The Epic Poem, Beowulf - A Jungian Reading of Beowulf

778 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: conceptual framework on beowulf

A Jungian Reading of Beowulf

The epic poem, Beowulf, depicts the battles and victories of the Anglo-Saxon warrior Beowulf, over man-eating monsters. The noble defender, Beowulf, constantly fought monsters and beasts to rid the land of evil. The most significant of these monsters, Grendel, represents Beowulf's shadow, the Jungian archetype explored in the essay collection, Meeting the Shadow.

The character Grendel portrays the fallen self, which will assert itself violently if neglected, and must be overcome throughout life. The monster Grendel mirrors the part of our fallen state. Grendel's ancestry leads to the biblical figure Cain, to which all evil can be attributed. Grendel represents the hidden evil of Beowulf. Rollo May describes this in his metaphor "the dragon or the Sphinx in me will often be clamoring and will sometimes be expressed"(174). Grendel represents Beowulf's Sphinx, that lashes out on others.

The name Grendel can be roughly translated to mean "grinder," and "storm" (Raffel Burton 152). These terms come to life when he invades the Mead Hall. Grendel "Rushed angrily across the inlaid floor, snarling and fierce: his eyes gleamed in the darkness, burned with a gruesome light. Then he stopped, seeing the hall crowded with sleeping warriors, stuffed with rows of young soldiers resting together. And his heart laughed, he relished the sight, intended to tear the life from those bodies by morning"(46). Grendel and the other monsters that represent Beowulf shadow "project their own evil onto the world" (Peck 178). Grendel the "Shepherd of evil, guardian of crime" represents the inherent evil that the shadow embodies (Burton 46).

Beowulf fought off Grendel like we must fight...

... middle of paper ...

...be transformed into anger towards others and the denial of ones evil. The neglected shadow if not projected in another's direction, will surface in oneself to restore the imbalance personality. Evil presents us with a daily struggle between temptations and justice. Like Beowulf, we must battle the evils of our shadow until it has been recognized and defeated.

Works Cited

Bly, Robert. "The Long Bag We Drag Behind Us."Meeting the Shadow. Ed Connie Zwieg and Jeremiah Abrams. Los Angeles: Jeremy Teacher, Inc. 1991.

May, Rollo. "The Dangers of Innocence." Meeting the Shadow. Ed Connie Zwieg and Jeremiah Abrams. Los Angeles: Jeremy Teacher, Inc. 1991.

Peck, Scott, M. "Healing Human Evil." Meeting the Shadow. Ed Connie Zwieg and Jeremiah Abrams. Los Angeles: Jeremy Teacher, Inc. 1991.

Raffel, Burton, trns. Beowulf. New York: Penguin, 1963

Show More
Related

  • The Pros And Cons Of The 14th Amendment

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abraham Lincoln became the United States ' 16th President in 1861, delivering the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy in 1863. If there is a part of the United States History that best characterizes it, is the interminable fight for the Civil Rights. This he stated most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg: "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. "The Declaration of Independence states “All men are created equal”.

    Read More

  • Claudia Card's Theory Of Evil Analysis

    927 Words  | 2 Pages

    Claudia Card begins by questioning the difference between wrong and evil. How do we know when something crosses the line between being just wrong, to being an evil act? How does hatred and motive play a part in this? How can people psychologically maintain a sense of who they are when they have been the victims of evil? Card attempts to explain these fundamental questions using her theory of evil; the Atrocity Paradigm (Card, pg.3).

    Read More

  • Examples Of Evil In Grendel

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    Grendel is the embodiment of all that is evil and dark. Grendel by John Gardner retells the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf from the perspective of the antagonist, Grendel. He is the outcast of society; doomed to roam in the shadows of Hrothgar’s city, Heorot. He is an outside threat to society and all that is good. His whole existence is to hate good simply because it is good. Mankind can only be truly free if good and evil coexist in the world; and all people are born with an evil and dark side.

    Read More

  • Darkness In Beowulf

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author creates a realistic picture during the battle between Beowulf and Grendel. Throughout the scene, light and dark portray events according to their corresponding characters. Beowulf, the hero, symbolizes light and goodness while Grendel symbolizes darkness and wickedness. The poem describes him as demonic, “While a baleful light, flame more than light, flared from his eyes” (726-27). Beowulf continues to represent

    Read More

  • Heroism In Beowulf: Character Analysis Of Gardner's Grendel

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gardner’s Grendel, is everything curious type of individual, always trying to find and figure out the meaning of, something complex to an ogre, like the meaning of his whole existence.according to literature study guides, which give an analysis of Grendel's character, which states, “In the original Beowulf epic, Grendel displays nothing but the most primitive human qualities. In Grendel, however, he is an intelligent and temperamental monster, capable of rational thought as well as irrational outbursts of emotion. Throughout the novel, the monster Grendel often seems as human as the people he observes. Grendel’s history supports this ambiguous characterization. As a descendant of the biblical Cain, he shares a basic lineage with human beings.

    Read More

  • Monsters in Beowulf

    2103 Words  | 5 Pages

    There are three prominent monsters in the Beowulf text, Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. While the dragon proves to be the most fatale of foes for Beowulf, Grendel and his mother do not simply pose physical threats to the Germanic society; their roles in Beowulf are manifold. They challenge the perceptions of heroism, a sense of unrivalled perfection and superiority. Moreover, they allow the reader to reconsider the gender constructs upheld within the text; one cannot help but feel that the threat that these monsters present is directed towards the prevalent flaws in Beowulf’s world. Moreover, what makes these monsters is not their physical appearance; it is what they embody. Both Grendel and his mother have humanlike qualities yet their monstrous appearance arises from what their features and mannerisms represent. The challenge they pose to societal paradigms makes them far more terrifying to our heroes than any scaled flesh or clawing hand. These monsters provide the ‘most authoritative general criticism […] of the structure and conduct of the poem’. Their presence provides contrast and criticism of the brave society (Heaney 103).

    Read More

  • Diction In Beowulf

    499 Words  | 1 Pages

    In his translation of the excerpt, Raffel uses dark diction to introduce Grendel and his perspective in this poem. He describes Grendel as “Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred”(Raffel 1-2), immediately informing the reader that Grendel is a negative character. Lucien Dean Pearson uses the same dark diction while introducing Grendel, saying “Grendel

    Read More

  • Grendel Analysis Essay

    582 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the epic Beowulf, the malevolent Grendel is terrorizing Hrothgar’s men as he reigns over their land for twelve years. He is a creature that is feared by all and is very unforgiving. The way Grendel goes about his life, the way he kills people without remorse is inhumane. But with this knowledge we have of Grendel as a monster, the question arises of what really defines the monster. Society’s idea of a monster ranges anywhere from animals of a greater strength than humans, to beings with deformities that cause them to look ‘abnormal’. All ideas of a monster come down to one basic idea; they are entities that provoke fear. Grendel fits this archetype well, as he is a symbol of the Dane’s fear of an “evil”, overpowering, invading force in their kingdom.

    Read More

  • Identity Theft

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    Identity theft is whereby an individual obtains some piece of an unsuspecting victim’s sensitive information and uses it without their knowledge to commit fraud or theft. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), “people whose identities have been stolen can spend months or years and their hard earned money trying to clean up the mess the thieves have made of their good name and credit record. Some victims have lost job opportunities, been refused loans for education, housing, cars or even arrested for crimes they didn’t commit.”

    Read More

  • Understanding Immigration: Stratification and Prejudice in USA

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    Though the United States is home to many immigrants, controversy surrounds the issue of immigrants in the United States. The United States in a melting pot of various backgrounds and cultures, yet it is hard for all to merge into acceptance of one another. The first chapter of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and class covers stratification, prejudice and discrimination, and inequality.

    Read More

  • Sympathy in Beowulf

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    While the classic battle between good and evil forces is a major theme of the medieval epic Beowulf, one may question whether these good and evil forces are as black and white as they appear. Scholars such as Herbert G. Wright claim that “the dragon, like the giant Grendel, is an enemy of mankind, and the audience of Beowulf can have entertained no sympathy for either the one or the other” (Wright, 4). However, other scholars such as Andy Orchard disagree with this claim, and believe that there is “something deeply human about the ‘monsters’” (Orchard, 29). While Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon are indeed portrayed as evil and violent foes, there are parts within Beowulf that can also lead a reader to believe that the “monsters” may not be so monstrous after all. In fact, the author of Beowulf represents the “monsters” within the poem with a degree of moral ambivalence. This ambivalence ultimately evokes traces of sympathy in the reader for the plight of these “monster” figures, and blurs the fine line between good and evil within the poem.

    Read More

  • Cybercrime And Identity Theft Essay

    1711 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Internet plays the biggest role in identity theft. On the Internet, a thief can hide from detection while stealing peoples’ identities from their homes, being able to steal peoples’ information one by one “then disappearing into another identity,” (Vacca 60). Internet fraud consists of two phases. The first being spoofing where a fake site is set up made to look like the real thing. Once that is completed the second phase, phishing, begins. This usually starts with an email that uses the

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Beowulf and Grendel

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author of Beowulf demonizes Grendel by depicting him as being purely a monster as compare to John Gardner who depicts Grendel not as a savage monster but as an intelligent being who has human like qualities and characteristics. In the traditional story Grendel is depicted as a blood-thirsty fiend driven by his greedy animal instincts. ...

    Read More

  • Identity theft

    820 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fraud was the main problem that arose when identity theft happened to an individual. The common identity theft frauds were credit card frauds, utility frauds, and frauds that usually involved banks. According to the article Identity Theft (2014), it mentioned that “Credit card fraud is one of the most common means of identity theft, accounting for about two-thirds of U.S. cases” (Para. 5). Credit card frauds usually occurred at online stores websites requesting for credit card information or devices utilized by retail store employers acquired information from the magnetic strip on the credit card. Utility frauds transpired through the access of an unsecured or unlocked mailboxes. Many utility statements had account numbers and provided online access to thefts to order unwanted products or services. Individuals had to be careful where and when to use credit cards and what time to present their personal information.

    Read More

  • In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Analysis

    1623 Words  | 4 Pages

    Through the unsatisfied curiosity of Caroline Sheppard, the unrelenting investigation by Hercule Poirot, and the justifiable reasons behind James Sheppard’s demise in Agatha Christie’s, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd proves that good will always overcome evil. Good overcoming evil is not always the direct result of the action, but sometimes comes from the aftermath of the initial event that has taken place. No matter how hard one attempts to evade transgressions, when evil prevails, the human mind cannot rid itself of the guilt rooted deep within. Ultimately good surpasses evil because the feeling of serenity that takes over a persons heart, mind, and soul is an essential element of human nature bestowed upon a person at birth that can never be destroyed.

    Read More

More about The Epic Poem, Beowulf - A Jungian Reading of Beowulf

Open Document