One thing that Beowulf has is faith. Beginning in line 669, one can see that he had trust in the Lord to not even rely on the armor he was wearing. The poem says, "And the Geat placed complete trust in his strength of limb and the Lord's favour". The passage goes on to explain how Beowulf sheds off his armor and even gives up his sword. He does not even want to keep a weapon. Who in their right mind would want to fight a demon without a weapon. Beowulf opts to fight with nothing. He has faith that his strength is as great as Grendel. This reminds me of David and Goliath in a sense. Oh, what faith can do. As long as we have God on our side with the faith to trust in him, physical limits are non-existent. Beowulf believed in this, and I wish I had faith as great as that.
I commented on Nate and Sierra's.
I too wish I possessed the sort of faith that Beowulf possesses. I think this is beautiful representation of how we as Christians should live our lives.
ReplyDeleteBeowulf was certainly bold in his idea of strength through faith. I can see finding admiration in how courageous his faith makes him however, does he use that courage to glorify God or himself? Sure, Beowulf "trusts the Lord's favour" but he is not doing so out of direction from God or motivation to please Him. Instead Beowulf steadily desires to prove he is the greatest and being glory to himself. For this reason I struggle to admire his heroic qualities because they seem to me more motivated by pride than by faith.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the story has Biblical undertones. I was picking up on that as I read. However, I agree with Jessica: does he use it to glorify God?
ReplyDeleteShort response: Does he truly do this out of faith, or is his trust in himself? Notice the rule of prolegomena; his strength of limb is listed first, even before the Lord. Perhaps his "faith" is similar to that of many Southern Christians, for lack of a better term. "Glory be to God, and look at me bring him glory."
ReplyDeleteI like how you parallel Beowulf with the story of David and Goliath. Both Beowulf and David placed their faith in God, and it is because of this that God gave them the strength to overcome truly fearsome opponents that many others would have not dared to face.
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