Third battle: The Dragon

Main article: The Dragon (Beowulf)

Beowulf returns home and eventually becomes king of his own people. One day, fifty years after Beowulf's battle with Grendel's mother, a slave steals a golden cup from the lair of a dragon at Earnanæs. When the dragon sees that the cup has been stolen, it leaves its cave in a rage, burning everything in sight. Beowulf and his warriors come to fight the dragon, but Beowulf tells his men that he will fight the dragon alone and that they should wait on the barrow. Beowulf descends to do battle with the dragon but finds himself outmatched. His men, upon seeing this and fearing for their lives, creep back into the woods. One of his men, however, Wiglaf, who finds great distress in seeing Beowulf's plight, comes to Beowulf's aid. The two slay the dragon, but Beowulf is mortally wounded. After Beowulf's death, he is ritually burned on a great pyre in Geatland while his people wail and mourn him, fearing that without him, the Geates are defenseless against attacks from surrounding tribes. Afterwards, a barrow, visible from the sea, is built in his memory. (Beowulf lines 2712–3182).^[25]

Analysis

"Beowulf" - the only surviving poem "barbarian" peoples of Europe. This poem stacked up to the adoption of Christianity. The poem celebrates the pagan virtues - courage in battle and loyalty to the leader of the tribe, ruthless revenge enemies. The world described in "Beowulf", historically authentic, although the Beowulf is not mentioned in any other source. Some episodes (the hero descending into the sea, cutting off the hands of a monster, the battle with the dragon) in common with the legends of different Germanic peoples.

The influence of Christianity in "Beowulf", though superficially, but perceptibly. For example, in the work of Grendel is called a descendant of Cain. It is noteworthy that in the text there are references only to the Old Testament. The poem can be interpreted as quite Christian, since there is an allegory of the universal struggle between the forces of good and evil, life and death. Beowulf enemy - not the people of another tribe, as in most of these works, and the bloodthirsty creatures, enemies of the human race. The general tone of elegiac poems; towards the end of the text to the fore the theme of fate, the inexorable destiny, even though the author of "Beowulf" is alien to the gloomy pessimism of some of the Icelandic sagas.

For a long time bringing Christian was made to explain the later processing of text when copying monks. However, it is possible that the poet himself felt the need to reconcile the requirements of the story with a new outlook.

the world of Beowulf is a world of kings and warriors, the world of feasts, battles and duels.

Some commentators Beowulf has argued that the poem originated in the merger of different songs; it was decided to divide it into four parts: the fight with Grendel, the fight with his mother, the return of Beowulf to his homeland, the fight with the dragon. Expressed the view that initially a purely pagan poem was partially redesigned in the Christian spirit, resulting in her and there was the intertwining of the two worldviews. Then most researchers began to consider that the transition from verbal songs to the "book epic" is not reduced to a simple fix; these scientists examined "Beowulf" as a single work, "editor" which in its combined and processed at its disposal the material about traditional subjects more extensively. To noreplicate, nothing is known about the making of "Beowulf".

In the epic a lot of folk motifs. In the beginning mentioned, Skilled Scaveng - "the foundling". The boat with the infant Seldom nailed to the shores of Denmark, whose people were at that time unprotected due to the absence of the king; subsequently, Scyld became the ruler of Denmark and founded a dynasty. After the death Skilda again put on a ship and together with the treasure sent back where he came from - a purely fantastic story. The giants, with whom Beowulf fights, akin to the giants of Scandinavian mythology, and the combat with the dragon is a common theme of fairy tales and myth, including the North. In his youth, Beowulf, who, having grown up, gained the strength of thirty men, were lazy and did not differ valor-do not remind the youth of the other heroes of folk tales, such as Ilya Muromets? The arrival of the hero on their own initiative to help in distress, his altercation with an opponent (the exchange of speeches between Beowulf and Untertor), test of valor of the hero (the story of the swimming contest Beowulf Brake), giving him magical weapons (sword Hrunting), violation of the ban a hero (Beowulf takes the treasure in the encounter with the dragon, not knowing that over a treasure is drawn the curse), assistant in a duel the hero with the enemy (Wiglaf came to the rescue of Beowulf at the time when he was close to death), three fights, which gives the hero, and every next is more difficult (the battle of Beowulf with Grendel, his mother and the dragon) - all the elements of a fairy tale. Epic keeps many traces of its prehistory, rooted in folk art. But the tragic ending - the death of Beowulf, as well as the historical background against which unfold his fantastic feats, distinguish the poem from the tales, are the characteristics of the heroic epic.

Representatives of the "mythological school" in literary criticism of the last century have tried to decipher the epic thus: the monsters personify the storms of the North sea; Beowulf - good deity, restraining elements; his peaceful reign is a beneficial summer, and his death is the onset of winter. Thus, in the epic symbolized the contrasts of nature, growth and decay, rise and decline, youth and old age. Other scholars understood these contrasts in ethical terms, and saw in "Beowulf", the theme of the struggle between good and evil. Symbolic and allegorical interpretation of the poem is not alien to those researchers who deny its epic character and I think her writing is a cleric or monk, who knew and used the early Christian literature. These interpretations largely rest on the question of whether expressed in "Beowulf", "the spirit of Christianity" or in front of us - a monument of pagan consciousness. The proponents of understanding it as a national epic, in which live the beliefs of the heroic time of the Great migrations, of course, found in it the German paganism and minimize the value of Church influence. On the contrary, those modern scholars who consider the poem to the category of written literature, shift the center of gravity on Christian themes; paganism in "Beowulf," see no more than the antique styling. The latest criticism is a noticeable tendency to move the focus from an analysis of the content of the poem to study its texture and style. In the middle of the century was dominated by the notion of a link Beowulf with epic folk tradition. Meanwhile, in recent years, a number of experts tend to consider the prevalence in the text of the poem stereotypical expressions and formulas indication of its origin from oral tradition.

The author and his heroes are often commemorated the Lord God; in the epic there are allusions to biblical stories probably make sense then "the public"; paganism is explicitly condemned. However, "Beowulf" is full of references to Fate, which acts as an instrument of the Creator, and is identical to the divine Providence, appears as an independent force. But faith in Destiny has held the Central place in the pre-Christian ideology of the German people. Tribal blood feuds, which the Church condemned, but often was forced to endure, in the poem praised and is considered a mandatory duty, and the impossibility of revenge is regarded as the greatest misfortune. In short, the ideological situation, highlighting in "Beowulf", is contradictory. The Anglo-Saxons of VII-VIII centuries were Christians, but the Christian religion at that time not so much overcame the pagan worldview, how much pushed it from the official sphere into the background of public consciousness. Church managed to destroy the old temple and worship of pagan gods, sacrifices to them, the forms of human behaviour, here the situation was much more complicated. The motives that drive the actions of the characters in Beowulf are defined not by the Christian ideals of humility and submission to the will of God.

The desire for fame, production and princely awards - that the highest values for the German hero as they are drawn in the epic, are the main springs of his conduct.

The struggle for fame and jewelry, loyalty to the leader, bloody revenge as an imperative of behavior, man's dependence on reigning in the world of Fate and a courageous meeting with her, the tragic death of the hero - all the defining themes of not only Beowulf, but also other monuments of the Germanic epic.

Multiple repetition of the same motive emphasize certain episodes of the plot and deepen their inner meaning. So, four times stated in the poem on the campaign of Hygiliak. Repeatedly sounds the theme of ancestral revenge; the repetition of this theme emphasizes the idea that revenge for the kin of the deceased - duty of a soldier. The repetition is also used in the selection of epithets.

The language of the poem, is rich in metaphorical names-characteristics. Sea, sword, woman.

An important role belongs to the lyrical digressions. They perform various functions: introduce the background of the characters, predict their future, complement the story, clarifying a few episodes.

In the poem transferred to the local flavor: reproduced nature of Scandinavia and England. Features of the Scandinavian landscape is tangible in the descriptions of the rocky seashore, steep cliffs, caves under rocks

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