I am currently 2 days into my 2015 NaNoWriMo Project: Buckley, a modern adaptation of Beowulf. Since I have Beowulf on the brain, it's going to be Beowulf Month around here. That means each of my post is going to have something to do with the epic poem. Today I am sharing a paper I wrote about the poem when I was in college. I have to say, I feel very strongly about the thesis of this paper and I might be talking more about this idea as the month goes on.
Comitatus
and “The Other” in Beowulf
Medieval society was based on the
concept of “comitatus” in which the liege lord was the “ring giver” or provider
and his thanes who were his retainers. The liege lord fought for glory and the
thanes fought to protect the liege lord. These relationships were tightly knit and
the greatness of a leader was shown by the loyalty of his men. Often a leader’s
greatness was such that he not only commanded the loyalty and respect of his
own country men, but also that of men who were outsiders. We see evidence of this
in Beowulf with the presence of
outsiders who fight along side by side with the liege lord. The most famous of
these outsiders is Beowulf’s thane, Wiglaf, who is by Beowulf’s side as he
battles the dragon. Wiglaf can be read as a foil for Beowulf in that he is “the
other” in Beowulf’s court as Beowulf had been “the other” in Hrothgar’s court.
As “the other” they both perform the duties of a loyal thane in fighting for
their lord, despite their foreign blood. The loyalty of these foreign
ambassadors to the lords they come to serve shows not only the greatness of that
leader, but also illustrates that an outsider, “the other”, to be more
honorable than the leader’s own thanes in that they are able to uphold the
comitatus where the native society cannot. The superiority of “the other” through
their demonstration of comitatus shows fatal flaw of the culture and
foreshadows that society’s eventual demise.
Beowulf himself was “the other”
among the Danes more than once. Although he is a faithful thane to Hugelac,
Hrothgar states, “I knew him when he was only a boy;” showing that Beowulf had
been in Heorot to which he later returns in order to slay Grendel (Chickering,
line 372). Beowulf’s presence and eagerness to assist Hrothgar in disposing of
his monster is evidence that Hrothgar is an exceptional lord. As Beowulf and
his retainers are led to Heorot which has been plagued by Grendel for the past
twelve years, we see “the road was stone paved,” showing that the basic
infrastructure within the Danish society seems to be in full working order
(line 319). Despite their pesky monster infestation, everything seems to be
business as usual. The fact that Heorot still stands is yet another testament
to Hrothgar’s greatness, Grendel can keep the Danes from using it, but he does
not dare destroy it. This implies an individual issue within the Danes, not a
societal problem.
As the center of all life within the
society, the mead hall is representative of civilization itself. The fact that
Grendel does not destroy it completely, as the dragon later destroys Beowulf’s
mead hall shows that the Danes are not yet a doomed society. However, “he could
not come near the gift-throne, the treasure / because of God- he knew not his
love;” he who sits in the throne was blessed also and thus safe from Grendel’s
claws (lines 168-169). While Hrothgar, his throne, and his mead hall were safe
physically, the blight of Grendel brought shame to all three. Thus, the
presence of Beowulf serves to merely solve the individual issue: Grendel. After
all, “at that time none of the princely shieldings betrayed each other”
alluding that the time will come when the society falls due to betrayal and the
failure of the comitatus (lines 1018-1019). Unferth displays this possibility
in his willingness to question Beowulf’s ability to slay Grendel to which
Beowulf cleverly replies:
“I’ll tell you a truth, son of
Ecglaf
Never would Grendel have done
so much harm,
The awesome monster against
your own leader,
Shameful in Heorot, if heart
and intention,
Your great battle-spirit, were
sharp as your words.
But he has discovered he need
not dread
Too great a feud, fierce rush
of swords,
Not from your people, the
‘Victory-Scyldings.’” (lines 590-598)
The shaming of
their leader should have incited each and every Dane to make an attempt at
slaying Grendel or die trying. Instead, they let him wreak havoc on Heorot
night after night, and in so doing, allow him to continue to shame Hrothgar. It
is only an outsider who is willing to step up to the challenge of disposing of
the brute, thus calling the loyalty of Hrothgar’s own thanes into question.
Because Beowulf successfully eliminates
Grendel, Hrothgar proclaims, “I will love you like a son, cherish you for
life,” and in feast seats him accordingly (lines 947-948). This extreme move on
the part of Hrothgar alludes to the relationship that is present later in the
poem between Beowulf and Wiglaf, another outsider who becomes more loyal to his
leader than the leader’s own countrymen. Although this impromptu adoption may
be viewed as a slight to Hrothgar’s own biological sons, I argue that he is
sending out a message of disappointment to his thanes. Hrothgar goes on to
state “Often for less I have given treasures, honorable gifts to lesser
warriors, poorer at battle,” further illustrating his displeasure with his own
thanes in an understated way (lines 951-953). Had one of them had the strength,
courage, and intellect to destroy Grendel, they too might have been regarded as
Hrothgar’s own. However, not one of them was willing to actually step up to the
task despite their many drunken boasts. Therefore, the privilege of being
regarded as the son of the king has been bestowed on he who is worthy: an
outsider. This also foreshadows the fall of the Danes when attempts at peace
weaving fail. Betrayal will be the undoing of the Danes, as cowardice will be
with the Geats.
We
are later able to see the Danes as a foil for the Geats and Hrothgar as a foil
for Beowulf. This comparison is played out in the second half of the poem when
we see Beowulf as an aged king. He ruled “this people for fifty winters, and
there was no ruler of surrounding nations, not any, who dared meet [Beowulf]
with armies,” then lo and behold, there came a monster: a dragon (lines 2732-2734).
Although similar to Grendel, the dragon is indicative of a societal problem.
Grendel merely haunted Hrothgar’s mead hall; the dragon completely obliterated Beowulf’s
mead hall. The dragon took no prisoners; it came, it saw, it burned the place
to the ground and as a result, Beowulf is left feeling impotent, much like
Hrothgar had when faced with Grendel. These differences lie in that Grendel had
been the unnatural “kinsmen of Cain” while the dragon is a seemingly
unstoppable force of nature (line 104). The mere fact that we are talking about
this monster in terms of “it” rather than “he” or “she” as had been the case
with the other two monsters, shows the inherent difference present in the
dragon as a threat. Grendel and his mother had been more of an individual
problem, killing individuals and keeping them out of the mead hall. Meanwhile,
the dragon not only burned down Beowulf’s mead hall which decimated the society,
it also ended Beowulf’s life.
This difference in aggression on the
part of the dragon illustrates why “the other” proves to be more honorable and
faithful to the liege lord than the lord’s own countrymen. The dragon destroys
the mead hall, which is the center of all life in the society, and thus the
society is irreparably damaged. This damage has been a long time coming;
betrayal of the comitatus doesn’t happen over night. The peace that was with
the Geats may have actually proved to be their undoing. It is easy to boast
bravery in the mead hall when you have never had an opportunity to be truly
brave. As Beowulf battles the dragon it is Wiglaf who calls to the Geats to
defend their lord, crying out: “Now sword and helmet, / mail-shirt, war gear,
must be ours together,” as he rushed in to defend his lord (lines 2650-2660).
These Geats had most likely never seen hard battle before, much less a fifty
foot fire breathing fiend. They failed to uphold the comitatus because they had
never been called to do so before. Happily, they consumed Beowulf’s mead and
enjoyed his gifts of fine armor and rings, but when they were called upon to
repay his kindness “too few defenders / pressed round the king when his worst
time came” (lines 2882-2883). Only Wiglaf stands by Beowulf in his final
moments of need; a foreigner, he is the one to uphold the comitatus fighting
for his lord as his lord fights for not only glory, but for revenge and the
survival of his people.
The irony here, as Wiglaf points
out, is that the Geats hadn’t been worth Beowulf’s death in the first place.
Their cowardice brought shame to themselves as individuals, to their families,
and to the Geats as a nation. They had been blessed with the finest ring giver
to have ever lived, and they left him to die when it was their duty to die
either for him or with him. A good thane fights to the death for his lord;
Beowulf’s thanes leave him to die alone. This betrayal is cause for exile. “Death
is better / for any warrior than a shameful life!” is Wiglaf’s proclamation as
calls out the fate they have sustained through their cowardice (lines
2890-2891). Beowulf’s death sees Wiglaf as the new leader of the Geats by
virtue of his honor, and thus we see the eventual dissolution of the Geatish
nation. They are led by “the other” and thus their claim to sovereignty as a
nation is lost. It is only a matter of time before some other nation comes and
incinerates what is left of their culture, just as the dragon incinerated their
mead hall. The only honor present is that of Wiglaf, who is seemingly left to
restore order but does not. Rather, he
leaves the Geats to the fate which they have brought upon themselves. Their
shame and dishonor is the death of the Geatish society as “deprived of their
rites each man of [their] families will have to be exiled” (lines 2886-2887).
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