Beowulf – Proselytism Practised and Subverted

Abstract

All literacy in the England of the Old English Period (c. 450 – c. 1100 A.D.) is Christian literacy, as it was primarily the clergy which could read and write. Beowulf is the only long narrative poem from the period that portrays pre-Christian characters and events. The paper, through close reading of key passages from the poem, examines the complexity in the poem’s portrayal of pagan heroism and piety. The discussion takes it as given that Beowulf was given its current form and written down in a Christian monastery, and the narration is undeniably from a Christian perspective. Nevertheless, its composers retained enough respect for their heathen ancestry to depict its heroic characters with admiration for their piety which they subtly dissociated from any particular body of doctrine. There is even a pretence of condemning the specific practice of idol worship in an attempt to divert the attention of censorious Church fathers from the poem’s essentially pagan content. Therefore, Beowulf, with its open-minded look at a pre-Christian civilization, appeals to an Indian readership that will include inheritors of a living pagan religion and culture.