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Every society has demons and monsters that the members of that society are fearful of. Those fears are only reflections of the society that are seen in that monster. In the long epic poem, Beowulf, there are three monsters that reflect aspects of Germanic warrior society. Grendel is portrayed as a vicious flesh-eating monster, yet the Germanic warrior fear of loneliness resides within him.
Grendel's mother harshly revenges the death of her son, which exactly relates to the code of blood revenge in the warrior culture. The last of the monsters in the poem is the fire-breathing dragon that is an echo of the ultimate hanford and symbolizes the circle of life. All three of the monsters symbolically represent aspects of the Germanic culture. Grendel is characterized as the embodiment of evil, and his narrative function is to parallel Cain or Satan. Throughout the introduction of Grendel's character, there are countless references to the devil and hell to illustrate him.
A fiend out of hell, began to work his evil on the world (ll 100 - 101). Cains clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts (ll 106 - 107). He is also described as a God-cursed brute (l 121), and the Lords outcast (l 169). The author even goes on to compare Grendel to a vampire: Then as dawn brightened and the day broke, Grendel's powers of destruction were plain (ll 126 - 127). This metaphor depicts Grendel as a blood-sucking vampire whose powers are greater in the time of darkness and night. Why, then, is Grendel so malevolent?
Why would he want to cause so much harm to Herot? Throughout the descriptions of Grendel, the narrator portrays him as a man on a lonely mission. So Grendel ruled out in defiance of right, one against all (ll 144 - 145) Grendel has been exiled because of his monstrous appearance. He had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters (ll 104 - 105).
Grendel is symbolic of a Germanic warrior who has been banished from his kin and because of this Grendel is envious of Herot. Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark, nursed a hard grievance. It harrowed him to hear the din of the loud banquet every day in the hall (ll 86 - 89). Grendel wants so much to be part of the warrior society. Since he has been exiled, Grendel wages his lonely war (l 164). In Germanic warrior society it is necessary to have kin and an halford, someone to provide treasure and wergild.
Without kin there would be no one to revenge the deaths, and the ultimate purpose in warrior culture is nonexistent. This is the fear that is represented in the character of Grendel. Not having any kin to relate to, to protect you, and being banished from the only society one has every known. Those are the fears that symbolically shape the character of Grendel. The narrator portrays Grendel's mother as sadistic monster from the depths of hell, yet the parallels between Grendel's mother and Germanic culture are astounding. The code of blood revenge is one obsession that keeps the fight inside the warriors of Herot.
Revenging the death of ones kin is the greatest honor in their society. But now his mother had sallied forth on a savage journey, grief-racked and ravenous, desperate for revenge (ll 1276 - 1278). Beowulf came to Herot to revenge the havoc that Grendel had spread, and now Grendel's mother will revenge the slaying of her son. She had snatched their trophy, Grendel's bloodied hand. It was a fresh blow to the afflicted dawn. The bargain was hard, both parties having to pay with the lives of friends (ll 1302 - 1306).
The symbolic nature of Grendel's mother is to show the monstrosities that lay in the hearts of Germanic warriors as well as Grendel and his mother. Both Grendel's mother and the warriors of Herot revenge the death of their kin, which not only shows the monstrosity of the warrior society but also the humanity in Grendel and his mother. The last monster that Beowulf must defeat is truly not a monster at all. The Dragon is the most honorable of all the monsters, and there are many parallels between the Dragon and Germanic warrior culture.
The Dragons soul purposes in life is to guard the riches of the past therefore he possess all the treasure. In that sense, the dragon is the ultimate hanford. He has accumulated all of the treasure and ultimately ends up with that treasure. There were many other heirlooms heaped inside the earth-house, because long ago, with deliberate care, somebody now forgotten had buried the riches of a highborn race in this ancient cache. Death had come and taken them all in times gone by and the only one left to tell their tale, the last of their line, could look forward to nothing but the same fate for himself (ll 2231 - 2240). The last line also mentions another one of the Dragons representations of Germanic society.
The Dragon not only represents the ultimate hanford, but also the cycle of their culture. The treasure that everyone is fighting for will eventually be buried, and the Dragon will make his claim on it. He will guard the treasure for the rest of his life. It is a vicious cycle that the warriors play into. Beowulf spends his life fighting for treasure, which he is buried with. That treasure will eventually become earth and be guarded by the Dragon.
Ultimately, Beowulf is fighting his own death. The fear that the Dragon represents is the warriors mortality. Beowulf's achievement is honorable, yet it is just part of the cycle of diminishment that eventually leads to the victory of the Dragon, who ultimately ends up with the treasure. The monsters are unconscious fears that cannot be expressed in Germanic society.
Grendel represents the fear of becoming the wanderer, the lonely warrior. The fear that is expressed in Grendel's mother is the fear of the monstrosities that linger on the inside. The Dragon is the fear of the warriors destiny and mortality. These monsters are scapegoats that the society creates. Without the monsters, Germanic warriors would have nothing to fight against; therefore, the code of blood revenge would be non-existent. Bibliography:
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