Beowulf - Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia

2209 hé gehéold tela
fiftig wintra— wæs ðá fród cyning,
eald éþelweard—, oð ðæt án ongan
deorcum nihtum draca rícsian,
2209 he reigned well
for fifty winters— was that time a wise old king
the country’s old guardian—, until one began
in the dark night a dragon to rule,
So, no sooner have we learned that Beowulf has grown old than we are told about the
ominous dragon which is eventually to kill him, thereby ruining the nation. What follows
is in essence an account of a series of tragic events and the shortcomings of lesser men
reflected in and contrasted to the heroic deeds of the young and middle-aged Beowulf.
Beowulf (Part II) is not a poem about the good. It is a poem about the inevitable or
the hopeless and the agony of a nation that has lost its king. It does not help that these
Beowulf’s last days contain some references to Christ’s Maundy Thursday. Beowulf,
as it happens, sets out with twelve men, of whom one is the thief (a parallel to Judas)
who stole from the dragon and enraged it (vv. 2400 ff.). This man leads the party to the
dragon’s cave and here Beowulf, in a mood similar to that of Jesus in the Garden of
Gethsemane (Klaeber note to v. 2418), takes leave of the twelve men. He does so in
a manner just as dignified as that of Jesus, but more long-winded. In this situation there
is perhaps also a possible Peter parallel in the strange character of the young Wiglaf.
He is one of the twelve followers who, when they have fled into the woods, speaks as
their leader and steps forward to declare two things: first that Beowulf must not forget
what he swore in his youth and, secondly that he, Wiglaf, like Peter at the Mount of
Olives, will not abandon, but help him (vv. 2663 ff.). Then Beowulf steps forward to
kill the dragon and be killed and as a result of his death the Geatish nation will soon
come to an end.
Even though Beowulf (Part II) refers to the dying Jesus, it fails to inspire the hope
expressed in ‘Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ (John
1,29). On the contrary, we follow a Jesus who leaves us on our pilgrimage in a desolate
and difficult place like the vale of Baca (Psalm 84, line 6), which Luther preferred to
call the vale of tears. To the Geats this is the beginning of the end, but to Wiglaf it may
be the beginning of a new era.
Wiglaf’s opinions as he expresses them in his little speech are most uncalled for
and he is an odd hero inasmuch as he is what no other heroes are, namely helpful,
nice and unobtrusive and something of a knowall. While Beowulf clashes with the
dragon for the second time Wiglaf manages, as if by chance, to wound it, so that its
fire dies down a little, thus giving the death-marked Beowulf a chance to finish it off.
He does so, and there are rumours that one of Wiglaf’s hands was burned off by the
dragon. This, however, does not prevent him, single handed, from offering Beowulf
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