Treasure In Beowulf

In our culture, preoccupation with material goods usually connotes shallowness, and the pursuit of riches is often seen as incompatible—or at least difficult to reconcile—with our moral convictions. In Beowulf, however, the Danes, Geats, and Swedes’ collective reverence for treasure is not represented as a shortcoming or moral weakness. In fact, the poem often uses treasure as a symbol of the Scandinavian people’s most cherished cultural values.

In Beowulf, kings, heroes, and other powerful men must continuously establish their reputations, both those they have inherited and those they have earned. Characters accomplish the former by reminding listeners of their famous ancestors and the latter by collecting treasures. The magnificent rewards Beowulf receives from Hrothgar testify to the Geatish warrior’s valor and prowess, just as the majestic Heorot signifies Hrothgar’s

Though the poet writes from an explicitly Christian perspective, the Geats and Danes seem to lack a notion of a divine afterlife. In this world, human existence remains limited to the mortal lifespan. However, people have the opportunity to achieve some kind of afterlife by accruing wealth, prestige, and glory while they live: Owning significant treasure increases the likelihood that one’s name and reputation will live on after death. At the same time, the Geats and Danes realize that treasure remains earthbound, unable to accompany its owner into the hereafter. Both of these notions figure into the Scandinavian funeral ritual of sending a king off to sea in a burning ship filled with treasure. The more rings, swords, and coats of mail piled upon the ship, the greater the king’s glory; however, those riches eventually burn away or become otherwise lost to the king’s people. In Beowulf, treasure simultaneously has an eternal and an evanescent