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An Image Narrative |
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Possessing Beowulf The poet reveals himself early in Beowulf when our silent hero unlocks his word hoard and releases himself into the story. Hoards are, after all, central to Beowulf and, in order to understand the motives of the men we meet in the course of the telling, we must understand their passion for things. Material wealth in the form of armor, weapons, rings, gold adorned halls, and assorted other objects appears throughout the poem. Such wealth is, in fact, one of the key factors determining a man’s status in Beowulf. It is my intention to show, through the examination of treasure words, how the poet presents that wealth to profound thematic effect as a positive force in the first two sections of the poem but as a negative force in the last. A man—who in Beowulf, with the significant exception of the servant or slave who disturbs the dragon hoard, is always a warrior—is judged by the quality of his weapons and armor, and the quality of the things that his lord, his sincgifa [treasure giver] awards him. It is instructive that the coastguard immediately recognizes Beowulf as an exceptional individual, a cut above his well equipped followers, by his appearance: Næfre ic maran geseah eorla ofer eorþan ðonne is eower sum, [I’ve never seen a greater man in the world than is one of you, a man in armor; he isn’t a retainer, adorned with weapons, unless his face belies him, his glorious appearance.] Clearly some of the coastguard’s evaluation is based upon Beowulf’s physical qualities of build, carriage, and demeanor, but equally clear is the importance of his armor and weapons, which we learn in later passages are gold adorned and readily recognizable as of legendary status; it is not the war equipage of one of his thanes. Further, a leader of warriors is identified both by his wealth and the generosity with which he shares it with his followers. In fact, the only cautionary passages concerning wealth that appear in the first two sections of Beowulf, most notably in the story of Heremod, (1709b-1724a) concern the necessity for material generosity in a good leader. Material wealth and status are in fact overtly highlighted in Beowulf by the opening ship burial of Scyld (26a-52b) whose legendary greatness is underlined by the lavish treasure that accompanies him in death. As Marijane Osborne notes, "The second half of the [Scyld] episode, concerned with the burial at sea, emphasizes the people’s adoration of Scyld and their adornment of his ‘comely ship’" (Beowulf Reader 112).
Þær wæs madma fela [There were many [kinds] of precious things, treasure brought from far away; I have never heard of a more beautiful ship adorned with weapons of war and battle garments, swords and corselets; many precious things lay on his bosom for him.] This picture of men and their absolute dependency on treasure for status is more than mere poetic license. According to Leslie Webster, For the continental early Germanic successors to Roman imperium, the written sources give abundant evidence of one of the primary functions of treasure in the early medieval period: as an instrument, both practical and symbolic, of royal power. Capture and possession of land was one thing, but in an essentially non urban culture of warrior aristocracy, territory could only be maintained by the getting and giving of treasure, chiefly through seizure of booty, the imposition of tribute, the receipt of subsidies and exchange of gifts; treasure that in turn was liberally redistributed to ensure loyalty of followers, and had therefore constantly to be replenished. (Treasure 50) And yet, Timothy Reuter notes, "’you can’t take it with you,’" which he continues "is a secularized and colloquial version of what the Judaeo-Christian tradition has always seen as a profound truth: the riches of this world are trivial and transitory compared with those of the next" (Treasure 11). Additionally, within that Judaeo-Christian tradition, wealth is not just "trivial and transitory": it gets in the way. Reuter examines the Old and New Testaments of the Latin Bible, tracking the word thesaurus [treasure] and finds that the word, "tends to have a positive connotation when used metaphorically but a negative one when used literally" (12) He later cites Matthew 6. 19-21, a particularly apt quotation in our consideration of Beowulf: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is there will your heart be also. (12) The tension between the material-loving Germanic tradition and the (at least doctrinally) poverty-loving Christian tradition was irresolvable and many a critic has, in fact, already noted the presence of that tension in Beowulf. This essay is concerned only with the symbolic role of wealth in Beowulf as it develops that tension thematically, and how the perception of wealth overtly shifts following the entrance of that grand symbol of avarice, the dragon. Joyce Tally Lionarons writes of the poem’s language, It contains within itself an implicit, largely unconscious yet nonetheless inescapable dialogue between two and sometimes three discrete languages and the cultures they represent, in this case [the dragon episode] between Latinate (i.e. classical Biblical) and Germanic (i.e. English or Scandinavian) notions of the dragon. (Medieval Dragon 28) So let’s look at just a piece of that language, a few words concerning wealth. My primary method of tracking the play of these words through the story’s course is imagistic, by which I mean that I follow their cumulative impressions. In this particular analysis I am chiefly interested in how the repetition of the words and the contrast of their tenors build upon each other and create the unresolved tensions inherent between Germanic and Christian attitudes toward wealth. I have concentrated on nine words and their compounds whose denotations can be treasure in the general or abstract, not merely in the particular (i.e. a treasure object). These words are hord, maðum, frætwe, sinc, gestreon, eormenlaf, weorðe, ærwelan, and goldæht (the last four of these words each appear only once as treasure words and, as such, only in the last section). These words appear to be the only words through which the poem describes collective wealth. Thus I have not attempted to track the countless references to heirloom swords, fancy armor, decorated architecture, jewels, goblets, gold, and so on, as interesting and as instructive as such an undertaking might be. I simply note here that these words do provide important additional physical texture that emphasizes how central material wealth is to the poem. The most thematically significant word, hord, and its compounds appear 48 times. Appendix A shows their distribution through the lines of the poem. Unsurprisingly, of these 48 occurrences, 35 follow the entrance of the dragon but the 13 earlier occurrences are worth examining. Some of these occurrences bear no immediate relation to the theme of avarice that the dragon and its hoard later develop, as when Hrothgar is referred to as beahhorda weard (921b) [keeper of the ring hoard] in his capacity as a lord, especially as we know that Hrothgar is no miserly dispenser of treasure. However, even this instance foreshadows the last section of the poem: as sapient a king as Hrothgar is, he is not untainted by the delights of material wealth. After all, it is the sound of its enjoyment that first brings down the wrath of Grendel on Hrothgar’s goldsele (715a) [gold-hall] and lends just the slightest ambiguity to a preceding line Godes yrre bær (711b) [[Grendel] bore God’s anger] as Grendel approaches the hall. As Margaret E. Goldsmith points out, "In retrospect, the old king recognizes this visitation as allowed by God because of his own pride in his power and his wealth" (Beowulf Criticism 378). As one of the poem’s many echoes, we will see the idea of Hrothgar’s hoard repeated in an interesting variation upon Beowulf’s departure from Denmark. Others are thematically relevant in an indirect way, such as the two instances referring to the dragon hoard that Sigemund liberates. However, these occurrences of the word are not developed as instances in which the existence of wealth and its ownership is problematical. Sigemund is simply noted to have killed the hordes hyrde(886a) [protector of the hoard] and later,
Hæfda aglæca elne gegongen, [The hero had by his valor brought about that he might enjoy of the ring-hoard at his discretion.] Lionarons writes, "The fights differ, however, in both resolution and tone: the exultation of Sigemund’s victory over the dragon contrasts sharply to the mourning which follows Beowulf’s [. . . and] provides ironic forshadowing" (Medieval Dragon 32). Hord is also mentioned with respect to Heremod’s story and is of more direct thematic interest as Hrothgar uses it to lecture Beowulf on the importance of munificence. This episode especially makes sense to me as a foreshadowing of the problem of avarice that the dragon episode later develops and is consonant with the poem’s sophisticated development of interlaced themes through echoes, variations, and contrasts. Especially delicious in the Heremod sequence is the following as the evil of the hoard is directly transferred from the treasure to the man:
Hwæþere him ferhþe greow [However, in his spirit his breast-hoard grew blood thirsty; he gave rings not at all to the Danes according to custom.] Here it is not the mere possession of a hoard that is problematic as it is for Hrothgar: Heremod also violates the Germanic custom of sharing it with his thanes. One final instance of hord is worth noting before the actual entrance of the dragon because it too serves as ironic foreshadowing. Hrothgar predicts that, if Beowulf should ever become king of the Geats, they could have no better hordweard hæleþa (1852a) [hoard guardian of heroes]. Appendix B shows the line distribution of the other treasure words. There are 98 occurrences of these words and their compounds, 56 prior to the entrance of the dragon and 42 after. I will examine the instances prior to the dragon’s entrance first. There is room for interpretation of course, but I have counted 44 of the 56 occurrences of these words in the first two sections of the poem as referring to specific objects, placing them in the same category as heirloom swords and precious cups. Most of the remaining occurrences refer to episodes of wealth and hoards already alluded to: Scyld’s funeral, Sigemund’s dragon slaying, and Heremod’s avaricious perfidy. However, they encompass two additional episodes further developing the theme of wealth. The first concerns Beowulf’s departure from Denmark. Prior to leaving Beowulf revels in his riches:
guðrinc goldwlanc græsmoldan træd [The warrior, gold adorned, walked the meadow, exulting in treasure.] Later his ship, ready for departure, is described in a way that might be said to echo the funeral ship of Scyld:
Þa waes on sande sægeap naca [Then the sea-spacious ship on the sands was laden with armor, the ring-prowed ship with horses and treasure; the mast towered over the treasure-hoard of Hrothgar.] It seems to me that here our hero is presented in the traditional mode of wealth as status and just reward for heroic accomplishment. However, for us as audience, he stands midway between the glory of wealth represented by Scyld’s funeral ship and the darkness of a cursed, barrow-buried hoard, the first occurring at the rise of the Geat nation and the last occurring as the Geat nation faces extinguishment. It is also easy to read this passage as the symbolic death and funeral of Hrothgar. We know that the good king and Beowulf never meet again and thus the scene can also represent the transference of Hrothgar’s kingly qualities and symbols of office—most notably in a hoard of material wealth—to Beowulf. Thus, we see here Beowulf at the apogee of the story wearing the mantle of a great king, sans the problems of kingship. One final observation on this remarkable passage: read as a translation in contemporary English and within the context just discussed, the ring-prowed ship may also be read with breath-taking effect as the ring-proud ship. The poet, of course could not have intended this, there being no corresponding pun in the original Anglo-Saxon. Yet, it reminds us how literature is really the possession of the reader and how endlessly variable its meaning is when read, as Roland Barthes describes it, in a writerly way. The last instance of wealth prior to the entrance of the dragon concerns Beowulf’s presentation of Hrothgar’s treasure-hoard to Hygelac. Beowulf, of course, is acting as the impeccable thane here, handing the æþelinga gestreon (1920b) [treasure of princes] to his sinces bryttan (1922b) [dispenser of treasure]. This is not only proper but, I think, necessary to the narrative because it transfers the burden of the hoard from Beowulf to someone else. Beowulf’s time has not yet come but when it does the true nature of the hoard and earthly wealth will be revealed. Indeed, the hoard’s transference may be seen as contributing to Hygelac’s subsequent misfortune. (At this point, I would like to point out the contrasting of Hygd and Modthrytho that takes place after Beowulf presents his treasure to Hygelac but, strictly speaking, this would be a digression even though women seem to me just another form of wealth in Beowulf. See Appendix C for this discussion.) So far I have described the assorted ways that wealth is presented in the first two sections of Beowulf. The picture is complex but predominantly positive. Read closely, I suppose these two sections provide a hint of narrative ambivalence. I shall now turn to the last section of the poem, which turns this positive attitude toward wealth on its head. Of the 35 times the word, hord, and its compounds appear in the section concerning the dragon, 29 are straight forward references to the dragon and its hoard. Some of these instances can be considered positive in isolation as the physical glory of the hoard is revealed after the dragon’s death, but because of the hoard’s curse and the disasters that will befall the Geats, they are clearly negative within the total context of the section. In fact, these "positive" instances reveal how the desire for wealth exists innately even in good men and thus blinds them to the curse of it. The remaining six references to hord can be divided into two types: Geat history and Beowulf’s relationship to the word. The three references to Geat history are straight forward enough and they all have to do with that people’s disastrous relationship with the Swedes. One refers to Hygelac’s need to defend his hoard against the Swedes,
þaet he sæmannum onsacan mihte, [That he might resist the seamen, the war-sailors, to defend his hoard] Another describes Hygd’s offer of the kingship to Beowulf after Hygelac’s death:
þær him Hygd bebead hord ond rice [Where to him Hygd offered hoard and kingdom, rings and princely seat; her son she did not trust.] This offer Beowulf declined in favor of loyally propping up Hygd’s son as king. The last reference is part of a prediction of disaster when the Swedes find out that Beowulf is dead: syððan hie gefricgeoð frean userne [When they learn our prince is lifeless, who guarded from our enemies the hoard and the kingdom,] In these passages we can follow the consequences of man’s desire for material wealth in the form of Geat political misadventures. R. E. Kaske writes of the Geats in terms of the classical heroic ideal of Sapienta et Fortitudo (Sapience and Fortitude), "the point seems to be that the inordinate valuation of self implicit in avarice and pride and the consequent descent to malita exhausts fortitudo" (Beowulf Criticism 306). We also see Beowulf’s place within that story and how all hoards are cursed. Beowulf’s surrender of Hrothgar’s hoard to Hygelac looms large symbolically as Beowulf continues to prosper even as Hygelac falls into disaster. Beowulf in fact is apparently invulnerable until he reluctantly accepts kingship (2207a). It is true that "he ruled well for fifty winters" (2208b-2209a) but that "time" is entirely encapsulated within the three and a half lines (2207a-2210a) that immediately precede the entrance of the dragon (2210b). Such a brief gloss of Beowulf’s kingship seems pointedly intended to giving the barest nod of acknowledgement to Beowulf’s Germanic super-hero status before moving on to the real issue of that status’s transience and essential flaws. The three remaining references to hoard directly reflect Beowulf’s relationship with the concept of the hoard. The first is so metaphorical that it needs no explanation:
Him wæs geomor sefa, [For him was a sadness of spirit, restless and ready for death, [his] wyrd exceedingly near, which the old one was destined to greet, to seek the hoard of his soul, to measure asunder life from body.] The last two references to Beowulf and hoard are equally metaphorical. Beowulf is unconscious, dying, and Wyglaf is unable to rouse him so that he may look on the dragon hoard won at such fatal cost:
oð þaet wordes ord [Until a point of words broke through his breast-hoard.] That point of words is Beowulf’s last tragic utterance as he gazes with satisfaction upon the dragon’s hoard thinking he has won something of value for his people. In his own words:
Nu ic on maðma hord mine bebohte; [Now I have sold my old life for the hoard of treasures; they will attend further to the need of my people; no longer may I be here.] Though I disagree—at least from an imagistic perspective—with his jaundiced view of the poet’s artistic skill in the matter, H.L. Rogers hits the dragon on the head, "The treasure-motive . . . dominates the Dragon part, dominates the Dragon, and comes near to dominating Beowulf himself. To the poet treasure was evil: he says in 2764 ff. that gold in the earth may overpower every man" (Beowulf Criticism 252-253). It is clear now that the evil of the hoard and the avarice it symbolizes is a central theme in Beowulf, but what of wealth in general? It would be useful to examine how the 42 occurrences of other treasure words are used in this last section. We can immediately eliminate 29 of these because they refer directly to the dragon hoard, which we know is cursed. The remaining 13 may be divided into three categories: six concerning Beowulf, one concerning Wiglaf, and six concerning the Geat feuds with the Swedes and Frisians. The six references concerned with the Geat feuds are clearly tied to the political follies that have resulted in enemies waiting to take advantage of any Geat weakness, such as the death of their powerful leader. These mentions of treasure concern the purchase of warriors, ill-gotten war booty, and awards of estate and treasure that are clearly in jeopardy at the end of the poem. The one reference to Wiglaf can be discounted because it refers to particular heirlooms. Still, the reference is positive since Wiglaf, in character, is both an echo of Beowulf and an echo of the positive view of wealth from the first two sections of the poem, an echo, we know, which will be engulfed by the coming storm. The most important instances of treasure concern Beowulf. Two, occurring together, refer to his childhood and are positive because they concern King Hrethel, of whom Beowulf is clearly fond.
Ic wæs syfan wintre þa mec sinca baldor, [I was seven winters old when the prince of treasures, the friendly ruler of the people, took me from my father; King Hrethel held and raised me, gave me treasure and feast, remembered our kinship.] In the light of the narrative as it has progressed to this point, the reference is at once nostalgic and rich in pathos as Beowulf prepares to meet the dragon. It is hardly an affirmation of the goodness of treasure. The remaining three disparate references that concern Beowulf are in no way positive. The first foretells Beowulf’s death as the dragon terrorizes the Geats:
swa hyt lungre wearð [So it quickly came to pass that it was sorely ended for their giver of treasure.] The second is clearly ironic as Beowulf sums up his duty to Hygelac:
Ic him þa maðmas, þe he me sealde, [As was granted by fate, I repaid him in war with the bright sword for the treasures he had given me.] The last deals with the betrayal of Beowulf’s thanes when Wiglaf, reviles those who abandoned the one se eow ða maðmas geaf (2865b) [Who gave you treasures.] By examining the treasure words of Beowulf we discover that the desirable, material things in the poem, the possessions of men, are not as they first seem. We are hypnotized by the richly adorned armor and weapons, by bright rings, jeweled cups, and golden halls. Surely these things are the badges of great men living great lives. In the end, the greatest man of them all, dying, is left whispering a delusional prayer:
Ic ðara frætwa Frean ealles ðanc, [With these words I speak I thank the Lord of all, the King of Glory, the eternal God, for this treasure that I here look upon, that I was permitted to gain such for my people before my death day.] Further, we find that the problem of wealth in a Christianized Anglo-Saxon society, especially as symbolized by the word, "hoard," is one of the great themes of the poem, unfolding slowly over the entire 3182 lines. Herbert G. Wright observes, "The dragon’s hoard are committed to the darkness of the earth and gold is no longer associated with human pleasure but with a deadly curse or the misery of captivity" (Beowulf Criticism 261). Wright also writes that the poet unambiguously intended that "the end should recall the beginning" (267). Thus the funeral of Scyld and the funeral of Beowulf stand as distorted mirror images at opposite ends of an epoch, one standing confidently within a pagan age and the other hovering uncertainly upon the brink of a Christian abyss.
Note: In-text translations are my own. Works Cited Baker, Peter S., ed. The Beowulf Reader. New York: Garland, 2000. Goldsmith, Margaret E. "The Christian Perspective in Beowulf." Ed. Nicholson. 373-386. Kaske, R. E. "Sapienta et Fortitudo as the Controling Theme of Beowulf." Ed. Nicholson. 269-310. Klaiber, FR. Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg. Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1950. Nicholson, Lewis E., ed. An Anthology of Beowulf Criticism . Notre Dame: U of Notre Dame P, 1980. Osborn Marijane. "The Great Feud: Scriptural History and Strife in Beowulf." Ed. Baker. 111-125. Reuter, Timothy. "’You Can’t Take It with You’: Testaments, Hoards and Moveable Wealth in Europe, 600-1100." Ed. Tyler. 11-24. Rogers H. L. "Three Great Fights." Ed. Nicholson. 233-256. Tyler, Elizabeth M., ed. Treasure in the Medieval West.York: York Medieval P, 2000. Webster, Leslie. "Ideal and Reality: Versions of Treasure in the Early Anglo-Saxon World." Ed. Tyler. 49-59. Wright, Herbert G. ""Good and Evil; Light and Darkness; Joy and Sorrow in Beowulf." Ed. Nicholson. 257-267.
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