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)