Approaching Geats: Enemies or A Savior?

It is cold outside and I can feel the harsh winds breaking through my furs; the strong breeze has been encouraged by the sea. For this month, it is my turn to keep watch of the sea. I must carefully guard our coastline as we cannot afford ill-willed intruders while we also fend off Grendel, the shadow-stalking monster. Although Hrothgar has been a strong king to us, he has grown older, and therefore weaker. We the Danes are no longer a match for Grendel. He has been steadily destroying our magnificent mead-hall, not one better can be found the world over. We constantly replace the men and send more and more to keep watch over the hall, but our supply of men drops every year due to the captain of evil, and yet we cannot stop him. It seems that we send them in only to be feed for that devil’s spawn-

What is this I spy in the distance? It appears to be a large boat. They are displaying their war gear. Do they mean to attack? I could call the guard, but if the tribesmen are friendly, I should not like to have called in the soldiers; they have enough to deal with. now they unload their battle-equipment. They are disembarking, and without asking the sentries as well. This is making me anxious, why do they not pause or ask permission? I shall go down the crags and face them; we will see how they respond. As I get closer on horseback, I can see that the man in front, the leader, he appears to have a quite noble bearing, perhaps he means no evil to the Danes? They approach in a large number, so impressive a group I have never witnessed. They bear a fancy assortment of weapons: decorated shields, shirts of mail, cheek-hinged helmets and javelins. Regardless, I cannot be too sure when my people and my reputation are at stake. I flourish my spear at them. I inquire as to their reasons for arriving.

They seem to have noble intentions. I intend to display myself undaunted in the face of so large a number of clearly experienced soldiers. After all, the Geat’s goal, he proclaims perhaps too proudly, is to defeat Grendel. This lofty goal could very well be impossible to achieve; this warrior aims high. He claims to owe allegiance to our king, Hrothgar. I shall proceed and ask him if this is so. If he can defeat Grendel, I will make every effort to aid him in his desire. I plan to advise Hrothgar to support this as yet unnamed Geat, son of Ecgtheow, and welcome him accordingly. This Geat seems to be loyal to my king, Hrothgar, and I believe he will serve us well. I sense, though, that he does this for hidden reason of his own, along with those he has already spouted to me. I instruct my comrades to keep safe the Geats’ vessel. I will lead the men now to Hrothgar. After conferring with him, I expect a man as noble as this Geat-leader appears to be will be allowed at least a conference with the king. (528)

Beowulf: A Weakling?

Thus Beowulf bore himself with valor;

he was formidable in battle yet behaved with honor

and took no advantage; never cut down

a comrade who was drunk,  kept his temper

and, warrior that he was, watched and controlled

his God-sent strength and his outstanding

natural powers. He had been poorly regarded

for a long time, was taken by the Geats

for less than he was worth: and their lord too

had never much esteemed him in the mead-hall.

They firmly believed he lacked force,

that the prince was a weakling; but presently

every affront to his deserving was reversed (l. 2177-2189).

We learn something absolutely shocking in this passage; Beowulf was not highly esteemed by his own people!!! This is surprising considering the way he is first introduced by the poet:

    The man whose name was known for courage,

the Geat leader, resolute in his helmet...

And the way he is introduced by himself:

“Greeting to Hrothgar. I am Hygelac’s kinsman,

one of his hall-troop. When I was younger,

I had great triumphs. Then news of Grendel,

Hard to ignore, reached me at home:

sailors brought stories of the plight you suffer

...

So every elder and experienced councilman

among my people supported my resolve

to come here to you, King Hrothgar,

because all knew of my awesome strength.

They had seen me boltered in the blood of enemies

when I battled and bound five beasts,

raided a troll-nest  and in the night-sea

slaughtered sea brutes. I have suffered extremes

and avenged the Geats (their enemies brought it

upon themselves; I devastated them) (l. 407-424).

Both the poet and Beowulf emphasize that he is a well known warrior, the toughest of them all, and yet, we see in the last chapters of the epic that this is not so. Beowulf is, in fact, considered a “weakling” (L.2188) among his elders because he hasn’t truly proven himself yet. If this is true, does this make Beowulf more of a coming-of-age tale than an epic?  If the whole purpose of Beowulf’s voyage to the Danes was to defeat Grendel in the eyes of his own kinsmen, then Beowulf was not truly a hero before.  So why did he and the poet introduce him as such? One reason could be that there was a mistake in the translation, however such a significant one is unlikely. Another possibility is that he was considered a weakling when he was very young, far before he ever went to the Danes, but had redeemed himself more recently and this section is describing that previous time. This is also unlikely, though, because is it were true the poet would not go on to say that “presently / every affront to his deserving was reversed” (1. 2189-2190) which implies that until he had come back from rescuing the Danes, he was still considered “lack[ing] in force.” Perhaps he was introduced as a hero because the poet wanted the audience to consider Beowulf a hero throughout his battles with Grendel and his mother. Regardless of how it was meant to be interpreted, I think it is very significant to the text that Beowulf was not considered a hero by his tribesmen, but introduced himself as such when he went to aid the Danes. (543)