Beowulf - Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia

Grendel’s mother lives and where he is to fight with her in her underwater hall. The
scene ends when he returns in verse 1623, but before he returns many in the party
think that Beowulf has been killed by Grendel’s mother when they see blood spreading
on the water. Good is used four times (vv. 1486, 1518, 1562, 1592).
The first episode starts with Beowulf being called good (v. 675), and ends with
the hope that God will give him good gifts (v. 956). Beowulf is good and rewarded
because has taken the initiative for the fight and because he won. When he has
succeeded he will not only be entitled to receive presents from Hroðgar, but also
from God, since the saviours of nations must be God’s men. In between these points
we note that tactics can be good (v. 681). Beowulf is good when he finds himself
face to face with Grendel in verse 758 and he gets strength and determination by
recollecting statements made in the King’s hall. This does not mean that he needs to
encourage himself or talk himself into bravery, it is a sign of his being good and also
a sign of the power of the spoken word. When Beowulf has defeated Grendel and
everybody meets in front of the hall in the morning, there are several who think that
Beowulf ought to be king. The author, however, points out that this is not criticism of
King Hroðgar, who is still good. The situation in which some cry for a new king does
not seem far-fetched, but it has obviously been put there to give Beowulf the opportunity
to support old King Hroðgar.
The second episode starts with Hroðgar being called good by Beowulf (v. 1486).
In the end of the episode (v. 1595) also Beowulf is good. The beginning and the end
of the two episodes follow rules of symmetry. The first episode, which is the result of
Beowulf’s initiative, starts by calling Beowulf good (because of his initiative), but the
requirements of symmetry demand that the episode ends by calling Hroðgar good.
Therefore the second episode, being a reflection of the first, must start with Hroðgar
being good and end with Beowulf being good. Especially the last mention of Beowulf
as good seems to be put in for the sake of symmetry since his goodness is pointed
out by the King and his men, when they think that Beowulf has been killed in the lake.
Although the listener or reader knows that Beowulf has been victorious, it is not
necessary to survive in order to be called good. For Hroðgar, Beowulf at this point
in time represents the common rise-and-fall fate of a hero: he appeared, he fought,
he was rewarded for proving himself to be a hero, he fought again and disappeared.
Unlike the King, the reader has followed Beowulf’s fight and knows that he is
alive, but also that it is not always sufficient to be a good man. Between the beginning
and the end Beowulf is described as good when he finds himself face to face with
Grendel’s mother (v. 1518) in the same way as he was good when he met Grendel in
verse 758. However, in his fight with Grendel’s mother his sword, Hrunting, which
he got from the deceitful Unferð, fails him. This results in a troublesome situation for
the hero, but he manages to get hold of another sword, which is called good in verse
1562. This instrumental goodness is a parallel to the good tactics in verse 681 of the
first fight scene. Instrumental and personal goodness are prerequisites for the ulti-
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