"Beowulf" as an expression of Scandinavian values and conflicts: Meta-narrative

To be without silver is better than to be without honor. -- Old Norse Proverb R.M. Liuzzas reflections on his translation of Beowulf treated this early counterfeit as historical text, a poem and a myth. The ambiguities border Beowulfs origins, however, do an isolated historical analysis limited. As Liuzza acknowledged, Beowulf is, a fictionalized ground substance of past in present in the text(17) and was survived in small collection of other texts, copied by two contrasting scribes, its original pur adhere and audience enigmatical (11). Since the poem apt(predicate) originated from oral traditions, a literary analysis likewise travel short. Beowulf is frustratingly ambivalent(11). But, reading it as a fab work, however, is a strong lens for understanding the Scandinavian imagination.         Myth, as R.M. Liuzza observed, plant to, condense and contain the most fundamental sources of ethnical tension, in a society, and also, validate[s] current ideologies (18). Beowulf transmitted Scandinavian ideologies close to the organise of society. Order stemmed from the virtues of loyalty, kinship and courage and Beowulf, the character, becomes the somatogenetic human body of order. The work also contained antagonists, such as the fratricidal Unferth, the monstrous Grendel and Grendels mother, that pose a threat to this order. Conflicts between Beowulf and the antagonists thereof represent the cloth of Scandinavian society, giving rise to the cultural anxieties Liuzza described.

        Characters in Beowulf are, drawn in grotesque caricature(19), exaggerating features of the characters persona. The molar was not meant to be rea d simply as Beowulfs protagonist, therefore,! nevertheless to represent and lay out Scandinavian culture. Beowulf represents qualities that were valued in Scandinavian culture; he is courageous, loyal and honors kinship. As the causation of Beowulf states, the son of Ecgtheow showed himself brave, renowned for battles and terrific deeds, pursued honor, by no means slew, drunken, his hearth-companions; he had no savage heart(119). Beowulf... If you inadequacy to get a replete(p) essay, order it on our website: OrderEssay.net

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