The Theme Of Father/son Relationships In Beowulf & The Song Of Roland

The Theme of Father/Son Relationships in Beowulf & The Song of Roland

The representation of father-son type relationships in early Medieval

literary works is a key theme early authors used to give their works more depth

and meaning. Two works that use the theme of father-son relationships are

Beowulf and The Song of Roland. In Beowulf, the relationship between Hrothgar

and Beowulf is one in which there is no actual blood father-son tie, but the two

characters take on all the characteristics of a real father son relationship.

Hrothgar, although Beowulf's senior, has to rely on this new warrior who comes

to Heorot to help him rid his kingdom of a great danger which he can not get

rid of by himself, and Hrothgar treats him as if he were his own son. In The

Song of Roland, Charles' relationship with his nephew Roland also takes on the

characteristics of a father-son type relationship. In this work, although

Charles is the better warrior than Roland, he relies on Roland to watch the rear

guard of his army and Roland loses his life while serving his King. The

significance of these inter-generational relationships will be looked at in this

paper, as well as what the authors through the guise of these father-son

relationships were trying to say about various different aspects of life during

their time.

In Beowulf, the function of the relationship between Hrothgar and

Beowulf helps to further the plot in several ways. Whenever there is a reliance

on family in any literary work, it gives any story more meaning and significance.

When Beowulf first arrives in Hrothgars' hall, we get a sense of the old and

incapable state Hrothgar is in "old and gray-haired among the guard of earls"

(Beowulf, pg. 62) is how he is first described. When hearing who Beowulf's

father is he states in a joyous tone "I knew him when he was a child!..Well does

the son now pay this call on a proven ally!" (Beowulf, pg. 62-63) Immediately

there is a fond relationship here which will develop even further. When

Beowulf claims that he is in Heorot to cleanse the people of the monster named

Grendel who is plaguing them, Hrothgar is very grateful and he states "So it is

to fight in our defence, my friend Beowulf, and as an act of kindness that you

have come to us here!" (Beowulf, pg. 65) We see here that Hrothgar is indeed

grateful to have the services of so brave a warrior. When Beowulf slays Grendel,

the pride that the old Hrothgar feels towards Beowulf can almost be equated to