Loyalty In Beowulf

“The only people I owe my loyalty to, are those who haven’t made me question theirs’.” Since Anglo-Saxon times, values have been held dear to every person, values such as loyalty, strength, and service. In the epic Beowulf, we can see how the values of people have changed or even stayed the same since those times. As a work of art, it serves as a demonstration of how Anglo-Saxon values were held dear to them. We can see many values that are relevant today in the main character of the epic poem Beowulf himself such as: service/sacrifice, loyalty, and even mental fortitude.

In today’s modern society, loyalty is the devotion and faithfulness to a cause, country, group, and/or person. It’s a strong assurance of another person; whether it be in

work, business, family, or a relationship, loyalty builds from specific characteristics. A loyal person is supportive, respectful, trustworthy, sincere, and has integrity. Loyalty to a person is when you reach out when you’re in need, someone who doesn’t talk behind your back, shares their honest opinions, shows that they care, and even someone who knows what is right and wrong. In Anglo-Saxon times; loyalty, were the strongest ties to kin and lord. Ties of loyalty were to the person of a lord, and not to his station. In this time, there wasn’t a real concept of loyalty to a cause. Loyalty is throughout the lives of people, and their offspring.
From the epic poem Beowulf, we can see many instances were loyalty is shown.

In the poem, (Lines 1591-1604) Beowulf’s men stay by the water in the swamp, disdained, after Beowulf fights Grendel’s mother, knowing that he won. Even though some of the kings’ men were leaving, feeling defeated that they lost a great hero, Beowulf’s men stood by his side waiting on him to return, not even thinking that he could lose against this type of foe. This piece from the poem, shows how far loyalty will take someone. Even though Beowulf’s men didn’t know if he was alive or not, they wouldn’t leave his side no matter what. Beowulf shows his loyalty to Hrothgar when he agrees to help him rid the castle of the monster, Grendel, who has been terrorizing the mead hall for the past twelve years. ''For twelve winters, seasons of woe, the lord of the Shielding’s suffered under his load of sorrow'' The misery caused by Grendel has caused warriors to leave the hall, but Beowulf is determined to show his loyalty by killing the monster. He convinces his men to stay in the mead hall with him and await the monster. His men remain with him out of a sense of loyalty. When in the heat of the battle with Grendel, Beowulf tells his men to stay back. He tells them that he alone will fight the monster. He does this out of loyalty to Hrothgar and to the safety of his

men.
In the 21st Century, loyalty has become something that is not as important as it used to be back then. Loyalty in earlier days, loyalty was a huge deal to many people and was a key to survival for many. Everywhere you look in the world, there is betrayal among countries, peer against peer, family against family, and even husband against wife. This change in perspective didn’t happen overnight, but has taken years for people to actually notice.