Beowulf - Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia

man, who is instrumentalised. He belongs to the first fight scene, in which as one of
Beowulf’s men, of whom we know from verse 205 that they are good, acts as a
decoy. The man is intended to stimulate Grendel to proceed further into the hall, so
that Beowulf may surprise and overcome the monster. It so happens that acting as a
decoy for Grendel means death and we would say that Beowulf’s man sacrifices
himself for the sake of the good and that it is his duty as a retainer to do so. ‘Sacrifice’
and ‘duty’, however, are our own ways of labeling what is in reality the graceful
and natural behaviour of a good man. Although Beowulf himself will not use the good
tactics of an art which Grendel is not aquainted with, tactics are, as we are shown by
the example of the decoy’s contribution, nonetheless worthwhile for Beowulf. He
would not have succeeded in gripping Grendel if he had himself been the first to meet
the monster. On the contrary, Grendel, sensing Beowulf’s strength, would have fled
at once, as he eventually does, having been mortally wounded through the loss of his
arm, i.e., when the joint of his shoulder proved weaker than Beowulf’s grip. The
loyal man and the failing sword are inversions of each other and so are the two
episodes. The first, in which Beowulf is waiting indoors, starts well, but it develops
into something that is not a complete success. The second, however, in which
Beowulf is the intruder, begins with a severe crisis, but ends with a complete victory.
The symmetrical inversion is in other words part of a larger scheme in which
Beowulf’s perfection is demonstrated in his ability to master two complementary
situations, defence and attack.
The Two Appeasement Scenes
The outcome is always good when Beowulf fights for us and so, after the fights with
the monster, there is much rejoicing, which gives the author the opportunity to point
out additional aspects of the good. The first scene (vv. 1162–1192) is a short speech
given by Hroðgar’s Queen Wealhtheow. This speech is not uncalled for since it follows
directly upon a much appreciated winter’s tale, told by Hroðgar’s scop, about the
dynastic, hall-smashing, agony and slaughter at Finnsburg during which Queen
Hildeburg, a Danish princess married to Finn, the Frisian king of the Jutes somewhere
on the west coast of Southern Jutland, loses her husband, her brother and her son,
before she is happily, in the opinion of the men in Hroðgar’s hall, returned to Denmark.
Things are complicated at Finnsburg, to say the least, with a mixing of peoples, nations
and dynastic families, and we get the impression that this tale is by no means farfetched.
In Beowulf the story is naturally presented as one of the favourite hall tales, a
typical þáttr, at the Danish court, and it is obviously a suitable contribution at the
celebration of the victory over Grendel. On the other hand, it is also easy to understand
that Hroðgar’s Queen, Wealhtheow, takes the opportunity to say something immediately
after the scop, using as a pretext her right to bring around the drinking vessel to the
prominent men. She speaks of reconciliation.
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