defeat. Hearing of Hrothgar's plight,

Beowulf leaves his home to offer his assistance. Not only does Beowulf kill

Grendel , he also slays Grendel's mother who seeks revenge for her son's death .
Returning to the Geats as a proven hero, Beowulf is offered the throne; however,

he refuses to displace the rightful heir. Finally, Beowulf fights a great dragon

which leads to his mortal wounding .

Joseph Campbell's work in comparative mythology explores the

universality of heroic myths. Basing his work upon the archetype theories of

psychoanalyst Karl Jung , Joseph Campbell explores recurring symbols that

appear over and over in myths, legends, and folk tales . The purpose of these

tales, Campbell believed , was to provide a "road map" to guide humans through

the transforming stages of their lives , including death (Power 37 -39) . Perhaps

Campbell's best known work is The Hero with a Thousand Faces in which he

describes the "universal hero" in terms of the "monomyth ." The hero's journey is

common to stories told throughout the world, following a universal pattern of

separation , initiation , and return (Hero 30). 1

In addition to The Hero with a Thousand Faces , Campbell has published

extensive works on comparative mythology including The Masks of the Gods

series in which he examines primitive, Occidental , and Oriental mythology. The

myths and hero stories explored in these works are overwhelmingly similar which

offers further support for Campbell's ideas on their universality.

In The Flight of the Wild Gander, Campbell turns his attention to fairy

tales which share common elements with myths and epics. In fact , Campbell

notes, these shared motifs are so extensive that the Brothers Grimm believed

that folk tales were actually fragmented pieces of old myths that "disintegrated"

2
into fairy tales (20). "The monstrous, unnatural, and irrational elements of fairy

tales," Campbell explains, "occur also in myths; their origins can be explained as

the origins of myths" (30) .

Like our languages, these common elements can be traced back to the

Indo-Europeans who spread them throughout much of Europe during the great

migrations (Campbell, Flight 20-21 ). According to Campbell, the purposes of

myth and folk tales are vastly different. While the reason for myth was religious

or spiritual, the original intent of fairy tales was entertainment (Flight 34). 2 It is

important to note that in spite of the differences of purpose, though , both myths

and fairy tales share the same motifs. In fact, Robert Darnton writes, "Folklorists

have recognized their tales in Herodotus and Homer ... " (21 ). Although the

reasons for the stories are very different, they share common archetypes.

Folkloric motifs are common to Beowulf which contains many of the

themes that we have come to expect in fairy tales. In addition to the brave

adventurer who battles giant cannibals, ogresses, and dragons, the narrative

depicts magical swords and buried treasure. These analogues were the main

thrust of earlier Beowulf criticism. Tales such as "Jack and the Beanstalk" and

"Jack the Giant Killer" describe flesh-eating giants who can only be killed by an

untested hero. Dragon tales have existed since antiquity. The hero recovers

hidden treasure, and he is aided in many of his tasks with the help of a magic

sword.

3
As folklorists trace these tales back to their origins , the primitive archetypes

become clearer. As the stories spread , they changed to reflect local culture.

The ancient archetypes, however, remained intact. Beowulf, for example, may

reflect Germanic or Anglo-Saxon ideas ; yet, tales of dragon-slaying heroes can

be found throughout the world .

In the nineteenth century, European nationalistic movements led to

collecting the stories of the "folk" in their native dialogues. After the Grimms

collected German stories, folklorists in other countries followed suit (Campbell,

Flight 26) . While fairy tales were gathered and retold long before the nineteenth

century, they were retold for different reasons and for different audiences . The

tales of Charles Perrault, for example, were intended for the court of Louis the

fourteenth and were highly stylized ; more barbaric elements were changed or

eliminated , and the stories were written in court French (Darnton 11 ). According

to Campbell , the Grimms, on the other hand , retained these "primitive" elements

and wrote in dialect rather than High German (Flight 23) . These motifs have

been "cut down" in folk tales. The dragon of the epic has been reduced to a

small frog in "The Frog King ;" the dragon's lair becomes the frog 's well. These

elements , however, have the same meanings (Campbell , Hero 50) .

The two most recent translations of Beowulf assume a familiarity with

myth , for both Seamus Heaney and R. M Liuzza discuss myth in their

introductions. Seamus Heaney refers to the Beowulf poet as a Christian and an

4
Englishman looking back to a legendary pagan and Norse past, thus leading the

poet to view the time in which the poem is set with' "[... ] a certain historic

detachment and even censure" (xvi). In spite of that, however, the anonymous

poet seems to admire the heroic period in which his characters lived. Even

though these points of view seem contradictory, Heaney asserts that , "In an age

when 'the instability of the human subject' is constantly argued for if not

presumed , there should be no problem with a poem which is woven from two

such different psychic fabrics " (xvii) . Furthermore, Heaney's introduction implies

that Beowulf is a folktale set in a legendary, heroic past. While Heaney insists

the poem is a work of literature, it is one that:

[... ]attains a level made of insight that approaches the

visionary. The subjective and the inevitable are in perfect
balance , what is solidly established is bathed in an element
which is completely sixth-sensed , and indeed the whole
slow-motioned , constantly self-deferring approach to the
hero's death and funeral continues to be like this. Beowulf's
soul may not yet have fled "to its destined place among the
steadfast ones," but there is already a beyond-the-grave
aspect to him , a revenant quality about his resoluteness.
This is not just metrical narrative full of anthropological
interest and typical heroic-age motifs; it is poetry of a high
order, in which passages of great lyrical intensity- such as
the "Lay of the Last Survivor" (II. 2247-66) and , even more
remarkably, the so-called "Father's Lament" (II 2444-62)- rise
like emanations from some fissure in the bedrock of the human
capacity to endure. (xx)

Alfred David notes that Heaney's translation is, "[... ]a personal response

to a work that speaks to a modern poet about the violence of our own century

5
and the courage with which some men and women have faced up to it" (xiii) .

Thus, Heaney emphasizes not only the ancient heroic code and the warfare that

it entailed , but also the mythic parallels of the poem 's characters as they worked

out their destinies. Heaney claims that Beowulf "possesses a mythic potency,"

and that, "Like Shield Sheafson , it arrives from somewhere beyond the known

bourne of our experience , and having fulfilled its purpose, again like Shield , it

passes once more into the beyond " (xii). Heaney thus strongly emphasizes the

mythic aspects of the poems, and how the lives of its characters are bound by

them .

Additionally, Heaney explains the importance of language in his

translation (xxii-xxv) . In fact, Heaney's new translation demands a review of

existing scholarship of Beowulf in light of mythologist Joseph Campbell's theory.

Furthermore, Heaney's introduction stresses the importance of the mythology

behind the poem :

Heorot and Hygelac's hall are the hubs of this value system
upon which the poem 's action turns. But there is another, outer
rim of value , a circumference of understanding within which
the heroic world is occasionally viewed as from a distance
and recognized for what it is, an earlier state of consciousness
and culture , one which has not been already shed but which
has now been comprehended as part of another pattern. And
this circumference and pattern arise, of course , from the poet's
Christianity and from his perspective as an Englishman looking
back at places and legends which his ancestors knew before they
made their migration from continental Europe to their new home
on the island of the Britons. (xvi)

In the introduction to R. M. Liuzza's translation of Beowulf, Liuzza notes

6
that Beowulfs adventures fit the pattern of Campbell's "monomyth" (15). He also

explains that a purpose of myth is to "contain the most fundamental sources of

cultural tensions," and thus it is impossible to separate myth from the

surrounding culture (18). Some other mythological readings are works by

Jeffrey Helterman and Carl Meigs. Helterman explains that while Beowulf fulfills

the role of the archetypal hero in his battle with Grendel's mother, he falls into

the world of time when he fights the dragon (4) . Beowulf is also the story of

"opposing forces within one man" (1 0). Grendel represents the Jungian shadow,

or the dark side, of Beowulf (11-12). Similarly, Grendel's mother is the double of

Wealhtheow; the two women taken together are Jung's "dual mother" (13). This

is reinforced by Grendel's mother being as concerned for her son as

Wealhtheow is for hers (13). While Wealhtheow is a "peace weaver," Grendel's

mother shows what can happen when peace weaving fails (13-14). Helterman

also points out that Beowulfs mother is mentioned for the first time just before

Beowulf fights Grendel's mother. By the time Beowulf fights the dragon,

Helterman claims that he is no longer a Jungian archetype; rather he is only a

figure in historical time (17-18) .

In addition to applying Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough and Jessie

L. Weston's studies of the ritual of kingship, Carl Meigs uses Joseph Campbell's

The Hero with a Thousand Faces to analyze Beowulf (98-1 01 ). While Meig's

article is original and invaluable, for it is the first work that uses Campbell's

universal hero with Beowulf, it does not apply Campbell's other works on

7
comparative mythology to the poem. I would like to point out that some of the

conclusions that Professor Meig reaches are different from mine. For example,

although Meig writes that "Beowulfs acceptance of Wealtheow's cup represents

a diminished sacred marriage" (1 00} , he does not discuss Grendel's mother as a

crone aspect of the Goddess, subverted by Christian influences on the poem . In

fact, he does not discuss Grendel's mother at all except in reference to

Beowulfs descent into her barrow as representing "the death of the adolescent"

(1 01 ). Furthermore, I would like to expand upon Professor Meig's article.

Prior to the late eighteenth century, John D. Niles explains, we have no

record of any existing scholarly interest in the poem (Beowulf Handbook,

Introduction 1). By the early nineteenth century, however, burgeoning

nationalistic movements greatly affeceted both literature and folklore , and

Beowulfwas no exception (Niles 4). By 1815, a naturalized Dane, Grimur

Thorkelin , had transcribed and translated the ancient text. Niles notes that

Thorkelin believed the poem to be an originally Danish work that had been

translated to Old English , and , in his nationalistic zeal , he failed to achieve

"scholarly accuracy" (4) .

Although the academic quality of both the subsequent translations and

criticism improved , nationalistic interest in Beowulf explained the tendency of

these critics to see in the poem a heroic German past. Folkloric elements were

studied extensively and compared to Old Norse sagas (Shippey, Critical

Heritage16) . Because mythology was interpreted as early explanations for

8
natural phenomena , the monsters in Beowulfwere considered to be destructive

forces of nature, seasonal deities who died in the fall and were resurrected in the

spring (Lawrence 145-146). Additionally, early critics tried to tie events in the

poem to ancient German history (Bjork 13).

For example, John Mitchell Kemble , in his 1833 edition of Beowulf,

explained that it was a historical poem . A few years later, however, he retracted

his earlier work and claimed that the poem was a mythic work based on the old

god , Beow (Shippey, "Structure" 154-155). German folklorists such as Jacob

Grimm and Karl Mullenhoff agreed with Kemble's folkloric approach and

expanded upon his work (Shippey 154-155). In 1910 Frederich Panzer claimed

that Beowulf was a type of universal folktale called the "Little Bear Tale"

(Andersson 126). Like Beowulf, the young bear is able to defeat monsters that

his elders had been unable to kill (Lawrence 173). Theodore Andersson

explains that Panzer's work was important, for it "liberated the study of sources

and analogues from the rather fruitless historical perspectives" (133). Panzer

also explained the hero's name as a compound of beo (bee) and wulf (hunter) ,

and concluded that bee-hunter referred to bear (520) .

William Lawrence continues to explore early mythological analogues,

explaining that Scyld Shefing was considered to be an ancient vegetation god.

He also explores the pagan origins of Grendel and his mother (161-162) and

states that the name Grendel is connected to the Old English word for the

bottom of a body of water which was where the Grendel monsters lived (163) .

9
Joseph Campbell , who was once a student of Professor Lawrence, asserts that

pagan gods- and especially goddesses- were demonized in Judea-Christian

writings, and that, "the role of the anti-god has been assigned to a figure from an

earlier mythology (Occidenta/24) .

Modern Beowulf criticism undoubtedly begins with J.R.R. Tolkien 's

influential essay, "Beowulf the Monsters and the Critics." As Seamus Heaney

notes, Tolkien , "[ .. .]assumed , in other words, that the Beowulf poet was an

imaginative writer rather than some kind of back-formation derived from

nineteenth-century folklore and philology" (xi) . Indeed , Tolkien realized that

Beowulf was a work of literature, not simply a historical or philological document.

As he argues in his seminal essay, Beowulf is first and foremost a poem.

Although Tolkien disagrees with critics who claim that Beowulf is merely a

"mythic allegory" or a "wild folktale" (8) , he acknowledges that, "[ ... ]the old tale

was not first told or invented by this poet[ ... ] the plot is not the poet's" (29).

Moreover, Tolkien explains that there are enough "folkloric analogues" to arrive

at this conclusion. It was the unknown poet, however, who "infused feeling and

significance into its crude material" (29) . For Tolkien , Beowulf was a unified work

of art; it was also balanced in its unity. Tolkien explained that the poem consists

of a two-part structure; in the first part, Beowulf battled with Grendel , and in the

second part he fought the dragon. The earlier half of the poem described the

hero's youth , victory, and ascent. The latter part told of his old age, defeat, and

death. Furthermore, the monsters were not some slightly foolish afterthought but

10
were central to the poem (9-11 ).

Scholars writing after T olkien usually acknowledge his work even if they

do not always agree with it. H.L. Rogers claims that the poem not only has a

three-part structure, but that there is no over-riding "artistic unity" in the "modern

sense" of the phrase (341 ). Kathryn Hume explains that there are arguments for

understanding Beowulf as a work with either two or three parts; the critical

disagreement occurs because the poem is action centered , not hero centered

("Theme" 1-2). Furthermore , the theme of Beowulf is "threats to the social order"

(5), so the structure merely follows the sequence of these threats (6) . The

similarities between Grendel and his mother upset the structure, causing it to fit

neatly into neither category (8) .

Jane Chance further explores the structure of the poem while

emphasizing the roles of the women characters, especially Grendel's mother.

She agrees that the poem has a three part format. Furthermore, the structure

implies an idealized Germanic society in which "retainer, queen , and gold-lord all

cooperate" (299) . If each one fulfills his or her given place, then society will

work. The Beowulf poet, however, realizes that this is an ideal that will never

actually happen (299). Additionally, the episode narrating Beowulfs fight with

Grendel's mother is still problematic, in spite of its importance. Because it is so

much shorter than the two others, the structure still remains unbalanced.

In fact, contemporary critics have given the women in the poem much

more attention than did earlier scholars. As mentioned above, Jane Chance

11
examines Beowulfs structure in light of Grendel's mother. Helen Damico

devotes a book to Queen Wealhtheow and her similarities to the Nordic

valkyries, and Gwendolyn Morgan examines Grendel's mother as a "terrible

mother" archetype (55).

Concerning the structure of the poem , John Leyerle writes, "The details

are rich , but the pattern does not present a linear structure" (131) . He continues

to explain that the patterns of Beowulf mimic the "interlace structure" of Anglo-

Saxon visual design (131 ). Rather than being "primitive" as early scholars

claimed , the art is "controlled with geometric precision and executed with the

technical confidence of a very high order" (137) . Furthermore, these same

qualities are reflected in the poetic structure of works such as Beowulf (138) ,

which again emphasizes the unification of the poem .

Thomas Alan Shippey claims that the structure of the poem mimics that of

fairy tales and applies Vladimir Propp's 1928 work on folk tales to Beowulf.

Shippey explains that the main importance of Propp's work is that Propp does

not separate tales into types according to traditional motifs (Fairy 23) . Both the

characters and action of the stories are only important in context, and cannot be

examined separately from the tale as traditional folklorists have done-they only

matter in "sequence" (4). When examined by their structure, all fairy tales belong

to one basic type, and Beowulf, Shippey asserts, also follows this type (4).

Shippey concludes that Propp believed that the overriding purpose of these old

tales was the attack and defeat of "death" (11). Moreover, this might explain the

12
ancient "Bear's son" tales-with which Panzer typed Beowulf. Because bears

hibernate, they appear to awaken from the dead in the spring (11). Furthermore ,

Campbell also notes that bears were revered because of this (Myths 31) .

James Earl discusses Beowulf in both psychoanalytical and historical

terms. He states that the Germanic world view held that life was chaotic and

uncivilized. Heorot stands as a bastion of order and civilization amongst the

chaos (53). The building of the hall , in fact "is a metaphor for the birth of

civilization" (115) . Although the ethics of the poem are pagan (166) , the Old

English conversion to Christianity is "[ ... ] central to understanding Anglo-Saxon

culture and literature" (161 ). Furthermore, Christianity, by cultivating the

superego in the individual and institutionalizing a cultural superego in the

churches imparts its own psychology" (161) . Thus , Christianity is associated with

the superego and civilization , while the monsters are associated with

subconscious disorder and chaos that is associated with Freud 's id .

Additionally, Earl examines the Anglo-Saxon dual social systems of the

kindred and the thanes. The former was associated with the feminine and the

agricultural while the latter was tied to the military and the government (1 09) .

Early Anglo-Saxons often swore loyalty to both a lord and the kindred which

could potentially cause conflict if these loyalties conflicted (1 09-11 0). The

thanes of Heorot represent the masculine and lordship , while Grendel's mother

and her insistence upon revenge, represent the older, kindred system (123).

John Hill also examines Beowulf in psychoanalytical and cultural terms.

13
When Beowulf appears to aid the Danes, Hill asserts that he is not simply an

adventurer, but that he represents the "[ ... ] strong hand of the law" (70).

Grendel, on the other hand, represents the uncivilized and the subconscious

(120) .

Beowulfs place in oral tradition is discussed by Edward B. Irving who

notes the poet's use of formulaic oral patterns (3-4) . After discussing Walter

Ong's work on pre-literate cultures , Irving notes that Beowulf has additive

elements (17) and portrays traditional characters (36) , such as the brave hero,

the lovely queen , and the elderly king (48) . These "stock characters" or oral

tradition are comparable to Campbell's mythological archetypes that are found

universally.

Since Tolkien 's famous retort toW. P. Ker that the monsters were indeed

central to Beowulf (18) , critics have examined the monsters and their role. As

Nora K. Chadwick points out, without the monsters, the poem would not exist

(172). For Chadwick, the monsters represent the "spiritual enemies of mankind"

(172). Kathryn Hume notes that the giant size of these monsters allows the

protagonist to win an unevenly matched battle and thus prove that he is a hero

(3) .

Ward Parks interprets Grendel as an evil "predator" who hunts his victims

like an animal (2) . Portraying a more sympathetic view of monsters, Keith Taylor

characterizes Grendel's mother as "noble" (1 ). While the monsters in the poem

are "uncanny" and "unknowable," writes David Sander in 1999, they have an

14
actual physical presence that leaves[ .. .] tracks through the foreground of the

poem" (163). Referring to Freud's essay, "The Uncanny," Sander explains that

the seemingly alien monsters are, in fact, part of the self. According to Freud ,

Sander explains, "The uncanny marks the return of the repressed " (164) . As

terrifying as Grendel is, he is also human; his presence reminds us that "[ ... ]any

of the poem's readers might suffer such a fate" (166) . Although Sandner's

analysis is Freudian , one might see similarities to Jungian "shadows" which

Campbell insists exist universally in myths.

Although mythological criticism has changed greatly from the nineteenth

and early twentieth centuries, it is still applied to Beowulf. As Joyce Tally

Lionarans notes, myth criticism of previous times concentrated mainly on myth

as nature allegory (1). Michael N. Nagler notes that the "mythic aspect of

Beowulf has received short shrift" (143) . While critics have thoroughly explored

the poem as a Germanic legend , the poem has been neglected as following a

pattern of "Indo-European or more universal mythology" (143) . When epics

follow the same myth , Nagler explains, they show "[ .. .] parallelism not only in the

theme, plot and the larger framework of narrative organization , but often in the

most surprising and unpredictable details" (144) . While retelling the myth , the

storyteller gave each myth a "fresh set of images" (144) . Campbell , too, of

course, notes the universality of myth including the similarities of these images.

Campbell writes, "It is as though the same play were taken from one place to

another, and at each place the local players put on local costumes and enact the

15
same old play" (Power 38) .

Nagler notes that this explains similarities, for example, between

Beowulf's fight with Grendel's mother and Odysseus's fight with the Cyclops

(144) . The underlying myth, common to both epics, is that of the hero leaving

""[...]the realm of the sky god to do battle with the demon of darkness" which is a

battle of such magnitude that the usual weapons are useless (145). Thus the

sword that Beowulf takes from Grendel's mother really belongs to the sky-god

whose runes appear on the hilt (146-147) . This god is responsible for melting

the sword's blade, for the sun , heat, and light are associated with him (151) .

When Beowulf returns with the hilt, it is no longer merely a weapon but a symbol

of power which will help old king Hrothgar restore order to his kingdom (148) .

The head of Grendel's mother is also representative of this power (151 ).

Furthermore, Nagler illustrates that the dragon's treasure, as long as it

remains buried , constitutes a threat to the "social order," and the hero who finds

the treasure leads his community "[...] towards a more harmonious and

meaningful existence" (153) . In fact, to read the threat of the monsters as

applicable only to the ancient Norse simplifies the poem , for these issues remain

valid today (152).

In addition to examining the folkloric motifs of Beowulf in the light of

Joseph Campbell's work, my thesis will discuss Seamus Heaney's recent

translation of the poem . It will not, however, analyze these folkloric components

as separate analogues, but rather as necessary elements of the poem as a

16
unified entity. In order to apply Campbell's story of the universal hero to the

poem , considering the poem to be a unified whole, as it has been read since

Tolkien , is not only reasonable but necessary.

While myth critics have examined Beowulf for the past two hundred

years, little has been done to apply Campbell's large body of work to the poem .

Furthermore, we now have Heaney's translation which seems to add to a

mythological understanding of Beowulf. Heaney's reading of the poem

contributes to a new understanding of the poem which is clarified by reading it in

light of Campbell's theory. Moreover, comparing these folkloric elements to

similar ones found in other fairy tales might broaden the reader's understanding

of the poem .

17
 Chapter One

Beowulf's Departure and Heorot

There was no one else like him alive. (Beowulf . Heaney trans.196)

This first stage of the mythological journey - which we have designated the call
to adventure- signifies that destiny has summoned the hero. (Campbell , Hero
58).

Each lord's hall is an actual and symbolic refuge . (Heaney xv)

Like many fairy tales , T.A. Shippey writes , Beowulf begins with a

departure. It is not the departure of the title character, however, but the

departure of the Danish king Scyld Scefing (Fairy Tale 6) . This not only gives

the audience the genealogy of the Danish royal house, but it introduces an old

mythological element from the pagan past into the poem. William Lawrence

states that the ancient king was the son of an old vegetation god. While the

king 's first name, shield, suggested the war-like attributes that enabled him to

win power, Scefing means son of sheaf or a bundle of grain . This king 's son is

named Beow which is also the name of an early grain god and further ties the

Danish line to the ancient vegetation gods . Lawrence continues to explain that

using ancient Norse gods was a common practice amongst the old Germanic

peoples, but the emphasis on agricultural deities ties the poem to a mythological

past (137-139) .

As mentioned above, Beowulf's own name mean's bee-hunter which is

usually interpreted to be a bear. The early criticism of Friedrich Panzer typed

18
Beowulf as a Bear's son folktale which meant that certain parallels could be

found between the stories (Andersson 132). The link between the title character

and the bear also gives the poem mythological significance. Joseph Campbell

explains that the ancient bear cult was found universally and existed as far back

as the Neanderthal period . Some cultures even saw the bear as god incarnate.

This might be explained by the fact that the bear hibernates all winter and

awakens in the spring which could have represented seasonal death and rebirth

to our ancestors (Myths 31-35) .

As Beowulf leaves home with the Geats in order to rid the Danes of a

great monster, the reader can see the beginning of the call to adventure of

Campbell's universal hero. The poet does not introduce Beowulf until he has

carefully set the stage by describing the beginnings of the Danish royal house,

the building of Heorot, and the attacks of Grendel. Thus the poet creates a

suitable task in order that the young hero might prove himself.

The separation begins with a "call to adventure" which some heroes are

reluctant to heed . Ultimately, however, he cannot refuse the call (60) . Once the

hero heeds his chosen destiny, he is granted some type of "supernatural aid ," a

helper who represents , Campbell explains, "[... ]the benign , protecting power of

destiny" (71 ). The helper can appear as a male or a female. The latter often

appears as the "[ ... ] helpful crone and fairy godmother[ ... ]" who is so common to

fairy tales, who, Campbell notes, often represents the "Cosmic Mother" (71) . A

masculine helper might appear as the folkloric "[... ] little fellow of the wood , some

19
wizard, hermit, shepherd , or smith" or in myths, "[ ... ] the great figure of the guide ,

the teacher, the ferryman, the conductor of souls to the afterworld" (72) .

As he attempts to undertake this calling, the hero is blocked by a

"threshold figure" who blocks the land that the hero must enter in order to fulfil

his adventure (77). The "threshold guardian" separates the known from the

unknown , the mundane from the supernatural (77-78) . There is an inherent

paradox in this figure. Campbell notes, "One had better not challenge the

watcher of the established bounds. And yet - it is only by advancing beyond

these bounds, provoking the destructive, other aspect of the same power, that

the individual passes, either alive or in death, into a new zone of experience"

(82) . Thus meeting this figure is both dangerous and necessary.

Finally the hero is "[ ... ] swallowed into the unknown" and enters into a

different, magical sphere (90) . This symbolizes a losing of the self that the hero

must endure in order to effect his eventual transformation or symbolic death that

must occur before rebirth (93). This occurs in the poem when Beowulf enters

Heorot, which serves as a magical place. This is a common theme in myth and

folk tales: the heroes's adventures happen not at home but in some other realm.

Entering this other world allows the hero to leave behind his former self and to be

"reborn " as a new, transformed person .

Furthermore, Heaney notes that as glorious as Heorot is , under Grendel's

siege it is now one of "[ .. .] three archetypal sites of fear" (xii) . Thus Heaney's

introduction emphasizes the hall as not only a physical building but as a

20
dangerous other world suitable for a hero's initiation .

When Beowulf heeds the "call to adventure, " he is at home in his own

country. Although the young man has yet to be tested , like Campbell's "hero of

the monomyth" he is already considered to be a "personage of exceptional gifts"

(Hero 37) . The poet claims of his protagonist, "maegenes strengest/ on thaem 3

daege Thysses lites,/ aethele and eacen (196b-198a) . (There was no one

else like him alive. In his day he was the mightiest man on earth , high-born and

powerful 4 [196-198]) . Furthermore, Hrothgar describes Beowulf as, "manna

maegen-craeft On his mund-gripe,/ heatho-rof haebbe" (379b-381a). (A

thane, they declared with the strength of thirty in the grip of each hand [380-

381]) . Even though Beowulf has never been tried, he is still extraordinary.

Moreover, Beowulf, even as a young man , seems loved by the Geats,

who recognize that he is somehow special , In fact, this might explain why King

Hygelac and his court, as fond as they were of Beowulf, did not try to prevent his

departure (202-203) . Only after Beowulf's eventual return does Hygelac give

voice to the reluctance he felt upon his nephew's departure:

lc thaes mod-ceare
sorh-wylmum seath , sithe ne truwode
leofes mannes. lc the lange baed ,
thaet thu thane wael-gaest wihte ne grette,
lete Suth-Dene sylfe geweorthan
guthe with Grendel Gode ic thane secge,
thaes the ic the gesundne Geseon moste.

( 1992b-1998)

(Your undertaking cast my spirits down,/1 dreaded the outcome of your

expedition and pleaded with you/ long and hard to leave the killer be,/ let the

21
South-Danes settle their own/ blood-feud with Grendel. So God be thanked/ I
am granted this sight of you , safe and sound .) (1993-1998)

Furthermore, when speaking to Hrothgar, Beowulf emphasizes that he is in

Denmark with the support of his countrymen (414b-417) .

Paradoxically, however, the poet describes Beowulf as one who was not

held in high esteem in his youth (2183-2189) . John D. Niles refers to this as

Beowulf's Cinderella-like childhood (Beowulf" the Poem 171). This is a fam iliar

pattern of folklore : the hero is disregarded as a child , but grows up to outshine

his or her peers

After Beowulf heeds the call to adventure, he must undertake a sea

voyage. This, Campbell notes, is also a common motif, for the water represents

a "threshold space" or a "region of the unknown," and it is similar to the deep

forest that surrounds the village of a fairy tale protagonist (Hero 79). The hero

must now leave the world he has always known and cross into an unknown

space. Campbell explains that thresholds are "at the interface of time and

eternity" (Inner 30). While the journey is extremely dangerous, the hero often

has the help of some type of supernatural being (Campbell , Hero 69).

Because Beowulf was written by a Christian poet describing a heroic

pagan past,5 it is important to note that the poet places a Christian god in a

narrative of pagan characters. Thus the Christian God takes on the role of the

"supernatural helper. " The poet writes,

Ac him Dryhten forgeaf

wig-sped a gewiofu , Wedera leodum ,
frofor ond fultum , thaet hie feond heora

22
 thurh anes craeft ealle ofercomon ,
selfes mihtum. Soth is gecythed ,
thaet mihtig God mannas cynnes
weald wide-ferhth. (696b-702a)

(But the Lord was weaving a victory/a victory on his war-loom for the Weather-
Geats./ Through the strength of one they all prevailed;/ they would crush their
enemy and come through/ in triumph and gladness./ The truth is clear: I Almighty
God rules over mankind and always has.)
[696-702]

The narrator makes clear to the audience that without divine support, Beowulf

could not successfully defeat Grendel. The protagonist also is aware of this for

he tells Hrothgar, "lc hine ne mihte The Metod nolde,/ ganges

getwaeman 967-969) . (But I couldn't stop him from slipping my hold./ The Lord

allowed it, my lock on him [966-967]). Hrothgar, too, in his speech to Beowulf

reminds the latter that all good things come from God. He says, "AI-walda thee/

gode forgylde, swa he nu gyt dyde!" (955b-956) . (May the God of Ages/

Continue to keep and requite you well [954-955]).

In order to remind Beowulf not to grow proud , Hrothgar later tells Beowulf a

cautionary tale of a bad king :

theah the hine mihtig God maegenens wynnum ,

eafethum stepte, ofer eallle men
forthh gefremede. Hwaethhere him on ferhthe greow
breost-hord blod-reow; nalles beagas geaf
Denum aefter dome. Dream-leas gebad ,
thaet he thaes gewinnes weare throwade,
leodd-bealo longsum . Du the laer be than ,
gum-cyste ongit! lc this gidd be the
awraec wintrum frod.
Wunder is to secganne
hu mihtig God manna cynne
thurh sidne sefan snyttru brytttathh . (1716-1726)

23
(even though Almighty God had made him/ eminent and powerful and marked
him from the start/ for a happy life. But a change happened,/ he grew
bloodthirsty, gave no more rings/ to honor the Danes. He suffered in the end/ for
having plagued his people for so long:/ his life lost happiness./ So learn from
this/ and understand true values. I who tell you/ have wintered into wisdom. It is
a great wonder/ how Almighty God in His magnificence/ favors our race .)
(1716-1727)

Thus Beowulf had some type of otherworldly intervention , without which ,

his victory might not have been possible. Campbell states that, "[.. .]the first

encounter of the hero-journey is with a protective figure [... ]" (Hero 69) . In epics

the protector is often a god or goddess; for example, Athena guides Odysseus

back to Ithaca. In folk tales, on the other hand , this figure might simply be an old

crone or woodland man (Campbell , Hero 71-72) . He or she is always there,

however. Even though the archetypal hero is a superlative person , he has been

called to adventure by some kind of external force (Hero 51). Therefore, some

type of aid is provided to guide the hero in his quest.

After Beowulf crossed the North Sea and landed on the Danish shore, he

is challenged by the Danish coastguard (229-258). Campbell notes that this, too,

is a usual part of crossing the first threshold . Here the coastguard becomes

what Campbell calls a a "threshold guardian" (Hero 77). The guardian, Campbell

explains, stands on the boundaries that divide the known from the unknown

(Hero 78) . Simply by challenging these boundaries the hero encounters danger;

yet if he does not cross them , it will be impossible for him to enter another realm

(Hero 82). Furthermore, the hero now leaves behind his own ego when he

crosses through these boundaries. Once he satisfactory presents his credentials

24
to the threshold guardian , the hero can continue with his adventure, and often

the guardian figure will actually offer the protagonist further aid . This guard is not

merely a servant of the god or goddess whom the hero will ultimately encounter.

"The porter at the gate," Campbell explains, "is a reduced manifestation of the

power of the deity it self' (Occidenta/12) . After Beowulf explains his mission to

the coastguard, the Danish guards proceed to guide Beowulf to Heorot (289-

300).

Once he reaches Heorot, Beowulf is further challenged by a warrior who

acts as a secondary threshold figure (333). This guardsman also becomes a

helper once Beowulf explains his mission (350-355) by leading Beowulf to the

king .

Finally the hero is able to complete the final stage of separation , or what

Campbell calls "the belly of the whale" (Hero 90) . This part of the sequence

symbolizes that the hero is now "swallowed into the unknown" (Hero 90). The

phrase Campbell uses comes from the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale;

myth and folk literature give many other examples. Although it seems fraught

with danger, being "swallowed" is essentially a "life-centering, life-renewing act"

(Hero 92) . Campbell explains that like a snake shedding its skin , this is a type of

loss of the old self so a "metamorphosis" can symbolically occur; thus it is a

necessary part of the initiation experience that the universal hero must undertake

(92) .

In a sense then , Beowulf is "swallowed" by Heorot. Once he leaves the

25
beach and enters the hall, he is no longer a young thane leading a troop of men

on an adventure . Instead , he is about to shed his youthful self and prepare for

the trials of his initiation. Campbell writes that amongst the so called "primitive

tribes," a youth is sent to a special dwelling, physically and spiritually far removed

from the ordinary, which will allow him to take his place as a full-fledged member

of the community. Campbell gives numerous examples of this, for instance he

writes,

First among the features of the great caves that are of

paramount importance is the fact that these deep,
labyrinthine grottos were not dwellings but sanctuaries,
comparable in function to the men 's dancing grounds of
Aranda; and there is evidence enough to assure us that
They were used for similar purposes: the boys' puberty
rites and the magical increase of the game. (Primitive 311)

Heorot itself is a kind of magical place,

Guman onetton ,
sigon aetsomne, Oththaet hy sael tim bred ,
geatolic ond gold-fah ongyton mihton ;
thaet waes fore-maeerost fold-buendum
receda under roderum , on thaem se rica bad ;
lixxte se leoma ofer Ianda tela . (306b-311)

(They marched in step,/ hurrying on till the timbered hall/ rose before them ,
radiant with gold./ Nobody on earth knew of another/ building like it. Majesty
lodged there,/ its light shone over many lands.) (306-311)

Unlike other translations , Heaney's describes Heorot as the "hall of halls"

(78) , which places Heorot above the halls of all other kings, including Beowulf's

own home. Again this emphasizes Heorot as an otherworldly place and a

suitable setting for initiation . The Beowulf poet also writes that the hall was

"meant to be a wonder of the world forever" (70). Furthermore , Heaney's

26
introduction notes that,

"Within these phantasmal boundaries, each lord's hall

is an actual and symbolic refuge. Here is heat and light,
rank and ceremony, human solidarity and culture; the duguth
share the mead-benches with the geogoth, the veterans with
their tales of warrior kings and hero-saviors from the past
rub shoulders with young braves - thegnas , eorlas, thanes,
retainers - keen to win such renown in the future . (xv)

Again the aspects of the hall as a place of initiation are stressed . The young ,

untried boys are close to their elder "hero-saviors," where they can learn to

eventually take their places .

Gold , too , is associated with Heorot. Heaney states, "Gold is a constant

element, gleaming solidly in underground vaults , on the breasts of queens or the

arms and regalia of warriors on the mead-benches" (xvii) . Gold seems to

represent not just wealth, but a metal to emphasize the specialness of the hall

and those who dwell there .

James W. Earl explains that like the Danes of Beowulf, the Norse gods

built themselves a great hall in which to live. The hall represented civilization

which existed in the midst of chaos. Earl writes that this old Germanic world view

is seen in Beowulf, for the great hall is surrounded by the threatening landscape

of the countryside (53) . Heorot is a metaphor for civilization The great hall also

represents not only civilization , Earl notes, but creation too. In fact, in the poem ,

Heorot is celebrated with a "song of creation " (115). The hall, then , is a suitable

place for Beowulf's first initiation ritual. These tests , notes Kathryn Hume, "[... ]

take place in a distant or special realm" ("Theme" 17). The hero must leave the

27
ordinary world before his initiation can occur.

Grendel's long-term siege upon Heorot turns the hall from a place of light

and civilization to one of darkness and terror. A great many Danes have already

been killed and eaten in the monster's attacks, and the "greatest house/ in the

world stood empty, a deserted wallstead" (145-146) . By entering the "hall of

halls," Beowulf would embark upon a transforming experience. When he

emerged from the battle, if he lived at all , he would no longer be the youth who

sailed to Denmark.

28
 Chapter Two

Grendel

In the moors, down through the mist bands/ God cursed Grendel came greedily
loping . (Beowulf. Heaney trans. (710-711)

Beowulf crosses the sea to the land of the Danes in order to clear their country
of a man-eating monster called Grendel. (Heaney x)

The hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid ambiguous forms .

(Campbell , Hero 97)

The protagonist is now ready for initiation. This typically involves danger,

but the hero is aided by the supernatural helper he met previously (97) .

Campbell explains that this stage is in some ways an extension of the previous

one, for it involves the question, "Can the ego put itself to death?"(1 09).

Grendel appears to be the antithesis of Beowulf, the Danes in Heorot, and

of humanity itself. He is a monster or a troll of Norse legend or what Shippey

called a "non human intelligent being" (Beowulf 41-42) . Grendel is also

described as "Caines cynne" (107) , or a descendant of the Biblical Cain . The

poet emphasizes Grendel's status as an outsider, not only excluded from the

civilizing warmth of Heorot, but from the grace of God ,

Swa tha driht-guman dreamum lifdon ,

eadiglice, oththaet an ongan
fyrene fremman feond on helle.
Waes se grimma gaest Grendel haten,
maere mearc-stapa, se the moras heold,

29
 fen ond faesten;
won-saeli wer
sithan him Scyppend
in Caines cynne -
ece Drihten ,
Ne gefeah he thaere faehthe ,
Metod for thy mane,
Thanon untydras
eotenas ond ylfe
swylce gigantas,
lange thrge;
fifel-cynnes eard
weardode hwile,
forscrifen haefde
thane cwealm gewraec
thaes the he Abel slog.
ac he hine feor forwraec,
man-cynne tram .
ealle onwocon ,
ond orcneas,
tha with Gode wunnon
He him thaes lean forgeald .
(99-114)

(So times were pleasant for the people there/ until finally one, a fiend out of hell,/
began to work his evil in the world./ Grendel was the name of this grim demon/
haunting the marches , marauding round the heath/ and the desolate fens ; he
had dwelt for a time/ in misery among the banished monsters,/ Cain's clan ,
whom the Creator had outlawed/ and condemned as outcasts. For the killing of
Abel/ the eternal lord had exacted a price:/ Cain got no good from committing
that murder/ because the Almighty made him anathema/ and out of the curse of
his exile there sprang/ ogres and elves and evil phantoms/ and the giants too
who strove with God/ time and again until He gave them their reward .)
(99-114)

The terror of Grendel is emphasized, too, when he is described as "god-

cursed" (711). This stresses that he is removed from all that is human and that

Beowulf has no chance of dealing with him as one might with a human enemy.

Grendel is described in the poem as "no hie faeder cunnon" (1355) , or

fatherless . Unlike Beowulf whose father is named and discussed, no mention of

a father for the monster is given . It seems possible that if Grendel had had any

sort of father at one point, the poet would have written something about it.

Therefore , this might also suggest a further connection with the goddess

archetype who had no spouse but rather a son/consort. Additionally, Gwendolyn

Morgan notes that it might also suggest either parthenogenesis or the death of

30
Grendel's father in a fertility rite (59).

Thus the monster Beowulf must fight is a supernatural being . While

Beowulf has proved himself as a youth, in his fight with the sea monster, for

example, he must now face an adult initiation against a creature of extraordinary

strength and power. Initiations are not meant to be easy; Campbell refers to the

first part of the initiation process as "the road of trials" (97). He further notes that

"[ ... ]this is a favorite phase of the myth-adventurer. It has produced a world

literature of miraculous tests and ideals" (97) . Grendel indeed resembles the

giant or ogre of popular fairy tales such as "Jack and the Beanstalk" or "Jack the

Giant Killer" among others. All of these stories tell of the defeat of a monster by

a young man who saves the community from further destruction.

Moreover, Heaney's introduction notes that,

As antagonists of a hero being tested, Grendel and his

mother possess an appropriate head-on strength . The
poet may need them as figures to do the devil's work,
but the poem needs them more as figures who call up
and show off Beowulfs physical might and his superb
gifts as a warrior. (xviii)

Thus again one can see the tension between a Christian poet and a poem

that incorporates a much older world-view, one that is based on heroic codes

including the initiation of young adults. As Heaney points out, even the earliest

critics have recognized that these heroic codes are of overwhelming concern to

the poem (xi).

Furthermore, almost all mythologies have tales of gods conquering an

older race of giants. A well-known example is Hellenic Zeus's defeat of the

31
Titans. The Book of Genesis, too, tells of a race of giants wiped out by a flood .6

Campbell explains that these stories reflect inherent conflicts between hunting

and agricultural societies. The ancient agricultural deities were seen as giant

monsters to be driven into exile, and the old earth mother and her son/consort

were replaced by a sky god and his wife (Primitive 230-239) . Interestingly, the

Greek Titans were believed to have been half serpent which links them further

to the original Greek earth mother, Gaia (Campbell , Occidenta/20) .

While Beowulf embodies all noble qualities, Grendel seems to personify

evil. Many scholars, however, have noted that Grendel can be read as

Beowulf's shadow or dark shadow, and thus contains all the negatives of

Beowulf's positive characteristics .7 Ward Parks examines Grendel as a "liminal

figure" who is neither a human being nor a beast (1 ). While Grendel sees

himself as a "predator" who invades Heorot and eats the men who sleep there,

Beowulf reacts to him as if he were human (2) . Thus the hero tends to

"ceremonialize" fights (4) , but the completely uncivilized Grendel refuses

Beowulf's "formal challenge" to battle as well as offers of wergild (6-7) . As

bestial as Grendel seems, his descent from Cain marks him as human (8-9) .

This means that he is also descendant from Adam and , therefore, is

theoretically just as human as Beowulf (8). 8 Additionally, Joyce Tally Lionarons

notes that just the fact that Grendel has a mother makes him human (12). The

Beowulf poet himself, however, is unconcerned with contemporary complexities

of character. Beowulf is the protagonist, the young adventurer who is risking his

32
life to help the Danes, and is aided by a supernatural being . Grendel , on the

other hand , is a fiend , the enemy of both God and humanity, and an

exceptionally violent, loathsome monster:

Com tha to recede rinc sithan

dreamum bedaeled . Duru sana onarn
fyr-bendum faest, sythan he gebolgen waes,
recedes muthan. Rathe aefter than
on fagne flor feond treddode,
eode yrre-mod ; him of eagum stod
ligge gelicost leoht unfaeger.
Geseah he in recede rinca manige,
swefan sibbe-gedriht samod aetgaedere,
mago-rinca heap. Tha his mod ahlog;
mynte thaet he gedaelde, aer than daeg cwome,
atol aglaeca anra gehwylces
Iif with lice, tha him alumpen waes
wist-fylle wen . (720-734a)

(Then his rage boiled over, he ripped open/ the mouth of the building ,
maddening for blood,/ pacing the length of the patterned floor/ with his
loathsome tread , while a baleful light,' flame more than light, flared from his
eyes./ He saw many men in the mansion , sleeping,/ a ranked company of
kinsmen and warriors/ quartered together. And his glee was demonic,/ picturing
the mayhem: before morning/ he would rip life from limb and devour them,/ feed
on their flesh . (723-733)

Beowulf refuses to don armor or to use his sword in order to battle

Grendel which might be part of the initiation process. In order for it to be a true

test, his feat must be far above the ordinary, and , therefore, a matched battle

against another man of equal strength and skill would not serve as a heroic trial.

Heaney explains,

As antagonists, Grendel and his mother possess an

Appropriate, head-on strength . The poet may need
Them as figures who do the devil's work, but the poem
needs them more as figures who call up and show off
Beowu/fs physical might and his superb gifts as a

33
 warrior. (xviii italics mine)

Thus Heaney emphasizes a pre-Christian , warrior initiation that was so

important to the heroic age.

Hume also notes that only by being victorious in such an unfairly

matched fight can the hero prove himself ("From" 3) . John M. Hill argues that

Beowulf's fight might "[... ] reflect a late survival of the shaman-assisted initiation

rituals Germanic warriors apparently undertook- rituals in which they did psychic

battle against beasts and animals, perhaps for a time becoming the beast they

confronted before emerging again" (124) . Hill notes that archeological evidence

exists for these initiations, and that they provide "[... ] indications of struggle,

metamorphosis, and return" (124-125) . Thus the hero "[ ... ] has undergone a

transformation of some kind , involving animal energies, before taking on his adult

roles . As a warrior he was apparently a defender of the folk and a purger of

pestilence, as well as a guardian of fertility" (125) . Thus it would seem that the

warrior, in his bestial fight with the animal , actually took some of the animal's

qualities upon himself. Furthermore, Eric Wilson explains that by killing Grendel

with his bare hands, Beowulf too becomes a monster (8). By physically fighting

the menace on equal terms , the young hero passes his first trial. Hume also

explains that only by defeating such an unfairly matched opponent can the hero

prove himself (3).

In addition to the Dane's deeply held belief that fate would determine

whether or not one would be killed that night (706) , Lawrence notes that this

34
might explain the fact of the other thanes sleeping in spite of the very strong

possibility of an attack from Grendel (705) . Although Tacitus observed that it

was, "[ .. .]a disgrace to the chief to be surpassed in valour by his companions"

(162) , a secondary reason might be part of Beowulf's initiation. As Lawrence

notes, this explains why Beowulf did not immediately defend the Geatan thane

whom Grendel was attacking ; "the younger hero had to wait until his older or

more renowned companions had fought and failed " (176) .

In fact, a great many folk tales and myths tell of a young man defeating a

giant that none of his elders have been able to defeat. In "Jack the Giant Killer"

a lad is motivated by the promise of a large financial reward to slay the giant who

has been stealing sheep from the hero of Cornwall. As the successful young

man's fame spreads, he continues to kill an extraordinary number of giants.

Similarly, in "Jack and the Beanstalk" a young boy climbs a magic beanstalk,

steals a giant's treasures, and eventually kills him. There are many obvious

differences between these stories and Beowulf's defeat of Grendel: both Jacks

are motivated by wealth rather than service to the community, even though the

community ultimately benefits from their actions. Unlike Beowulf, both boys

resort to trickery to slay their respective giants.

Many other motifs in these folk tales can also be found in Beowulf,

however. The two young men , like Beowulf, heed a call to adventure. Both have

a supernatural helper.9 Both leave the realm of the ordinary and come to some

type of threshold space where giants exist. Like Beowulf, Jack the Giant Killer

35
slays the first giant without a sword. He is able to slaughter other giants with a

sword that he obtains from a monster. Beowulf also takes a sword from the lair

of Grendel's mother and kills her with it (1557-1559). Although the Jack who

climbs the beanstalk eventually kills his enemy by cutting down the stalk, the tale

describes several magical articles that have influenced the outcome of the tale.

Additionally, the giants are cannibals. Unlike cultures in which

cannibalism has ritualistic attributes, these giants seem to consider human flesh

to be another source of meat. There is nothing ceremonious about their acts.

Ward Parks, in fact, examines Grendel as a predator (2) . While Beowulf insists

on the ceremonial aspects of preparing for battle, Parks explains, Grendel only

wants to kill and eat (2-4).

Like Beowulf, the two Jacks have passed a test. They are now

considered adults; they are no longer bumbling boys, but heroes. In other

words, they have passed an initiation and returned transformed from a magical

realm back to the village

Although Beowulf is a human figure , he has god-like attributes. Hill

considers him analogous to the early Norse sky god , Tiu or Tyr. This god was

played the role of the law giver or "[... ] war as law, as settlement and the

establishing of boundaries" (64) . Additionally, John Gardner interprets Beowulf

as a Christ-like figure , noting that in the insular monastic tradition of Britain , it

would have been possible for the poet to interpret the hero in that respect (238).

After Grendel's defeat, the overjoyed Danes duly praise Beowulf who is

36
now a full-fledged hero. Grateful King Hrothgar rewards him with a boon ; he

offers to adopt Beowulf in his heart in addition to monetary rewards :

Nu ic, Beowulf, thee

secg besta , me for sunu wylie
Freogan on ferhthe ; heald forth tela
niwe sibbe. Ne bith the naenigre gad
worolde wilna, The ic geweald haebbe. (946b-950)

(So now Beowulf,/ I adopt you in my heart as a dear son./ Nourish and maintain

this new connection,/ you noblest of men ; there'll be nothing you 'll want for,/ no

worldly goods that won 't be yours) (945-949). Considering the young age of

Hrothgar's children , this could potentially mean that Beowulf would inherit the

Danish throne upon the old king 's death which would , of course, enhance the

value of the boon.

37
 Chapter Three

Grendel's Mother

Grendel's mother,/ monstrous hell-bride, brooded on her wrongs. (Beowulf

1258-1259)

The ultimate adventure, when all the barriers and ogres have been overcome, is
commonly represented as a mystical marriage of the triumphant hero-soul with
the Queen Goddess of the World . (Joseph Campbell, Hero 109)

[ ... ] Grendel and his troll-dam trawl and scavenge and bide their time.
(Heaney xiv)

Beowulf's adventures are not yet finished , for it is time for the hero to

experience what Campbell calls "meeting with the goddess." This, notes

Campbell , is "the ultimate adventure" and it is the "crisis at the nadir" of the

journey; thus it is a vital part of the initiation process (Hero 109). The hero

cannot meet her, however, until he has successfully completed his early trials

which prepare him for this encounter. To see the goddess when one is not ready

leads to terrible consequences, Campbell explains, and , as an example, he

recounts the Greek myth of Actaeon who spies Diana bathing and is turned into

a stag and torn by his own dogs (Hero 115). Thus Beowulf's trial- slaying

Grendel - psychologically prepares him for the next stage of his initiation.

Grendel's mother is stronger than her son , for while Beowulf was able to

defeat Grendel unarmed , he is unable to slay the female monster even with a

38
sword, and must resort to using her own, runic one, as mentioned above. In fact

Heaney, in his recent translation emphasizes her strength :

Her onslaught was less

only by as much as an amazon warrior's

strength is less than an armed man's
when the hefted sword , its hammered edge
and gleaming blade slathered in blood
Razes the sturdy boar-ridge off a helmet. (1382-1387)

Not only is Grendel's mother only less strong than an armed man , but Heaney's

choice of amazon has certain implications, for the word connotes an incredibly

strong woman . Moreover, amazon implies not just physical strength but a certain

fierceness and readiness for battle. Other translators of the poem , for example,

Donaldson , Liuzza, and Alexander call Grendel's mother "a woman " in the

above passage, which is a direct translation of the Old English wiffound in the

manuscript. Only Heaney interprets her as an amazon . In fact, Stephen Harris

points out that in Greek myth, amazons were completely separate from ordinary

women ; they were, "[ ... ]a kind of monstrosity, like the dragon , that the hero must

destroy" (297). Harris further explains that amazons, unlike most women , are a

fitting antagonist for a hero (297).

Campbell notes the predisposition of the traditional "shining hero" to

conquer the "disparaged monster of the earlier order of godhead, from whose

coils come some treasure to be won: a fair land , a maid , a boon of gold , or

simply freedom from the tyranny of the impugned monster itself' (Occidenta/22) .

This, then , is the episode with Grendel's mother: Beowulf is literally the "shining

39
hero ," who not only is young and strong , but actually is armored in a coat of

mail. He then descends into the darkness and kills the old goddess. Michael

Nagler, too, asserts that Beowulf is the mythological sky god who descends into

the underground "[ ... ] to do battle with the demon of darkness" (144) . Moreover,

Nagler asserts that the sword which Beowulf uses against Grendel's mother

actually belongs to the sky god. Because this god is a solar one, the blade

disintegrates after Grendel's mother's death (151 ).

The goddess figure , as Campbell illustrates, is a dichotomy of both the

good mother and evil mother archetypes (Hero 111) as well as the goddess of

death (Hero 114). She is the "inevitable bride" of the hero, so after his symbolic

marriage, he is ready to take place of the father (Hero 121 ), who, like the mother,

has good and evil aspects (Hero 128-129). Until the hero has passed his

initiation, including the necessary meeting with the goddess , however, he is not

capable of taking his father's place. "When the roles of life are assumed by the

improperly initiated ," Campbell explains, "chaos supervenes" (Hero 136). A son

who has passed certain tests is now capable of taking on the tasks demanded of

him (Hero 148).

Grendel's mother is introduced into the poem when she appears at Heorot

to avenge the death of her son and comes upon the sleeping thanes. Much

more so than Grendel , she is described as a creature of the Underworld , an

"ides, aglaec-wif yrmtho gemunde,/ se the waeter-egesan

wunian scolde,/ caulde streamas (1259b-1261a) . (Monstrous hell-bride,

40
brooded on her wrongs. She had been forced down into fearful waters, the cold

depths [1259-1261]). Besides that of a vengeful ogress, the imagery associated

with Grendel's unnamed mother is that of water and of the Underworld, both of

which are associated with the ancient archetype of the mother goddess

(Campbell, Occidental 52). As one can see the similarities between Grendel and

the monsters of folklore , one can also see the resemblance between Grendel's

mother and the terrible old women in these stories.

The Indo-Europeans were nomadic hunters and herders, and as they

arrived in already settled areas, they came into conflict with inhabitants who

worshiped the goddess (Leeming, Goddess 88-89) . She was impossible to exile

completely, however, and she thus returned but as many deities, rather than

many aspects of a single almighty creator. Although the sky-god was now the

most important deity, goddesses were worshiped as the god's wife, sister, or

daughter (Campbell, Power 169-170). Not only was she now much less

powerful , however, but her characteristics of maiden, matron, and crone were

attributed to separate goddesses. The former two sides were still worshiped as

fertility goddesses, but the Crone was feared. Campbell writes:

In the older mother myths and rites the light and darker
aspects of the mixed thing that is life had been honored
Equally and together, whereas in the later, male-oriented ,
patriarchal myths, all that was good and noble was attributed
to the new heroic master gods, leaving to the native nature
powers the character only of darkness - to which also a
negative moral judgement was added. (Occidenta/21)

While in the older cultures, death was understood as part of a natural life-cycle,

41
now it was attached to the darker goddesses. Campbell notes that the

patriarchal world-view was one of the dualities of ,"[ ...] male and female , life and

death , true and false, good and evil" rather than one of "the larger entity of life"

(Occidenta/26-27) . In spite of this, however, the Indo-Europeans still respected

the feminine ; in fact, Barbara Walker explains that they believed that the male

god's power would be greatly diminished without the wisdom of feminine

guidance (59) .

The Judeo -Christian tradition is extremely "anti-goddess," Campbell notes

(Power 171 ). Now she was not only deprived of much of her power as under the

Indo-Europeans, she became a monster, a figure to be suppressed rather than

worshiped .

The term ides in connection with Grendel's mother is interesting, for it is

the Anglo-Saxon word for lady. Jane Chance states that using ides and aglaec-

wif in the same line to describe Grendel's mother emphasizes that she[ ... ]

inverts the Germanic roles of the mother and queen or lady" (288). This role was

one of peace-weaving and cup-bearing , as personified by Weallhtheow,

Hrothgar's queen (289). 10 By insisting upon taking the man's role as avenger for

a slain kinsman , Grendel's mother is abandoning the traits prescribed to an ideal

Germanic woman (288). Chance notes also that the episode with Grendel's

mother is more than a mere link between the scenes with Grendel and with the

dragon (287) . This episode is also divided into "two parts to illustrate the

various feminine roles- of the mother or kinswoman (modor) and queen or lady

42
(ides aglaecwif) - she inverts" (289). Because this inverted role is seemingly so

terrible, yet so powerful , one might conclude that she is a demonized goddess

figure.

Keith P. Taylor, on the other hand, claims that the poet's deliberate

juxtaposition of ides and aglaec-wif"[ ... ] emphasizes not the physical

monstrosity, but the inherent nobility of Grendel's mother" (13). He notes that

ides was consistently used in Anglo-Saxon verse to mean a noble woman (15).

Furthermore, aglaec is used to describe not only Grendel and his mother but

also Beowulf himself. For example, the poet writes, "Naes tha long to thon,/

thaet tha aglaecean Hy eft gemetton" (2591 b-2592), which Heaney

translates as "Before long/ the fierce contenders clashed again" (2592-2593) .

Early critics such as Klaeber, Taylor continues, solved this inconsistency by

defining the word in negative terms when applied to the former but positive terms

when it came to the latter. Aglaec, could, however, refer to a brave fighter (14).

Helen Damico also notes that the term ides refers to both Grendel's

mother and Wealhtheoow ,and states that the term , "[ ... ]from very early times

referred to human female beings with supernatural attributes who held the rank

of half-goddesses and functioned as priestesses" (69) . Not only is Grendel's

mother Wealhtheow's double (46), but they both retain traces of ancient deities.

Furthermore, Damico examines the ancient Norse image of the valkyrie which

are both "fierce" and "benevolent guardians" (41 ). Traditionally, the valkyrie are

found in pairs and once were connected to old fertility goddesses; this, Damico

43
notes, is reflected in the aforementioned pairing of Grendel's mother and

Wealhtheow and also the pairing of Hygd and Modthrytho (51 ). "The Beowulf

poet," explains Damico, "follows the customary portrayal of the valkyrie as a

deadly battle-demon in his characterization of Grendel's mother" (46) . Thus

Wealhtheow would take on the more benign traits of the valkyrie.

Furthermore, Gwendolyn Morgan claims that of all the women in Beowulf,

Grendel's mother has the most right to the title ides , for she alone had

supernatural powers, which were implied by the aforementioned etymology of

the word (59-60) . The supernatural aspects of the Grendel's mother/

Wealhtheow pair is further strengthened by the queen's first meeting with

Beowulf when she predicts that he will save Heorot. Damico states that this

reflects the "[... ] archetypal first encounter between a valkyrie and a hero" (67).

She also takes on the role of a priestess in her aspect of a cup bearer, as when

she greets Beowulf with a cup over which she has prayed (71 ).

Additionally, Carl Meig also recognizes the significance of Wealhtheow in

her role as a priestess . In fact, he interprets it as a type of ritualistic marriage

between a hero-god and a goddess (97 -98) . He does not, however, include

Grendel's mother in the aspect of a priestess or goddess. When one uses

Campbell's readings on the subversion of the universal mother goddess,

however, Grendel's mother seems to fulfill this role .

Once again the peace of Heorot is shattered and it falls upon Beowulf to

defend the great hall. Grendel's mother attacks in the night, and in addition to

44
taking Grendel's hand, she takes a favorite thane back to her lair (1295-1303).

Her home is so ghostly that the wild harts will not enter it, even though it means

certain death by the hunters' dogs (1368b-1369) . This might imply that her home

is the antithesis of Heorot which means hart (Helterman 12). In fact the cave

seems hell-like, for even the water burns (1366). Although Beowulf was able to

defeat Grendel at Heorot, he must descend into the depths of the lair in order to

defeat his mother. Thus his next adventure is the descent into the underworld .

The mere is associated with hell. Not only do we see the above

forementioned fires but,

Fetha eal gesaet;

gesawon tha aefter waetere wyrm-cynnes fela ,
sellice sae-dracan sund cunnian ,
swylce on naes-hleothum nicras licgean ,
tha on undern-mael oft bewitigath
sorh-fulne sith on seg-rade ,
wyrmas ond wil-deor. (1424b-1430a)

(The water was infested with all kinds of reptiles./ There were writhing sea-

dragons and monsters slouching on slopes by the cliff,/ serpents and wild things.

[1425-1428] These reptilian creatures were associated with the mother

goddess (Campbell, Power) . The underworld was originally associated

with goddess figures . She is the deity associated with death, and originally she

was simply one aspect of a single Great Mother. In the ancient agricultural

societies, she was understood to rule all aspects of life; thus she was the

goddess of illness and death as well as fertility . After the arrival of the patriarchal

Indo-Europeans, her power was greatly reduced , and she was splintered into

45
many separate goddesses.

Thus Norse mythology actually had two interacting systems. The older

agricultural gods and goddesses, known as the vanir, were still worshiped

although only a vestige of their former strength remained to them . The Indo-

European sky-gods and war gods were superimposed upon those of the older

Nordic peoples (Jochens 50) . The valkyries, for example, were associated with

the later tradition (Jochens 50) , yet they descend from ancient fertility

goddesses (Damico 52) .

Hel was the Norse goddess of the Underworld ; the daughter of the

trickster god Loki. She is considered to be a dark goddess who is associated not

only with death, but with the destruction of the world with which Norse mythology

ends. Hel embodied the crone aspect of the mother goddess, much as Hecate

did in Classical myth (Walker 116). Grendel's mother takes on the role of Hel

after she has been completely demonized by Christianity. Because the goddess

has been subverted twice, first by the Indo-Europeans and then by the

Christians, the hero's meeting with the goddess ends, not in a symbolic

marriage, but in his slaughtering her.

Grendel's mother is described as a "grund-wyrgenne" (1518) and a "mere-

wif' (1519) , which Heaney translates as a "swamp-thing" and a "tarn-hag ."

These terms underscore the chthonic qualities of the monster, who lives beneath

the waters. Swamp especially stresses the hidden nature of the woman , for the

word connotes something murky and opaque that hides what is beneath it.

46
 Grendel and his mother are described as hel-runan (163) , which Heaney

translates as "reavers from hell". Donaldson translates the term as "hell-

demons" (6) , Alexander as "hell's familiars" (162) , and Liuzza translates it as

"whispering demons" (163) . Hel-runan is glossed by Klaeber as "one skilled in

the mysteries of hell, demon" (354) . While many critics have recently discussed

Grendel's mother as an ides, very little discussion exists about the female

monster as hel-runan since Nora Chadwick wrote about it in 1959. Chadwick

examined contemporary Old English glosses and writes of the term :

The word helrunan is especially interesting, for it recalls the

halirurunnae [... ]apparently mis-shapen , Gothic witches[ ... ]The
use of the word helrunan to describe Grendel and his mother
is important for another reason , for in the lists of early glosses[ ...]
the word helrunan occurs as an alternate to wiccan. (174)

Wiccan means witch or wise woman , possibly a priestess of the Hel. The

word witch denotes wisdom and knowledge. The "hell" of hel-runan referred to

Norse goddess of the underworld , rasther than the Christian hell. Chadwick

notes that the use of this term links Grendel's mother to the pre-Classical idea of

the Greek Demeter (175). Demeter, in her earliest manifestations, was a fertility

goddess associated with the Greek underworld , a role later attributed to her

daughter Persephone (Campbell , Occidenta/27) .

When Beowulf takes the heirloom sword of Grendel's mother, uses it to

slay her, and then gives the hilt to the king , it might allude to males appropriating

both power and writing from women and using them both to consolidate

patriarchal rule based on kingship.

47
 Rune is defined as, "A letter or character of the earliest Teutonic alphabet

[ ... ]also, a similar character or mark having mysterious or magical powers

attributed to it" (OED). Another definition is "an incantation or charm donated by

magic signs" (OED) . Although rune is also an obsolete term for "run " (OED) , 1

do not think the Beowulf poet is characterizing the Grendel monsters as hell-

runners . While the poet certainly dooms them to hell after death, both Grendels

are alive in this early section of the poem , and they are never described as

running to or from hell. I believe the poet is using rune in its usual sense as

something hidden and magical.

Runes are found again in the poem as written on the sword of Grendel's

mother (1688b). The poet writes, "sciran goldes/ thurh run-stefans rihte

gemearcod,/ geseted ond gesaed (1694b-1696a) . (In pure gold inlay on the

sword-guards/ there were rune-markings correctly incised,/ stating and recording

(1694-1696). Thus, the poet seems to be emphasizing that the runes were

correct which hints as to their importance. Their connection with writing is also

noted as they are "stating and recording" (1696) . If this was some type of magic

spell , it would be highly important for it to be written accurately. Again this

might suggest that Grendel's mother was connected to the goddess and the

sword was used in her rituals . Jenny Jochens explains:

Since the oldest inscriptions indicate that runes were

originally used for magical purposes, runes may also
have been a tool with which men gained entry into the
female area of divination and magic. That women
resisted and sought access to the new technique (i.e.
cutting runes) is suggested by the literary evidence of

48
 female knowledge of runes during pagan times, as well
as by the numerous women who sponsored and even
carved commemorative and statutory rune stones during
the transition to Christianity. In Eddie poetry a rare and
tantalizing association of skript, meaning both "writing"
and "representation ," in connection with women 's
embroidery is found in Guthrun's second lay and
repeated in Volsunga saga . In Codex Regius the word
bok (book) is consistently used about embroidery or
weaving . (127)

Thus it might be implied that writing was once women 's domain , which they

sought to keep secret. Jochens further notes that weaving was associated with

magic (127), which was also traditionally a woman 's craft. Old runes might once

have been woven or embroidered and only later chiseled by men .11

Almost always , if not universally, writing was controlled by priest(ess)es ,

who were the first scribes. There has always been an association between

writing and magic. Spell, as in placing letters in the correct order to form a word ,

is the same term as something that is cast by magic. Glamour, too, which refers

to an enchantment, is derived from grammar, or the systematic rules of

language. Furthermore, grammar came to mean magic as well as written

knowledge (Ong 93). Writing first developed as a way of recording religious

rituals which led to the development of myth. We see this too in Christianity, for

the monks and priests were the few literates among the populace . In fact, that

explains why the Beowulf poet was considered to be a monk.

Furthermore, Jochens claims that "writing coincided with the emergence

of the state" (127) . Thus, writing might have been used to turn spiritual myths

into myths that would consolidate governmental power, which at this time was

49
controlled by males.

The connection between writing and women must be a very ancient one,

because Barbara Walker notes that the Norns, or the Norse version of the three

Fates were known as Die Schreiberinnen or the Writing Women , which were

related to Beowulfs "Goddess Wyrd " (99) . In fact, ancient Norse myth tells that

the Norns were daughters of the early triple goddess Wyrd . Wyrd is a

controlling force in Beowulf, it determines the outcome of all the characters's

actions. Although , in the poem , Wyrd means fate , it comes from the old

goddess and her daughters, the writing women .

The Norns were very powerful , for in Norse myth they controlled even the

destiny of the gods. They were believed to have lived at the foot of Yggdrasill ,

the tree of life, and water it from a spring (Davidson 195). They were also

connected with childbirth , which probably harked back to the early matriarchal

goddess mother. The hold of the Norns on the popular imagination was very

strong . In fact, Davidson explains that they were invoked well into the eleventh

century to ensure a newborn's good fortune . After a birth, places were laid for

them at the family's table (112). The fairy godmothers in Briar Rose probably

come from this old custom .

Hel is also associated with caves and underground pits. Although our

word hell is derived from her name, the land she ruled was not a place of eternal

damnation . Rather it was comparable to the Greek Hades, including the

monstrous dog who guarded the entrance.

50
 It is also interesting that Grendel's mother is unnamed. While at first this

might seem to be a slight - she was not important enough to name - one could

also assume that as a representation of the universal mother archetype, she did

not need a name; mother was sufficient. Beowulf's mother was unnamed too,

in spite of the fact that she was the sister of the Geat king , and therefore, a fairly

important woman. She also had an archetypal role : the mother of the hero.

Carl Jung explains that there is something magical and powerful involved in

naming someone (Psychology 208) . Therefore, if one is unable to discover

another person's hidden name, then he or she would be unable to obtain power

over them . Perhaps by keeping her name secret, Grendel's mother is hanging

on to the last vestiges of some ancient power she once had.

Grendel's mother also lives in a mere, or an underground body of water.

The fact that Hel is the goddess of the underground has been mentioned above.

Additionally, water is associated with goddesses. Even today, ancient holy wells

and springs exist all over Britain (Walker 104). Campbell notes that this

association is universal ; worldwide, the goddess was associated with wells,

including the Greek Demeter and the Egyptian Isis (Transformations 191 ).

Water, Jung noted is one of the most basic archetypal symbols, for it is

associated with life itself (245) . Thus the connection between Grendel's mother

and water seems to further indicate a life giving source.

While the crone aspect of the goddess has been demonized in the

ogress that is Grendel's mother, the "good mother" side of her is personified in

51
 Wealhtheow. Jeffrey Helterman explains that if Grendel is Beowulf's double,

than Grendel's mother is the double of Wealhtheow, and together the two

women are the Jungian "dual mother," or the loving and terrible aspects of the

mother archetype. Furthermore, Grendel's mother's concern for her child

mirrors that of Wealhtheow's concern for her own sons (13). The characters of

the two women become more complex, Jane Chance explains, for just as

Grendel's mother, the monster, is motivated by love for her son , Wealhtheow,

the good queen , steps out of her prescribed role in order to manipulate Hrothgar

after he offers to adopt Beowulf (290) . She is concerned that Beowulf might

inherit the Danish throne and displace her own young sons, so she leaves her

role as peace weaver to speak about the succession to the throne, which should

of course be a masculine preoccupation .

In addition to Grendel's mother and Wealhtheow, Hygd and Modthryth 12

can be examined as paired doubles (Damico 51) . In fact the abruptness with

which the Beowulf poet moves from a brief description of the good queen Hygd ,

to the evil Modthryth led E. Talbot Donaldson to suggest that part of the text

might have been lost (33n) . Possibly, however, the ancient myths of a universal

mother figure were still so entrenched in the audience's sub-conscious that a

transition might not have been necessary.

If Grendel's mother is Hel, or a version of the crone, than Beowulf's

descent into her mere is the hero's archetypal journey into the underworld . As

in the Classical myths, certain heroes , especially those having a supernatural

52
guide, are permitted to enter the underworld and to return again. Beowulf also

battles Grendel's mother in her own realm , which is the watery fen .

Analogues of Grendel's mother, or of the demonized goddess, exist in

many fairy tales. As David Adams Leeming notes, folklore portrays her as a

witch , wise woman , or fairy godmother (World 134). Some of the most dreadful

of these women are the witch in "Hansel and Gretel" and the stepmother in "The

Juniper Tree." Both of these "terrible mothers" kill and eat children . Jack Zipes

notes that the evil in these tales is associated with a witch who serves as "the

opposite of the male Christian God" (47) .

Other tales portray the old crone even though she is not necessarily evil.

In "Mother Holle," a young girl falls down a well and enters the magical realm of

an old woman. The girl is asked to serve the old woman , and is rewarded by

being covered with gold . Eventually, she returns home. Because this is

folklore rather than epic, the motifs are scaled accordingly, but one can see

similarities to Beowulf The old woman is probably a remnant of the mother

goddess. The name Holle , even , is very close to Hel (Walker 122 ).

Furthermore, the girl takes on the role of priestess; falling through the well is

crossing a threshold . Additionally, the water motif is similar to Beowulf Like the

young thane, she must descend into the watery underground . Gold , too, is a

symbol of transformation as well as a substance that cannot be "debased"

(Estes xxiii ); therefore, being covered in gold is a visible sign that the heroine

has changed irrevocably.

53
 One can see in these old stories the ancient mother goddess who has

now been subverted twice; first by the Indo-Europeans, and later by the

Christians. Of this patriarchal demonizing of the goddess, Campbell writes,

The function of the female has been systematically devalued ...

Just as her role is cut down, or even out, in myths of the origin
of the universe, so also in hero legends. It is in fact, amazing
to what extent the female figures of epic drama and romance
have been reduced to the status of mere objects; or, when
functioning as subjects, initiating actions of their own , have been
depicted either as incarnate demons or mere allies of the
masculine will. ( Occidenta/158)
Thus in the poem , Grendel's mother has been changed from a great goddess, a

creator who ruled both life and death, into a monstrous ogress.

54
 Chapter Four

The Return of the Hero and the Slaying of the Dragon

For fifty years I ruled this nation. No king of any neighboring clan would dare
face me with troops . (Beowulf, Heaney trans. 2732-2734)

My going will be easier for having seen the treasure. (Beowulf, Heaney trans.
2749-2750)

The wonderful ability of the serpent to slough its skin and so renew its youth has
earned for it throughout the world the character of the master of the mystery of
rebirth . (Campbell , Occidenta/9)

Gold is a constant element. (Heaney xvii)

Part One

Only after the hero has completed the initiation can he reach the final

stages of apotheosis, and "the ultimate boon ." Now he himself is godlike and is

ready for the final boon which is not merely earthly treasure but the "sustaining

substance" of the gods. In spite of the hero's readiness , the gods do not

necessarily want to cooperate, and , like Prometheus, he must trick them

(Campbell , Hero 182). Of course, the hero might not be aware of what he really

wants (Campbell, Hero 190).

Finally, the hero must return to benefit the community, yet, sometimes he

is reluctant to go home (Campbell , Hero 193). There are two ways to return ,

Campbell explains. If the hero wins the blessing of his "supernatural patron ,"

55
then he or she guides the way back. If, however, the hero won what he wishes

to take back against the will of the god(dess)s, they will do what they can to

prevent the homecoming (Hero 196-197).

Sometimes the protagonist returns, not as a result of his own efforts , but

rather, "the world may have to come and get him" (207). After the hero's great

adventures, he may have no wish to return to the ordinary world . Still, he must

return , and in some ways this is more difficult than the previous two stages

(216) . Campbell explains that the worlds really are one:

The realm of the gods is a forgotten dimension of

the world we know. And the exploration of that dim-
ension , either willingly or unwillingly, is the whole sense
of the deed of the hero. The values and distinctions
that in normal life seem important disappear with the
terrifying assimilation of the self into what was formerly
only otherness. (Hero 207)

After visiting the realm of the gods, it is difficult for the hero to accept as real the

old world that he once lived in . He, too, is also different; not only is he

transformed , but he is a different person from those whom he left behind (219-

220). Therefore, his hardest task, much more difficult than the trial that he has

endured , is for the hero to teach what he has learned to those that he left

behind (218) .

As a result of this transformation , the hero freely can pass back and forth

between the worlds (229) . At this stage he "[... ] no longer resists the self-

annihilation that is pre-requisite to rebirth in the realization of truth [ .. .]" (237) .

His "individual consciousness" is now reconciled with the "universal will" (238).

56
His own ego is part of the larger universe (243). Beowulf returns home and

rules his people for many years. When the Geats are threatened with the

dragon , though , Beowulf again crosses into the realm of the marvelous. After

the "meeting with the goddess" (Campbell , Hero 109), the hero is

psychologically ready to become one with the father. Although Beowulf's own

father is dead , both King Hrothgar and King Hygelac serve as substitute father

figures. As mentioned previously, Hrothgar has already offered to adopt

Beowulf (947) , and the long speech Hrothgar pronounces to Beowulf (1687-

1784) can be seen as fatherly advice. Hygelac is Beowulf's maternal uncle

and seems to have acted as a father figure in the court of the Geats.13

By defeating the Grendel monsters, Beowulf has brought peace to the

Danes. This illustrates that he was able to take over the primary duty of a king ,

namely to secure the safety of his people. Because Hrothgar is too old or too

weak to do this, Beowulf assumes this task. Symbolically, then , Beowulf is

replacing the father who was once old and powerful, but is now past his prime.

By defending the Danes , Beowulf indicates that he is now ready to take the

place of the father.

The character of Hrothgar is not fully developed ; Edward Irving explains

that Hrothgar is a stock character- the elderly king- much as Priam and Nestor

are in Classical literature. Because old men cannot actively participate in battle,

Irving continues,"[ ... ] we find contempt as well as respect in a warrior society"

(48) . This emphasizes the constant replacing of the old by the young which can

57
be read as part of the initiation process, much as Wiglaf replaces Beowulf after

his death.

Hygelac, the other father figure in Beowulf, plays an even smaller role

that Hrothgar does. As an uncle, he serves as a surrogate father to the young

Beowulf and gives the young thane his blessing before he departs. After

Beowulf's return , he immediately reports to Hygelac (1999-2163) . Furthermore,

he grants Beowulf another boon by giving him a sword and a large amount of

land. Campbell notes that the "atonement with the father" is an important part

of the initiation process because the purpose of the initiation is to prepare the

young to take their elders's place.

Beowulf is ready now for apotheosis and the "ultimate boon ," the final

stages of the initiation. Although Beowulf does not literally become a god ,

symbolically, he achieves god-like perfection . Throughout the epic, he acts

impeccably. His outstanding qualities have been noted , even before he begins

his adventures (196-198) . After his return as a hero, the poet writes,

Swa bealdode Breast geweorthod .

Guma guthum cuth ,
dreah aefter dome,
heorth-geneatas;
ac he man-cynnes
gin-faestan gife,
heold hilde-deor.
bearn Ecgtheowes ,
nealles druncne slog
naes him hreoh sefa ,
maeste craefte,
the him Ged sealde,
(2177-2183a)

(Thus Beowulf bore himself with valor;/ he was formidable in battle yet behaved
with honor/and took no advantage; never cut down/ comrade who was drunk,
kept his temper/ and , warrior that he was, watched and controlled/ his god-sent
strength and his outstanding/ natural powers.) (2177 -2183)

58
 Furthermore, as previously noted, John Hill claims that Beowulf is Tiu , the

ancient Norse war god who imposed the law (64). John Gardener interprets

Beowulf as a Christ-like figure (248). Thus, Beowulf can be seen as, if not an

actual god , at least quite god-like. This is borne out also at the poem's

conclusion when Beowulf willingly dies for his people.

The ultimate boon occurs when Hygd , after her husband's death, offers

Beowulf the throne of the Geats, "thaer him Hygd gebead Hord ond

rice,/ beagas ond brego-stol; Bearne ne truwode," (2369-2370). (There

Hygd offered him the throne and authority/ as lord of the ring-hoard .) This is a

common folkloric pattern ; the young man successfully completes an

adventurous undertaking , and is offered the kingdom . In this pattern, he is

usually offered a princess also. Lawrence has suggested that the offer of a

kingdom also implied an offer of marriage with Hygd (95-96). Noble Beowulf,

however, refuses the offer, and , instead , promises to guide and advise Hygd's

young sons. (2377 -2379) . This is, of course, Beowulfs second boon , for he has

already refused Hrothgar's offer. The throne of his own people, however, might

be considered a more fitting reward for Beowulf, especially because he was

disregarded as a young man. Because the young princes die, the poet is able

to portray how noble Beowulf is to refuse Hygd's offer and still to achieve the

reward of the kingdom .

After completing his initiation, the hero must use what he has learned in

order to benefit the community (Campbell , Hero 193). Thus Beowulf returns

59
from Denmark after sucessfully slaying the Grendels, and is now ready to

assume the adult responsibility of ruling the Geats. This Beowulf does

successfully for fifty years.

Part Two

As the king of the Geats, Beowulf is back in the ordinary world of

everyday affairs. He left the world of supernatural creatures and extraordinary

events behind , and ruled peacefully and well for a very extensive period . I think

that the poet glosses over this fifty year period because it was so far removed

from the other world of monsters upon which the poet focuses.

Only the threat of the dragon ended Beowulfs prosperous reign . A thief

steals a cup from the dragon's barrow, the sleeping wyrm is angered , and

Beowulf must slay him to restore the peace. John Niles argues that a dragon is

a fitting death for a hero (Beowulf' the Poem 184); this seems logical for it would

be odd to have a great warrior die at home in his bed . Additionally, Joyce Tally

Lionarons emphasizes linguistic proof of the commonality of the Indo-European

dragon slaying myths which all contain the same cognates for the term dragon

(2-3) . Furthermore, in all of these tales, only the most elevated type of hero

slays the dragon (3).

Heaney, too, writes , "Nevertheless, the dragon has a wonderful

60
inevitability about him and a unique glamour" (xviii). "It is not that the other

monsters are lacking in presence and aura," Heaney continues, "it is more that

they remain for all their power to terrorize, creatures of the physical world" (xviii).

Thus Heaney sees the dragon as the final destiny of the hero, or as wyrd rather

than wyrm (xix) .

The wyrm also provides a link with Grendel's mother. Campbell writes

that since ancient times, serpents have been linked to the mother goddess in

her aspect of the moon goddess. The serpent's shedding of his old skin has

been associated with the waxing and the waning of the moon. Both were

universally considered to be symbols of rebirth and regeneration (Occidenta/9) .

Furthermore, Beowulf describes reptilian creatures living in the mere of

Grendel's mother (1425-1427). If we interpret Grendel's mother as the Crone

aspect of the mother goddess, then the dragon seems like a fitting creature with

which to end the poem, for the wyrm seems to come from the same chthonic

realms as she does. Furthermore, the lair of the dragon is the third of the

"archetypal sites of fear" that Heaney discusses (xii).

The old, old story of a dragon-slaying hero is also universal. 14 Campbell

writes of the sun-like Indian god, lndra, who killed the great dragon, Vritra.

lndra was an Indo-European sky god, and the beast that he slew was the

cosmic dragon from the pantheon of the earlier inhabitants who now took on the

qualities of the "archdemon ." After the dragon's death, his mother, the goddess

Danu, sought revenge, so lndra killed her too (Orienta/179-182). The

61
similarities to Beowulf are striking (Leeming , Goddess 124). Furthermore,

Campbell notes that the name of this slain dragon, Vritra, comes from "the

verbal root vr, 'to cover to encompass' which is also the root of Varuna "

( Orienta/182) .

Additionally, the treasure stolen from the dragon was specifically a cup or

chalice, "him to bearme cwom/ maththum-faet maere thurh thaes

meldan hond" (2404b-2405). (The precious cup had come to him from the hand

of the finder 2404-2405). Morgan explains that the cup is a feminine symbol

representing the womb ; this strengthens the association between Grendel's

mother and the wyrm (61) The dragon's cup might also be a link to Grendel's

mother's double, Wealhtheow, for she exemplified the role of cupbearer.

The cup, of course, is only part of the great amount of treasure that the

dragon guards in his barrow. The treasure has a deeper meaning than the

mere financial , for it was accorded a magical status. John McGalliard examines

the role of the treasure in the poem by explaining that the gold was magically

protected , and no man could touch it against God's will (253). In fact, Beowulf

dies because of the curse placed upon it (260) . McGalliard also reminds the

reader that the dragon found the treasure and guarded it for hundreds of years,

bothering nobody until the thief stole his cup (253) . It was impossible to

negotiate with the dragon , however, just as it had been impossible to do so with

Grendel fifty years earlier (261) . Thus the theft of the treasure sets into motion

the events that will result in Beowulfs death.

62
 "The heroic world , at least as it is depicted in poetry," Michael D.

Cherness explains, "had a quite different conception of treasure, and a hero's

treasure hoard represents more than just his financial solvency" (473-474).

Because a victorious army takes the defeated army's treasure, treasure comes

to reflect the glory earned in battle. This also explains why a warrior's treasure

is buried with him; the honor that he has won cannot be handed to others; the

next generation must win it for itself (478-479). Unearned treasure is looked

down upon in heroic cultures; and stolen treasure is truly despised. Thus,

Cherness writes, Beowulf is disgusted by the thief who steals the dragon's cup

(481-482) . To secure the gold for his people, Beowulf must earn it by fighting

the dragon (483) . After Beowulf's death, Wiglaf buries the gold with him ,

claiming that only Beowulf was worthy of it (485) , and this foretells the end of

the Geats (486). Although treasure was a material to be earned , it reflected the

valor of he who earned it, rather than its financial value (481 ).

In the milieu of Beowulf, "a treasure is a begotten life," explains Paul

Beekman Taylor. He examines the Old English noun gestrean or treasure , and

notes that it is related to the modern gestation . Thus the word has a meaning

that is close to "[... ] something begotten , blood strain" (191 ). It also becomes a

synonym for the act of creating something; the old meanings suggest a tie

between treasure and life (192). It might explain why Beowulf, who mourns the

fact that he will die without a son , becomes more cheerful at the thought of the

treasure hoard (191) . The old Germanic custom of burying the dead with some

63
type of treasure served a ritualistic purpose (192). It also suggested a link with

future generations that went beyond the mere financial (192-193) . Thus to

Beowulf the king, leaving his people with an enormous amount of gold,"[ ... ] is a

benefit to a people comparable to, if not equal to, a son (191 ).

Thus the dragon's treasure had much greater significance than that of

mere wealth. The deadly battle between Beowulf and the dragon was not a

simple squabble over riches, for the gold represented something transcendent,

something so removed from the ordinary that Beowulf willingly died because of

it. Perhaps the gold represented the height of spiritual perfection such as the

alchemists struggled to achieve. While the purpose of alchemy was to turn

base metal into gold, the real transformation occurred in the alchemist who

strove for perfection . Campbell explains that alchemy turns base metal, which is

corruptible into gold which is pure, and, therefore, cannot be corrupted :

The aim of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century

alchemists to sublimate "base matter" (filth and corruption)
into gold (which is pure and therefore incorruptible) would
represent perfectly, according to this view, an urge to
carry the energies locked in the first system of interests into
the sphere of the superimposed second . (Primitive 72)

This fits into the theme of transformation found in the poem. We have

seen in the long process of initiation the change that happens in the hero. He

left Geatland as an untried youth; he successfully completed his grueling

process of initiation, and returned home as a king ready to replace the father

figure. The gold represents Beowulf's final, irrevokable change which is death,

64
but it also might symbolize the immortality that, as Campbell explains,

transcends death (Hero 130n). This immortality is still, however, in keeping with

the northern warrior's code, which was more concerned with the remembered

glory of the hero than eternal salvation (Heaney xi) .

Moreover, Heaney writes that the gold is heated by the dragon's body

(xix). This not only explains how closely the monster guarded his treasure but

also implies that some of the magical essence of the dragon was transported to

the gold. Again this indicates that the gold was more than just wealth.

Again the dragon is a worthy foe to cause this final transition. Not only is

a dragon a monster of fierce and terrible proportions, which leads to an

appropriate death for the hero (Niles, Beowulf" the Poem 184), but a dragon is

an otherworldly creature of myth.

The dragon's gold also has a "mythological reference to the sun"

(Campbell, Primitive 448). Again , this reminds us of the young Beowulf who, as

Nagler writes, "leaves the realm of the sky god" with whom the sun and its light

are associated ( 151 ) .

The serpent is associated with the Mother Goddess because of its ability

to slough off its own skin which is symbolic of death and rebirth. The Beowulf

poet not only calls the monster a wyrm , he also calls it a dracca . Campbell

writes, "The serpent bound to the earth , the eagle in spiritual flight[ ... ] And then,

when the two amalgamate, we get a wonderful dragon, a serpent with wings. All

over the world , people recognize these images" (Power 37). The serpent also

65
returns us to the pagan, cyclical world and away from the Christian, linear one,

for the serpent biting its own tale is a symbol of eternity (Campbell, Primitive

240). This reminds the reader again of Heaney's assertion that this older,

heroic, pagan world is central to the poem, while the Christian one is only at the

"outer rim" (xvi) .

The final result of the hero's journey is the ability to"[ .. .] to travel back

and forth across the world division," explains Campbell (Hero 229). When

Beowulf decides to fight the dragon, he is leaving the prosaic, ordinary world of

the Geatan court once again in order to return to the extraordinary world of the

monsters he left behind after battling the Grendels. We can imagine that

Beowulf spent fifty years ruling, certainly as an exemplary king , but nonetheless

one who spent his time in the usual activities of a northern king of the period.

Meeting the dragon is a type of return to Heorot; once more Beowulf is entering

the realm of the marvelous. Here one leaves behind the earthly world of time

and space and enters into an eternal mythic world. The hero is finally one who

is free to travel between the two worlds, having done so as a youth, Beowulf is

able to do so again when necessary.

Furthermore, Campbell explains that,

The last act of the biography of the hero is that of

the death or departure. Here the whole sense of the
life is epitomized . Needless to say, the hero would
be no hero if death held for him any terror; the first
condition is reconciliation with the grave. (Hero 356)

Thus Beowulfs life ends. The hero completes his journey, and his death is as

66
heroic as his life has been .

Like the opening of the poem , the final scenes of Beowulf, Heaney writes,

"[ ...] retain a haunting presence in the mind ; they are set pieces but they have

the life-marking patterns of certain dreams" (xii) . Thus, Heaney points out the

dream-like, yet great potency, of the poem. "The poetry, " continues Heaney, "is

imbued with a strong sense of wyrd hovering close" (xvii). Beowulfs death is

fated and inevitable. Here the pagan world view is complete, for Beowulf "[... ]

enters the legends of his people as a warrior of high renown" (x). Thus, the

Germanic warrior is rewarded with the highest honors possible according to the

ancient warrior code.

67
 Conclusion

Seamus Heaney's recent translation of Beowulf allows the poem a, "[ ...]

fresh chance to sweep 'in off the moors, down through the mist bands' of Anglo-

Saxon England , forward into the global village of the third millennium" (Heaney

xiii). Just as sixty years ago, Tolkien's work gave the reader a new way of

understanding Beowulf, Heaney's interpretation allows the reader to understand

fresh aspects of the poem .

As noted in the introduction, this translation is a "personal response" to

the violence of the twentieth century (David xiii) . Heaney himself notes in his

introduction:

The Geat woman who cries in dread as the flames

consume the body of her dead lord could come straight
from a late- twentieth-century news report, from Rowanda
or Kosovo ; her keen is a nightmare glimpse into the
minds of people who have survived traumatic, even monstrous
events and who are now being exposed to a comfortless
future. (xxi)

Thus one can see both the universality and the timelessness of these old tales

as they are repeated again and again . Stephen Greenblatt writes that Heaney

has said that he, "[ ... ]feels a link between the most intimate resources of his

own poetic craft and the rhythms , language, and inner vision of the Old English

epic" (59) . This, too, appears to stress the universal themes of the poem.

Reading Beowulf in light of Joseph Campbell sheds light upon these everlasting

68
patterns. Heaney's work, with its emphasis on the "mythic potency" of the work,

is especially receptive to interpretation in the light of the mythic undercurrents

that Campbell examines so extensively.

Beowulf's adventures follow the pattern of Joseph Campbell's universal

hero. Readers can see how the young man is called to adventure in his native

Geatland , and he answers the call. He is guided by a supernatural figure , and

crosses a threshold into another realm. Before crossing , however, Beowulf

must answer the challenge of a threshold guardian . He then enters Heorot

where he falls into another sphere of existence.

The hero is now ready for his initiation which he successfully completes

with the slaughter of Grendel. The initiation culminates in the "meeting with the

goddess," although it results in Beowulf slaying her. He is now ready to take the

place of the father, and he is justly rewarded .

As Campbell points out, Beowulf's adventures are the same as those that

have been undertaken by a thousand other heroes. Comparisons with well-

known folk tales illustrate these universal elements. Unlike the more familiar

fairy tale, however, Beowulf ends not with a marriage but the death of the

protagonist. Beowulf, assuming the role of the old sacrificial gods, is willing to

die for his people. This is consistent with his character, for throughout the

poem , Beowulf has acted nobly, both in his roles as a young adventurer and as

a ruler. When Beowulf decides to gather a band of men in order to slay the

dragon, Beowulf is aware of the potential outcome. In fact, his character is in

69
complete contrast to the Geats who desert him. John D. Niles claims that, "the

poem does not criticize the hero for being unlike the Geats. It criticizes all of us

for not being like the hero" (Beowulf' The Poem, 247).

The dragon , then, is no mere monster. A Heaney explains, he is,"[ ... ]

the embodiment of a knowledge deeply ingrained in the species which is the

very knowledge of the price to be paid for physical and spiritual survival" (xix).

Again , this illustrates both the inevitability of the hero's death and the theme of

sacrifice on which the poem ends.

While Beowulf is a story of unfailing heroism , it is also a story of

transformation. The untried youth is changed into a man who is capable of

taking his father's place and who is changed into a god-like person who can

move between the realms of the ordinary and the marvelous. The reader or

listener is changed along with Beowulf. Laura Simms writes of that these old

stories:

[... ]take us to a place that does not exist but must be reached ,
and then brings us back again. Like the hero or heroine adorned
with wisdom and story, we bring back a secret treasure of
awareness that is priceless[ ... ]The story ends like a pilgrimage,
having brought us to the inner chamber in the temple where one
might view a statue of a deity or discover nothing at all. The
journey was the crossing. (65-66)

These stories become what Joseph Campbell calls the "roadmap" that myths

provide as a guide by which we humans can live through the transforming

stages of our lives (Power 37 -39) .

70
 End Notes

1. Joseph Campbell himself wrote very little about Beowulf He recaps the work

of his own professor, Dr. Lawrence and discusses Panzer's early work on the

Bear's Son motifs in the poem (Creative 114-123).

2. There is a popular misconception that fairy tales were created for the moral

instruction of children. Although fairy tales were later adapted for that purpose,

originally they were devised to entertain both adults and children (Campbell ,

Flight 34) .

3. Old English spellings have been modified when necessary. For example, the

Old English thorn is spelt th in the thesis.

4. The Beowulf text used in the original quotations and the translated quotations

is Seamus Heaney's 2000 edition, unless otherwise noted .

5. For a reading of Beowulf as a "synthesis of pagan and Christian history," see

Thomas Hill. For an extensive discussion of pagan ideals that are present in

Christian works, see Stanley.

6. See Eric Wilson for a discussion of the Flood story and Beowulf. Wilson

notes a specific connection , for Grendel is Cain's descendant.

7. For a comprehensive discussion of Grendel as Beowulfs double, see

Helterman (11-12) .

8. In spite of this, Parks has not much sympathy for Grendel. He explains that it

is easy for modern critics to defend the monster, but in a constantly threatened

society, "decentered and dehumanized viewpoints quickly loose their appeal" (6) .

71
9. Jack the Giant Killer is given a magical sword , a cloak that causes its wearer

to become invisible, and shoes that allows anyone who wears them to become

invisible. The Jack who climbs the beanstalk receives magic beans from a

stranger. In some versions of the tale, Jack also meets a fairy who urges him to

climb the beanstalk.

10. For a discussion of Beowulfs appropriating the feminine role of peace

weaver, see Morey.

11 . The rune on the sword of Grendel's mother in the Beowulf manuscript was

the "ethel" which meant noble. The rune was actually used in the manuscript

(line 1677). Runes were also used in the manuscript in lines 1679, 1686, and

1687 (Kiaeber).

12. Dockray-Miller explains Queen Modthrydho in terms of gender and power

(31-39) .

13. For a discussion of the importance of the relationship between a man and

his mother's brother in early Germanic culture, see Glosecki.

14. See Rauer for an extensive discussion of dragon analogues.

72
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