Curious
Gondolin
Nov 2 2007, 9:21am
Views: 963
|
|
**Beowulf Discussion Part 30** -- Peace Won't Last, and What I Did for the Danes.
|
|
|
The Sparknotes summary for this section of Beowulf can be found at this link:
http://www.sparknotes.com/...owulf/section7.rhtml
[Beowulf] predicts that the sight of the ancestral possessions of each worn by the kin of the other (the result of many years of warring and plundering) will cause memories of the deep and lengthy feud between the Danes and the Heathobards to surface, so that they will not be able to keep themselves from continuing to fight. Beowulf then tells the story of his encounter with Grendel. He particularly emphasizes the monster’s ferocity and the rewards that he received from Hrothgar. He relates the battle with Grendel's mother as well. Lesslie Hall's 1892 translation is at this link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16328
XXX.
BEOWULF NARRATES HIS ADVENTURES TO HIGELAC.
"It well may discomfit the prince of the Heathobards
And each of the thanemen of earls that attend him,
[70] When he goes to the building escorting the woman,
That a noble-born Daneman the knights should be feasting:
5 There gleam on his person the leavings of elders
Hard and ring-bright, Heathobards' treasure,
While they wielded their arms, till they misled to the battle
Their own dear lives and belovèd companions.
He saith at the banquet who the collar beholdeth,
10 An ancient ash-warrior who earlmen's destruction
Clearly recalleth (cruel his spirit),
Sadly beginneth sounding the youthful
Thane-champion's spirit through the thoughts of his bosom,
War-grief to waken, and this word-answer speaketh:
{Ingeld is stirred up to break the truce.}
15 'Art thou able, my friend, to know when thou seest it
The brand which thy father bare to the conflict
In his latest adventure, 'neath visor of helmet,
The dearly-loved iron, where Danemen did slay him,
And brave-mooded Scyldings, on the fall of the heroes,
20 (When vengeance was sleeping) the slaughter-place wielded?
E'en now some man of the murderer's progeny
Exulting in ornaments enters the building,
Boasts of his blood-shedding, offbeareth the jewel
Which thou shouldst wholly hold in possession!'
25 So he urgeth and mindeth on every occasion
With woe-bringing words, till waxeth the season
When the woman's thane for the works of his father,
The bill having bitten, blood-gory sleepeth,
Fated to perish; the other one thenceward
30 'Scapeth alive, the land knoweth thoroughly.[1]
Then the oaths of the earlmen on each side are broken,
When rancors unresting are raging in Ingeld
And his wife-love waxeth less warm after sorrow.
So the Heathobards' favor not faithful I reckon,
35 Their part in the treaty not true to the Danemen,
Their friendship not fast. I further shall tell thee
[71]
{Having made these preliminary statements, I will now tell thee of
Grendel, the monster.}
More about Grendel, that thou fully mayst hear,
Ornament-giver, what afterward came from
The hand-rush of heroes. When heaven's bright jewel
40 O'er earthfields had glided, the stranger came raging,
The horrible night-fiend, us for to visit,
Where wholly unharmed the hall we were guarding.
{Hondscio fell first}
To Hondscio happened a hopeless contention,
Death to the doomed one, dead he fell foremost,
45 Girded war-champion; to him Grendel became then,
To the vassal distinguished, a tooth-weaponed murderer,
The well-beloved henchman's body all swallowed.
Not the earlier off empty of hand did
The bloody-toothed murderer, mindful of evils,
50 Wish to escape from the gold-giver's palace,
But sturdy of strength he strove to outdo me,
Hand-ready grappled. A glove was suspended
Spacious and wondrous, in art-fetters fastened,
Which was fashioned entirely by touch of the craftman
55 From the dragon's skin by the devil's devices:
He down in its depths would do me unsadly
One among many, deed-doer raging,
Though sinless he saw me; not so could it happen
When I in my anger upright did stand.
60 'Tis too long to recount how requital I furnished
For every evil to the earlmen's destroyer;
{I reflected honor upon my people.}
'Twas there, my prince, that I proudly distinguished
Thy land with my labors. He left and retreated,
He lived his life a little while longer:
65 Yet his right-hand guarded his footstep in Heorot,
And sad-mooded thence to the sea-bottom fell he,
Mournful in mind. For the might-rush of battle
{King Hrothgar lavished gifts upon me.}
The friend of the Scyldings, with gold that was plated,
With ornaments many, much requited me,
70 When daylight had dawned, and down to the banquet
We had sat us together. There was chanting and joyance:
The age-stricken Scylding asked many questions
[72] And of old-times related; oft light-ringing harp-strings,
Joy-telling wood, were touched by the brave one;
75 Now he uttered measures, mourning and truthful,
Then the large-hearted land-king a legend of wonder
Truthfully told us. Now troubled with years
{The old king is sad over the loss of his youthful vigor.}
The age-hoary warrior afterward began to
Mourn for the might that marked him in youth-days;
80 His breast within boiled, when burdened with winters
Much he remembered. From morning till night then
We joyed us therein as etiquette suffered,
Till the second night season came unto earth-folk.
Then early thereafter, the mother of Grendel
{Grendel's mother.}
85 Was ready for vengeance, wretched she journeyed;
Her son had death ravished, the wrath of the Geatmen.
The horrible woman avengèd her offspring,
And with mighty mainstrength murdered a hero.
{Æschere falls a prey to her vengeance.}
There the spirit of Æschere, agèd adviser,
90 Was ready to vanish; nor when morn had lightened
Were they anywise suffered to consume him with fire,
Folk of the Danemen, the death-weakened hero,
Nor the belovèd liegeman to lay on the pyre;
{She suffered not his body to be burned, but ate it.}
She the corpse had offcarried in the clutch of the foeman[2]
95 'Neath mountain-brook's flood. To Hrothgar 'twas saddest
Of pains that ever had preyed on the chieftain;
By the life of thee the land-prince then me[3]
Besought very sadly, in sea-currents' eddies
To display my prowess, to peril my safety,
100 Might-deeds accomplish; much did he promise.
{I sought the creature in her den,}
I found then the famous flood-current's cruel,
Horrible depth-warder. A while unto us two
[73] Hand was in common; the currents were seething
With gore that was clotted, and Grendel's fierce mother's
{and hewed her head off.}
105 Head I offhacked in the hall at the bottom
With huge-reaching sword-edge, hardly I wrested
My life from her clutches; not doomed was I then,
{Jewels were freely bestowed upon me.}
But the warden of earlmen afterward gave me
Jewels in quantity, kinsman of Healfdene.
[1] For 'lifigende' (2063), a mere conjecture, 'wígende' has been
suggested. The line would then read: _Escapeth by fighting, knows the
land thoroughly_.
[2] For 'fæðmum,' Gr.'s conjecture, B. proposes 'færunga.' These three
half-verses would then read: _She bore off the corpse of her foe
suddenly under the mountain-torrent_.
[3] The phrase 'þíne lýfe' (2132) was long rendered '_with thy
(presupposed) permission_.' The verse would read: _The land-prince
then sadly besought me, with thy (presupposed) permission, etc_.
A more recent translation by Benjamin Slade (this section starts on line 2032) can be found here:
http://www.heorot.dk/beo-intro-rede.html
This then may displease the chief of the Heatho-Bards'
and every thane of that people,
when he with the maiden walks on the floor:
that the noble sons of the Danes, her veteran troop, are entertained,
on them glisten ancient heirlooms,
hard and ring-adorned, the Heatho-Bards' treasure,
so long as they those weapons were able to wield.
Until they had led to disaster in the shield-play
their dear companions and their own lives.
Then speaks at the beer-drinking, he who sees a ring-precious object,
the old ash-warrior, he who remembers all
the spear-death of men --in him is a fierce heart--
he begins sad-spirited in a young champion,
by the musing of his heart, to tempt his mind,
to awaken war-horror, and speaks these words:
"Can you, my friend, recognise that maiche,
which your father bore into the fight,
under his army-mask on the last campaign,
precious iron, there the Danes slew him,
controlled the slaying-field, when retribution failed,
after the heroes' fall, the fierce Scyldings?
Now here of those slayers the son of one or other of them,
exultant in trappings, goes across the floor,
boasts of murder, and wears the treasure
which you by right ought to possess."
Thus he incites and reminds every time
with grievous words, until that time comes
that the woman's thane for his father's deeds
from the bite of a bill-blade sleeps, stained in blood,
having forfeited life; him the other thence
escapes alive, the land is readily known to him.
Then are broken on both sides
the sworn oaths of earls; then in Ingeld
murderous hate will well up and in him the love of woman
surges of grief will become cooler;
Therefore I the Heathobards' loyalty do not consider,
the alliance's portion, for the Danes untreacherous,
enduring friendship. I ought speak further
again about Grendel, that you may readily know,
giver of treasure, what then happened,
the hand-fight of heroes when heaven's gem
had glided over the earth, the ireful guest came,
terrible, fierce in the evening to visit us,
where we, unharmed, warded the hall,
where was for Hondscio a sinking battle
deadly evil for the doomed man; he fell first,
the girded champion; for him Grendel was,
the famed thane of distinction, a slayer by mouth,
the belovèd man's body swallowed up completely;
not the sooner out yet empty-handed,
the slayer bloody-toothed, wickedness in mind,
from the gold-hall did he wish to go
but he, famed for his strength, tested me,
gripped with an eager hand; a pouch hung down
spacious and strange, with cleverly-wrought clasps held fast,
it was cunningly all devised
with devil's crafts and dragon's skins;
he me there inside, guiltless,
the daring instigator wished to stuff,
as one of many; he could not do so,
since I in anger stood erect.
It is too long to recount how I the scourge of the people
for each of his evils paid in hand-requital
where I, my lord, your people
honoured by acts; he escaped away
for a little while, enjoyed the joy of life;
yet from him the right, a vestige, remainded behind
hand in Heorot, and he wretched thence,
gloomy in his heart, sank into the depths of the mere.
To me for the bloody battle the Friend of the Scyldings
with objects of plated gold in plenty rewarded,
many treasures, when morning came,
and we to the feast had sat down
where was song and glee: old Scylding
who has heard tell of many things, from long ago narrated;
at times this battle-daring one the harp for pleasure
the old-wood played; sometimes recited a song,
true and tragic; sometimes strange tales
he related rightly, the open-hearted king;
at times he began again, bound in his age,
the ancient war-soldier, to mourn for his youth,
his battle-strength; his heart welled inside,
when he, wise in winter, recalled many things.
So we there inside a whole long day
took pleasure, until came night
another to men; then was again swiftly
ready for grief-revenge Grendel's mother,
she journeyed full of sorrow; Death had taken her son,
the war-hate of the Wederas; the horrible woman
avenged her child, killed a warrior
savagely; there was from Æschere,
the old, wise lore-counsellor, life departed.
Nor could they him, when morning came,
weary of death the Danish people
cremate in fire, nor lay on the funeral bale,
the beloved man; she had carried off the corpse
in fiend's embrace beneath the mountain stream;
that was for Hrothgar the most bitter grief
which the ruler of the people long had received.
Then me the chieftain, by your life,
implored with troubled mind, that I in the waters' tumult
perform a noble act, risk life,
accomplish glory; he promised me rewards.
Then I the welling waters', as is widely known,
wrathful ghastly guard of the deep found;
there a while we were sharing a hand;
the water welled with gore, and I cut off the head
in that deep-hall of Grendel's mother
with mighty edges, not easily thence
I carried off my life; I was not doomed yet
but to me the protector of heroes again gave
many treasures, the kinsman of Half-Dane.'
Questions:
Beowulf doubts that the peace between the Danes and Heathobards will last. Beowulf envisions one of the Heathobards recognizing an item that used to belong to his father, and now is worn by one of the Danes who slew his father. But what is the item to which Beowulf refers? Is it jewelry, a weapon, or something else? What does it look like? What is it made of?
Wouldn't the Danes know better than to flaunt treasure they took from the Heathobards when visiting their former enemies?
Why are heirlooms worth so much to the Danes, Geats, Heathobards, and presumably the Anglo-Saxons? Are they just into antiques? Do they place great store on sentimental value? Or is there another reason why the age of the treasure has something to do with its value? Is there a historical basis for this value system, or is this simply the stuff of legends and myth and fiction? In other words, did ancient peoples really place such value on heirlooms? If so, why? How would the world be different if the best and most treasured items were also the oldest, rather than the newest?
Okay, having briefly discussed why this truce won't last, Beowulf then tells us about his encounter with Grendel and Grendel's mother. Why do we hear this again? Why doesn't the poet just say that Beowulf told his king what has happened, without going through Beowulf's summary of the poem so far?
How does Beowulf's summary of the poem so far differ from the poem so far? What new information does Beowulf relate that we haven't heard before? Why haven't we heard this information before?
What do we learn about Beowulf from hearing his account of what happened? Is Beowulf proud or modest or some mixture of both? Is that okay? Is Beowulf's report complete and accurate? Is it too long or too short? When the poet told us of Beowulf's feats he made sure to mention God or Fate (Weird), but does Beowulf do so? Should he? What did Beowulf think was important, and what did he omit?
Is there any humor in Beowulf's story? Any anger? Any sadness? Is Beowulf a good storyteller? Does Beowulf have an agenda behind the story he tells his king and uncle?
Is anyone else present when Beowulf tells this story, or is it just him and the king? Is there a poet nearby taking notes? If we imagine Beowulf's story to be historical rather than fictional, how would the story have been handed down to us?
What does Beowulf think of Hrothgar? Is it all good? Or does he see some weaknesses in Hrothgar's rulership?
Any other comments?
(This post was edited by Curious on Nov 2 2007, 9:22am)
|
