Perhaps I am overreaching in my analysis, but the events leading up to Grendel's destruction remind me of Old Testament sacrifices. Grendel, in this thought, represents sin, a viscous, unbending monster that kills and consumes all it encounters. The Danes have been tormented by Grendel, by sin, for a very long time, and attracted the attention of Beowulf, whom sailed to their aid and ultimately defeated the creature. However, there was no bloodless victory. In fact, Beowulf allowed the Grendel to kill some of his men in order to catch it by surprise. In the Old Testament, sin was not forgiven without blood spilled, as God commanded the sacrifice of sheep, rams, and other creatures as payment for the people's sins, which led to the ultimate sacrifice in Jesus Christ. In the instance of Beowulf against Grendel, the blood of his own soldiers had to be paid in order to ultimately defeat the vicious Grendel. Just as sin must be paid with the sacrifice of Jesus, Grendel was to be beaten by the sacrifice of Beowulf's own men. Again, I could be overreaching, but that is a parallel I drew on reading this.
I commented on Nathanael and Natalie's post.
Hmm... I think this is an interesting way to look at it. You are completely right though. Maybe the only way for the Danes to be purged of their sin was to have blood shed. Their own but also blood of the people's saving them.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that your parallel can be made, but as you say, i seem to see it as a bit overreaching. As the text describes the very beginning of the battle, Beowulf waited until Grendel was about to attack him so he could get the surprise initiative against Grendel. I believe the death of a couple of his men wasn't on purpose, but simply a matter of chance (throwback to Boethius) that Grendel chose to attack those men first over Beowulf. Plus, Beowulf told his men to allow him to initiate combat and then his men could draw their arms.
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