Beowulf Values

Morals, Values, and Cultures Expressed In Beowulf

Throughout Beowulf, the unknown author reflects on the daily lives and beliefs of the Danes. We are able to see a small glimpse of the way these people lived. Even though it was quite different from today, numerous amounts of ideas are similar to this time period. The main character, Beowulf, is one whom the Danish honor in the poem. He completed the impossible and shows dedication throughout his many battles. In Beowulf, the Danish relate by the way the author uses specific traits to relate back to the morals, values, and cultures of the time.

A value the Danish express during the story is bravery. Beowulf displays courage as he completes each journey while defeating evil. No matter how hard the

task becomes, he still does not show a single ounce of fear:
Dripping through my enemies’ blood. I drove
Five great giants into chains, chased
All of that race from the earth. I swam
In the blackness of night, hunting monsters
Out of the ocean, and killing them one
By one; death was my errand and the fate (quoted in Beowulf 153-158)
As described above, Beowulf completes many challenging tasks without showing fear. Since he has this define bravery, he has the ability to defeat the unknown. As McNary states, “Brave before all else is this Beowulf, with the bravery of a young, strong, unsoftened people, the physical courage which not only meets an enemy unshrinkingly, but seeks him out to fight with him alone and weaponless. This is the very rapture and madness of bravery, the apotheosis of daring. It is almost imaginative—rather, it so strips off and defies imagination as to capture that quality by the abnegation of it” (McNary). She explains to us the epic hero’s traits are momentous since he reaches remarkable results. With that being said, bravery is a value shown that the Danes used throughout the poem.
As well as bravery, the Danes honored a man who showed loyalty towards his country. This moral is expressed numerous amounts of time from many different characters. While one dives deeper into the story many characters show their faithfulness. Beowulf is the first character to prove this trait towards the people of Hrothgar’s people:
In his far off home Beowulf, Higlac’s
Follower and the strongest of the Geats‒‒greater
And stronger than anyone anywhere in this world‒‒
Heard how Grendel filled nights with horror
And quickly commanded a boat fitted out,
Proclaiming that he’d go to that famous king,
Would sail across the sea to Hrothgar,
Now when help was needed. (quoted in Beowulf 109-116)
Beowulf made the effort to go out and aid the men who needed him at the time. As well as Beowulf, Wiglaf proves to be a loyal man:
A beaten warrior. None of his comrades
Came to him, helped him, his brave and noble
Followers; they ran for their lives, fled
Deep in a wood. And only one of them
Remained, stood there, miserable, remembering,
As a good man must, what kinship should mean.
His name was Wiglaf, he was Wexstan's son (quoted in Beowulf 691- 697)
Similarly to Beowulf, Wiglaf proved to be loyal to his leader when no other man stood beside him.

He had the perseverance to help Beowulf when the odds were not pointing into his direction. As a result, without the loyalty shown along the poem, we would not have some images we interpret.

Across the poem, the Danes cultural influences show as Beowulf goes through his journey. While reading, you may not fully see how the culture is in the story, but after identifying it is not hard to find. An example, Jones references from the Danish culture is the founder of the Scylding dynasty. He allows us to see the reference to Scyld Scylding, “God sends Scyld to the lordless Danes; he comes as a child in a boat and grows up to be a great war-king. When he dies, his followers send his body back out to sea in a treasure-laden boat. Scyld’s son, Beowulf (not the hero of the poem), continues his father’s reign, and the Danes prosper through generations” (Jones). This example is one of many of the many references toward Danish culture and history. In Beowulf they also compare Grendel a biblical reference:

Not hell but earth. He was spawned in that slime,

Conceived by a pair of those monsters born

Of Cain, murderous creatures

banished
By God, punished forever for the crime
Of Abel’s death. (quoted in Beowulf 19-23)
Grendel is said above to be the offspring of Cain and his wife; he is just as wicked or maybe even worse than the monster. As elaborated above, the culture of the Danes is shown with countless amounts of references.
Beowulf includes copious amounts of references dating back to Danish morals, values, and their culture. Without the examples thrown into the text, we would not have some of the references we read. This would take away the allusions as well as characteristics we concluded throughout the poem. This poem shows some of the common morals and values we follow today. Without the emphasis on ideas thrown in, we would lose the greatness to this simple piece of literature.

Works Cited
“Beowulf.” Literature. Ed. Janet Allen. Orlando: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. 2012. 42-70. Print.
Hanning, Robert W. "Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon Poetry." European Writers: The
Middle Ages and the Renaissance, edited by George Stade, vol. 1, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1983, pp. 51-87. Scribner Writer Series, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=tel_k_frankhs&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CCX1386900013&it=r&asid=c2731037cc83d69eed171de2baac5034. Accessed 21 Sept. 2017.
McNary, Sarah F. "Beowulf and Arthur as English Ideals." Classical and
Medieval Literature Criticism, edited by Dennis Poupard and Jelena O. Krstovic, vol. 1, Gale, 1988. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=tel_k_frankhs&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CH1420011078&it=r&asid=7df78b5a502f986d42c543395668d146. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017. Originally published in Poet Lore, vol. 6, no. 11, Nov. 1894, pp. 529-536.