Christian Influences In Beowulf

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Beowulf displays Christian influences in the description of Grendel especially through the allusions to the Old Testament. According to Daniel Anlezark, Grendel’s murders and terrorization of the Pagan’s caused by their tendency to idolize demons is an allusion to the times when the Hebrews committed idolatry after their escape from Egypt (Anlezark 264-69). Likewise, Leonard Neidorf argues that the alteration between Cam and Cain in various scribes is used interchangeably with similar connotations where Cain is linked with antediluvian monsters, whereas Cam is associated with postdiluvian monsters (Neidorf 601-15). However, this is not the case. Grendel who inhabited the world after the flood contradicts how Cain is related with the antediluvian …show more content…

Grendel as Cain’s monstrous descendant, inherited all the evil that is associated with Cain, including God’s anger, curse, exile as well as the sin of fratricide (Genesis 4:1-16; Beowulf 99-114). But the question still remains: How is Grendel related to Cain and his association with the antediluvian monster in respect to the sin of idolatry that the Pagan’s are guilty of (Neidorf 601-15)? God who “condemned him among Cain’s race-when he killed Abel (Beowulf 106-07; Genesis 4:1-16), proves that Grendel’s evil nature is solely rooted in God’s anger at Cain because he killed his brother Abel out of anger and envy. Grendel is the monster that inherits Cain’s evil and anger which he possesses, and the evil is passed down along Cain’s bloodline, which Grendel and all other monsters in the postdiluvian era would inherit. Since Grendel who inhabited the world after the extinction of the Giants (Genesis 6.1-4), it implies that Grendel’s embodiment of God’s anger symbolizes the Pagan inability find faith and trust in God in order to be saved from the evil sins such as idolatry that are created and persist, reflective of the Pagan society. Therefore, when Grendel “committed a great murder, mourned not at all for his feuds and sins-he was to fixed in them” (Beowulf 135-37) strengths the idea that Grendel’s evil nature stems from Cain since he also committed a great murder and did not feel guilty for killing Abel. This demonstrates that Grendel’s connection to Cain as the postdiluvian monster, his anger, and his evil nature is heavily influenced by God’s anger at Cain but also at the sin of idolatry, which shapes him into the character that he portrays in Beowulf. Subsequently, Grendel who inherits the evil and anger from Cain

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