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Personification
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Grendel Attacks (Lines 86–193)
Explanation and Analysis:
Beowulf is set in Northern Europe, particularly Denmark and Sweden, in the 6th century, several centuries before the epic poem was written down. In the story, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, a Germanic tribe residing in present-day Sweden, travels to the land of the Danes in present-day Denmark in order to aid their King in defeating a monster named Grendel. In the poem, the Danes are a highly traditional warrior culture led by a King who serves as both a political and military leader. Kingship is hereditary, but the King's legitimacy also rests on his ability to protect and provide for his people. Beneath the King are his loyal thanes, or warriors, who swear oaths of allegiance and are bound by a code of honor to serve and protect their lord. These warriors are celebrated for their bravery and strength, and they are often rewarded with gifts, land, and titles for their service. Beowulf, depicted as courageous and loyal, epitomizes the ideal warrior of sixth-century Scandinavia.
Another important aspect of the setting is the broader religious context of the poem’s composition. The sixth-century Scandinavian societies depicted in the poem are pagan and polytheistic, and characters pray to the gods of Norse mythology. However, between the 8th and 12th centuries, Christianity spread across Northern Europe. The Christian scribe or scribes, who may or may not have additionally composed the poem, reflect repeatedly on these religious differences. When the Danes begin to pray to their gods to put an end to Grendel’s atrocities, the poem notes that:
Many nobles
sat assembled, and searched out counsel
how it were best for bold-hearted men
against harassing terror to try their hand.
Whiles they vowed in their heathen
fanes altar-offerings, asked with words
that the slayer-of-souls would succor give them
for the pain of their people. Their practice this,
their heathen hope; 'twas Hell they thought of
in mood of their mind. Almighty they knew not,
Doomsman of Deeds and dreadful Lord,
nor Heaven's-Helmet heeded they ever,
Wielder-of-Wonder. Woe for that man
who in harm and hatred hales his soul
to fiery embraces; nor favor nor change
awaits he ever.
The narrative dismisses the “heathen” religious practices of the Danes, who lay offerings in altars and implore the gods to intercede on their behalf. Lamenting that these earlier figures “know not” about the Christian God, the narrator emphasizes the importance of belief in Christianity as the path to salvation. “Woe for that man,” the narration cautions, who “hales his soul / to fiery embraces” by denying the doctrines of Christianity. This tension between the pagan values of the play’s setting and the Christian values of its scribe is a major feature of the poem.
Related Themes:
