On Beowulf

The earliest known written story in the Anglo-Saxon culture is Beowulf, and Beowulf indeed represents many values that were important to the early peoples in England. Like pine trees remind me of South Carolina and fully green water oaks represent Georgia, so Beowulf should represent the Anglo-Saxon life for me. In this patiently lifetime-spanning heroic story of how bravery overcame all odds to defeat the tyranny, and save the race of mead-loving, king-loving, story-loving Danes.
The three major themes in Beowulf are battle, dignity and fame, which play important roles in what historians remember to be England around 500 ad. Of course the whole theme of reciting stories which permeates everything in Beowulf so prominently must also have been a big factor in ancient life. (Funny, how in Arabian Nights, which popped up around the same time period as Beowulf, but in a whole different culture in the Orient, also had this huge culture of story telling. Before television, and radio, and books, verbal entertainment was all people had, and most of the stories from yore that we heard today, including Beowulf, existed for years or even centuries before they were ever written down and got passed down through the years by voice.)
Battle appears in Beowulf so constantly, and so nonchalantly, it’s surprising to the modern-day reader to see. In England, when the whole island was ruled separately by different kings, and thus different cultures, battle was an everyday thing – and not like it is today, with blood being shed and no one paying attention. In Anglo-Saxon life, it was the man’s duty to be a warrior, and other than being a warrior they did not have many other trades. Beowulf becomes king of a foreign nation when
"Hygelac fell/ in the storm of war,/ and his son, Heardred,/ fell too under his shield,/ killed by the sword/ fighting the Swedes,"
Though nothing of war is accounted in the tale of Beowulf, only his other perilous adventures. Yet battle is what makes men men, Hrothgar explains the hardships and struggles of the warrior, as if it were the only way to be a man. I once heard that, in life, man should write a book, have a child, plant a tree, and kill a man, all of which are just metaphors (writing a play, having a kid, gardening, and participating in war would also add up to be a successful life). And so it was in Anglo-Saxon life.
And there wasn’t much getting away from it because it was what the King had all his subjects do for him, and loyalty to your King was the most important honor to uphold in Anglo-Saxon beliefs. To say the least, Beowulf fulfilled his honorary duties, and even went beyond the normal heroism by going to another King’s nation and saving all of his people (not to mention the king himself) from the evils coming in off the moors. One of my favorite examples of the Anglo-Saxon dignified heroism, was when, near the finale of Beowulf’s life, his young helper-soldier, Wiglaf, as his comrades are running deep into the woods away from the frightful dragon’s fire which Beowulf is caught in, decides to take the necessary stand and help his leader. Wiglaf knows that if he does not enter the dragon’s cave and aid Beowulf, our hero will die, without having seen the like bravery of his processors. Wiglaf takes the stand, but does not end by saving the life of Beowulf.
But Beowulf was aware that he was fighting his last fight:
"The good prince awaited/ the last of his days,/ the end of this world's life,/ and the dragon with him,"
Beowulf’s death was, though not dignified in a moral or philosophical sense, he did not die after he had found some truth, but he did die with a good heart, a life lived, evils conquered. Some may bring up that he was correcting the ill effects of a thief who had not been punished for his initial crime, but as Beowulf says:
"I have traded/ my old life for the people's needs"
What was more important than the moral wrong-ness of stealing, they were stealing from a dangerous creature, which, Beowulf –as king-, thought was better off dead. And the lasting benefits, prosperity, and riches his deeds brought his people made his death, and easily, the dragon’s death deserving of their fate.
And Beowulf’s other great love, of fame, was equally satiated. Beowulf, with the largest funeral pyre yet known, with jewels and gold piled underneath him, a grand wall encircling his bones – Beowulf was to die the most famous, the bravest, the most honored of all Danes.

Beowulf is not our modern hero. His qualities do not including attracting women, nor saving the world. He is the boy-next-door hero, the hero that comes to the rescue when there is no ride home, when the clothes are out drying and it starts to rain, when the dinner is burning. In our day and age, death is mysterious and death is rare. With Beowulf, it happened all the time. They were not horrified by deaths, they just wanted them to stop; the mead-hall was becoming a little too ruckus. And Beowulf was the man who came to help. No woman on the other side, and he wasn’t doing it for all the gold he received – he had a genuine and unique talent of standing up to things that others ran away from, and he used his power for good.
Beowulf was also the superhero of the sequels. He grew old too, became a wonderful leader, and then went out to do battle again after he was aged and gray. No hero of today has ever done that. Beowulf was more of a human being. He had more guts, equal muscle, less pride. And his humility, the beautiful quality that was so empowered during his time period, made him a much better hero.