Beowulf: On First Reading

A Retrospective Consideration

This was my first time reading Beowulf. I think the fact that now I can say that I have may go far in helping to avoid a quarter life crisis. At the very least, I won’t have to answer “You’re an English student who really hasn’t read Beowulf?” again, which could go far in holding off that crisis. Regardless, now that I have read the poem (probably more than once, when we break down the last few weeks of close reading and discussion), what’s left is to decide how I feel and what I think about it, just like the aftermath of finishing any other book read in an academic or leisure setting. In short, I liked it. It was entertaining, touching, and by the time all the retellings of varying related ‘histories’ were shared within the poem, it held a loose familiarity with some of my contemporary favorites from the historical fiction genre. Only vaguely, but that thought and feeling crossed my mind on first reading, and it was not unpleasant.

The bigger issue has come up in discussion, other newsletters, and has stayed in my mind throughout: what kind of person/character is Beowulf? We know that his state of mind by the end of his story is variable from translation to translation, and, as I mentioned last week, his reasons for pursuing the challenges he takes on (for glory, according to Seamus Heaney) may be subject to the same variability. In the same vein, I was caught off guard to read, repeatedly, that the hero of the poem is prone to declarations easily categorized as boasts. Admittedly, I think that from the get-go, use of this word to describe any of Beowulf’s own words and related actions has colored my reading of the character, but I would not go so far here as to argue that he strictly is or is not actually boastful or cocky. I do think there are instances where he reads as such (though we should note that it is mostly the narrator applying the term to Beowulf, until the end when Beowulf discusses his intent to take on the dragon and himself recognizes a boast in his words), but that may be a personal bias at this point. However, that this may be a miss on my part can be considered in light of other qualities we know Beowulf embodies throughout his life. He is a successful warrior: courageous, strong, able, undefeated in combat as a young man; all of this lends itself to boasting, but, again, it is the poet who applies the term to his words. He is a good king: protective of his people, ring-giver, experienced, peace-bringing. None of these qualities manifest negatively in Beowulf, and when it comes down to it, his final boast is a self-proclaimed one and acknowledges the nature of his words leading up to past conflicts:

 “’I would rather not
Use a weapon if I knew another way
To grapple with the dragon and make good my boast
As I did against Grendel in days gone by.’” (2518-2521)

When I think about it, this acknowledgement drives home that even if Beowulf is cocky, it’s expressed so realistically in the face of his otherworldly abilities that it would be hard to hold it against him, even without the addition of his evident regard for the rulers and ruling positions that are continually within his reach long before he is willing to take the Geat throne.

Needless to say, my impressions and assumptions on first reading have clouded my perspective of our titular character, despite textual evidence that he doesn’t really deserve it. Do you remember your first impressions of Beowulf, the character or the book? What kind of person does he strike you as?

Until next time, keep browsing bookshelves.