The Monsters in Beowulf & The Heroic/Chivalric Codes

The monsters in Beowulf represent distinct threats to the social and political order provided to Anglo-Saxon society by the heroic code

Source of Order             Comitatus Bond:          Alliances:                    Treasure:
Monster:                        Grendel                        Grendel's Mother         Dragon
Threat to Order:            Fratricide                      Blood-feud                   Avarice
Human Example:          *Unferth, Hrothulf       *Hildeburh & Finn      Heremod
                                      Heremod                       (Danes and Frisians) 
                                      *The Geats                   *Freawaru & Ingeld
                                                                            (Danes & Heathobards)
                                                                           *Geats & Swedes



Beowulf's Career
Beowulf's career follows an ideal path for the Anglo-Saxon warrior:

Despised Wastrel -->

"He had been despised/ for a long while.../ people thought he was a sluggard, a feeble princeling" (129

Thane to Hygelac -->

• Destroys five giants
• Slays "monsters of the waves"
• "Crushed [the Geats'] fierce foes" (84)

Adventurer/Hero -->

• Breca
• Grendel
• Grendel's Mother

Counsellor -->

"But he stood at [Heardred's] right hand,/ ... / until the boy came of age / and could rule the Geats himself" (133-134)

King -->

"[The Geats] said that of all kings on earth / he was the kindest, the most gentle, / the most just to his people, / the most eager for fame" (154)

Good death -->

"The warrior king, / lord of the Geats, had died a wondrous death" (150)

Beowulf (the man):

• is the ideal embodiement of the heroic code
• is an ideal that is unrealizable in this world (Beowulf is markedly superior to all others in the epic)
• is an ideal that is inadequate even as an idea, for he is undone by the Heroic Code (betrayed by his men) and, eventually, by his inevitable mortality (his fate)

Beowulf (the epic):

• is used by the Christian poet to instill a pattern of right conduct (Beowulf the hero)
• is used to show the limitations of human, worldly codes, and ideals
• insinuates the superiority of Christian codes and aspirations 

The Heroic and Chivalric Codes

• The Anglo-Saxon Warrior
• Germanic in origin
• Origins in Pagan tribal culture
• Martial Code of Conduct (comitatus bond)
• Guided by history, tradition, real-world necessity & experience
• The Medieval Knight
• French in Origin
• Full Explicitly Christian
• Must defend the church, its officials, and adherents
• Must fight for the Church (Crusades)
• Uphold the Church's social principles (protect the weak, repress wrongdoers, be an agent of justice, order, etc)
• Codes of Social Conduct (Chivalry):
• Respect for, deference to women
• service (platonic) to a particular lady
• manners appropriate for a court (courtesy)
• wit, graciousness of speech
• pursuit of love
• Literary models:
• Chansons de geste (Charlemagne & his court; 11th c)
• Songs of troubadours (12th C onward)
• Romances (from Romance languages in which they were written)
• Arthur cycle (from C790 onward)
• Handbooks of knightly behavior
• Shared Characteristics
• Strong
• Brave
• Militarily adept
• Loyal (comrades, lord, king)
• Fame through deeds