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Dr. Gary Gutchess |
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Course
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Mapping a text When journaling a longer work, when summary is not feasible because of length, outlining may be useful as a method for abbreviated summary. This exercise allows the journalist to explore how the parts are inter-related and to gain a mental map of the text. After Dr. G's outlined the parts of Beowulf, he then used the outline to hang a series of notes and questions for later review. He then tried to draw conclusions from his summary and reflections. |
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Outline of Beowulf by line number 1-77. Royal house of the Scyldings (shield-men, Danes). genealogy Scyld Scefing (self-made man? child of waters), Beow, Healfdene, Heorogar/Hrothgar/Halga (succession by Hrothgar after death of Heorogar). Heorot is culmination of group effort "awaiting the flames" (Halga's son Hrothulf will usurp the throne from Hrothgar's sons. Is Heorot Hrothgar's monument to dead Heorogar?) Omniscient narrator sees all stories and knows their endings: the style of Homer. 78-167. Intro of Grendel. "the feast was followed by fits of weeping." Some relapsed to paganism (151-162) but Genesis is sung by scop. The controlling episode is Cain: killing of brothers (How does Cain relate to Heorogar/Hrothgar? Unferth, killer of his brothers. Hrothgar/Halga?). (Note: according to the old Norse Hrolf Kraki's saga, Healfdene was murdered by his brother Froda, and the two sons Hrothgar and Halga then avenged their father's death by killing Froda. This source does not mention Heorogar. Could Heorogar = Froda? The idea that Hrothgar and Halga have taken over "Heorot" by killing "Heorogar" would give logic to the plot. Other sources mention some of these figures, but the accounts are not consistent. In Beowulf, Froda ("wise or learned") is the father of Ingeld and king of the Heathobards ("warlike bards"). In Widsith:
Beowulf is possibly Danish propaganda, a counter-story to the Heathobard legend of Ingeld?) 168- 435 Intro of Beowulf, Geat thane of Hygelac, son of Ecgtheow (mother is unnamed daughter of Hrethel). Intro unfolds in three scenes. First guard 198: "let me know who are your fathers." Second herald 295 where are you going? 347 the lord honors your father and bids you welcome. Third, Hrothgar/Beowulf interview 355- . Ecgtheow killed the Wylfing Heatholaf, starting feud which Hrothgar settled by paying wergeld to the Wylfings (405). (Note commercial aspect: Hrothgar has purchased Beowulf's loyalty by buying his father freedom from feud. Beowulf comes to pay the debt. Hrothgar will give further gifts to obligate Beowulf.) 436-626 Banquet: Unferth and Beowulf. Contest with Breca. Unferth is brother's killer, doomed to hell (522). (Unferth = faithless?) Parallels Cain and Grendel. Wealtheow serves the cup (548); symbol of hope and unity, Christian communion and fellowship. Beowulf prays. Fight will prove who rules the races of men: the enemy or God (625). 627-769 Fight with Grendel. Magic spell protect demon from swords (715). Shoulder (726). Death of Grendel in dark water on moor (755). 770-868. Scop makes song of Beowulf's wisdom and strength. DIGRESSION: Beowulf is like Sigemon the Waelsing who defeats dragon and gets gold, outshining unhappy Heremod, predecessor of Scyld who killed his own people and was forced into exile where he was killed. Comment This outline of the Grendel section of Beowulf has brought to conscious attention the central theme of brotherhood. The negative examples are Cain, Grendel, Unferth, Heremod. The positive example is Hrothgar, who has positive relationship toward his dead brother Heorogar, building Heorot for his memory (implicitly), giving Heorogar's most prized armor to adopted "son" Beowulf. However, the curse of fraternal rivalry is not lifted from the Danish house. Uncle Hrothulf will supplant his cousins (sons of Hrothgar), and Heorot will burn.
Grendel's Mother (869-1934) 869-930. Hall is damaged; Hrothgar and Hrothulf dine (irony 890). (Hrothulf is is son of an incestuous union between Halga and his daughter Yrsa--according to Scandanavian sources. The relation of Hrothgar and Hrothulf may be compared to that between Arthur and Mordred.) Hrothgar gives gifts to Beowulf of Heorogar's armor and weapons (895). (If these are really Froda's weapons?) 931- 1018. Scop's song of Finn, king of Frisians, whose men kill Danish Prince Hnaef, in revenge for which Dane earl Hengest kill Finn. Queen Hildeburh was in the middle with Hnaef being her brother and Finn her husband. She is in the place of brother-killer Cain. 1019-1088 Queen Wealtheow gives Beowulf jewel collar which he will give Hygelac, which Hygelac will die wearing in fight with Frisians. Unferth is admired: thought blameless and trustworthy though he killed a kinsman (1027). 1088- 1151 Grendel's mother kills Aeschere. (Grendel's father is Cain (1115)? Or Grendel's father is unkown (1196)?) 1152-1235 Response to attack. Beowulf/Hrothgar exchange. Beo: better to avenge your friend than to mourn (1223). (Beo and mother are both in revenge mode) 1235-1310: On Moors. Beowulf arms. Unferth/Hrunting. Beo leaves gifts to Hygelac if he dies (1310). 1310-1431. Fight in pool. weapons worthless (1332) uses grip (1353), giant's sword (1378), head of grendel (1400), blade melts (1413) 1431- 1589 Return to Heorot. Flood story is controlling on handle of giant's sword. Giants died by water as they were defiant of kindred (1487). Hrothgar's sermon to Beowulf on Heremod (1496-1577) and the spirit of greed and suspicion which bring ruin. Courtesy to wayfarers (1588) 1590-1822 Beo gives back Hrunting (1597) Return to Hygelac's hall and Queen Hygd (who is unlike Queen Modthryth, the maiden who got men killed before she married king Offa [the Mercian king in England?]). Beowulf tells Beowulf (1764-1887). Hrothgar's daughter Freaware is going to marry Hethobard king Ingeld, but the alliance is unlikely to hold, Beo predicts (1784-1822). (Here the conflict finally comes out: Ingeld is son of Froda. Froda recently has been killed by Hrothgar and Hrothulf, in feud between Danes and Healthobards.) 1888-1934. Beo gives Heorogar's armor and arms to Hygelac and the golden collar to Hygd. (Both of these will be lost when Hygelac is killed invading Frisian territory.) In return Beo gets Hrethel's sword and a spacious estate. (Now we find out that Hrothgar should have given the arms to his son Heoroweard (1900) but he made Beowulf his son instead.) (What Beowulf gets concludes each of the three episodes.) The dragon (1935-2795) 1935-2044. Dragon guards treasure buried in old days. Barrow is 300 years old (2005). A runaway slave steals a flagon, awakening the dragon who flares up and flies in the night (a description of natural gas fire?) 2045-2067. Beowulf's hall burns and throne melts. Makes an iron shield (2057). Is fearless due to prior successes. 2068-2112. Beowulf's history. Beo had fought with Hygelac against the Frisians, swam home (enemy also is called Hetware, who inhabited mouth of Rhine, were Franks). Beo refused Hygd's offer of kingship but became protector of Heardred, Hygelac's son. Heardred had given protection to Sylfing enemies of Sweden Eanmund and Eadgils. (In actuality, these are nephews of the Swedish king Onela. Onela married Yrse, a sister of Hrothgar and Halga (or perhaps a daughter of Halga)) Onela invaded Geatland and killed Heardred, making Beo king. Beo befriended Eadgils, and sent an army against Onela. (Onela/Eadgils conflict mirrors Hrothgar/Hrothulf, the story of the treacherous nephew. The mysterious figure of Yrse is central to both conflicts. The story pattern is similar to Arthur/Mordred, and Arthur's incentuous union with his sister Morgan producing the nephew who destroys him.) 2113-2138. More dragon description 2139-2210. More history. Geat genealogy. Beowulf tells his history as boy in house of Geat king Hrethel with three princes Herebeald, Hathcyn and Hygelac. Hathcyn accidentally murders Herebeald and is later killed in battle with Swedes (Swede king Ongentheow and his sons Onela and brother Othere; Ongentheow is also killed in this battle) making young Hygelac the last survivor king. 2211-2393 Fight with Dragon. Wiglaf son of Weostan a Scylf who slew Eanmun son of Othere (2295 2318); Weostan had sought protection at Geat court. Sword carried by Wiglaf is the one that slew Eanmun; it is "smithwork of giants" (compare the sword Beowulf finds in Grendel's mother's den). Liege system (2325) Beowulf's sword Naegling splits. Wiglaf's sword hits. Beowulf guts the dragon with his knife. 2394-2485 Death of Beowulf. Stares at giant doorway to treasure. He never killed kin or baselessly shed blood (2420). Wiglaf gets the treasures to show Beo (2430-2463). Raise me a gravemound (2469). He gives his collar, helmet and hauberk to Wiglaf 2486-2658. Prophecy of Wiglaf. Franks and Frisians will attack because of Hygelac's aggression. Swedes will attack because of Onela. Hathcyn had captured Onela's mother and taken her tresure before he was killed by Onela's father. Onela's father was also killed by a Geat, Eofer. The Swedish kings armor was taken by Hygelac. 2659-2796 Reflection on dragon and dead Beowulf. The hero's barrow. The tomb is 1000 years old (2678). Thief is cursed (2695). Treasure is reburied in Hronesnaesse ("the cape of whales"), Beowulf's barrow. (The Geats were incorporated into Sweden cir. 1000 AD. Their name is synonymous with the Goths and derives from the Germanic verb meaning "to pour," or "to offer sacrifice" as in libation pourers. They are a people who contact the dead by pouring libations to them. A modern theory also associates the Geats with the Jutes, but Beowulf treats these two as separate tribes. ) Comment So what? What difference has my journal outline and notation made? To me it has meant something. It has been my teacher. It has focused my attention, and supported my effort to understand a very complicated poem. My journal outline of Beowulf this time focuses on genealogy. This reading has me thinking that the poem may have incorporated into Beowulf's story a foundation myth for the Wuffing rulers in East Anglia. Wiglaf and Wealtheow provide a pseudo-historical basis supporting Wuffing rule. For this theme in the poem, the dragon episode is the most important. Here the poet invents a basis for the transfer of the Geat kingdom from Beowulf (who was not Wuffing) to Wiglaf (who was). This was not a normal succession by lineage (Wiglaf was not clearly related to Beowulf), so there had to be a spin story for how Wuffing monarchy in Geatland had come about. The Beowulf poet's story would have us believe that Beowulf had no children, and only one thane remained loyal to him when he died, and so Beowulf named Wiglaf as his successor. The Wealtheow connection is more tenuous. From Norse sagas, it seems clear that Healfdene's brother Frodo succeeded Healfdene, and Healfdene's sons Hrothgar and Halga then succeeded to power after Frodo. The succession problem led to war between the Danish Healfdene followers and the "Heathobards" (Frodo successors). It is not clear from the sagas that Hrothgar played a leading role in any of this, but it was part of the history that Wealtheow (the supposed Wuffing ancestor) was Hrothgar's queen. Was she a proper queen or not? To make Wealtheow out as a legitimate queen of Denmark, the Beowulf poet needed to get rid of the appearance that Hrothgar and Halga had deposed their uncle Frodo. To solve this difficulty, the Beowulf poet invents "Heorogar" (which no other source mentions) so makes it out that that Hrothgar succeeds this brother legitimately in a normal course events. There was, however, one further problem. Halga's son Hrothulf, rather than Hrothgar's sons, would turn out to be king. In order to make Hrothgar's queen Wealtheow into the legitimate ancestral queen of Denmark, it was necessary for the poet to make Halga's son Hrothulf into a usurper. So the poet presents the matter as if the time of Beowulf's visit to Denmark was the only moment in Danish history when the curse of usurpation was lifted. Wealtheow was a deserving queen, as Hrothgar was a good king! What rally happened? We can only speculate. Frodo succeeded his brother Healfdene to become king of Denmark. This may have happened in the normal course of events (as Heathobards would have written) or perhaps Frodo may have killed Healfdene (as the Beowulf poet may imply with its Cain imagery). Healfdene's sons Hrothgar and Halga deposed King Frodo (rightfully or wrongfully), and Halga succeeded to the kingship. Dead Frodo's supporters known as Heathobards continued to fight to get the Danish kingdom back. Their champion Ingeld became a famous hero in legend, a Hamlet prototype. Halga died in battle, leaving a child Hrothulf. Uncle Hrothgar served as the child's protector until Hrothulf grew up and became king. Hrothgar's daughter Freawaru was married off to Ingeld in an unsuccessful attempt to make peace with the Heathobards. Hrothulf married his daughter Yrsa to the Swedish king Onela who then claimed to be king of both the Danes and Swedes. This threatened the Geats who were surrounded. In Geatland, ancestors of the Wuffings took over the kingdom after Hygelac and his thanes were massacred in their ill-considered attack on Frisia in 515 AD. If Beowulf existed at all as a thane of Hygelac's, he never swam home to Geatland from this battle, and he never turned over the kingdom to Wiglaf. Wiglaf held off the Swedes and successfully supported Ohthere's sons Eanmund and Eadgils against their uncle Onela and Yrsa. The Geats maintained their independence from Sweden for several hundred more years.
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Hrothgar = fame of the spear, or famous spearman. Hrothulf = fame hunter. Are names allegorical? They are attested in many sagas
Hygelac, possibly the same as the Danish king killed in Frisian territory
Beowulf = bear hunter (? Tolkien)
Wealtheow = foreign servant? daughter of Helm. She's a Wylfing, as is Wiglaf. Wylfings became rulers in British East Anglia (Kent, the Sutton Hoo region). Cf name Ecgtheow (edge servant, swordsman, one served by the sword) Some say Scyld is son of Heremod. Royal line of Heremod is accursed with division |
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Copyright 2008 by Gary Homer Gutchess. |
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