Intertextuality: Beowulf/ Uhtred/ Arthur
I hope you do not mind me posting this here as there are certain similarities and I wonder if you agree.
I love the feeling of being between the 'shield -wall' and a 'word- hoard'. Just like Uhtred who learnt the Dane's language we to are learning our ancestral tongue as if a foreign language and for our efforts we obtain gold rings (snippets of insight into that way of life- worth its weight in gold).
The boat burial at the beginning and the burial of Beowulf at the end catch and enclose the time period, for times are changing, and the gold blazing and the flame blazing ignite our imagination, allowing us the priviledge of being among the assembly in Hrothgar's Hall, listening to the poetry of daring deeds and famous warriors, told through the digressions in Beowulf, and sail the unchartered seas along the Whale Road to a past that is gone but not forgotten as we still remember our famous men who fall in battle, we are still a warrior orientated world.
The real and dream like qualities of the poem highlight times in Beowulf's life- The young warrior eager for glory (Uhtred) in his fight with Grendel (Ubba)
The dawning of mortality during the fight with Grendel's mother.
And finally fate steps in during the fight with the dragon in old age.
The Monsters also depict our fight as christians first against the wickedness of mankind (Cain killing his brother) then the fight against outside forces that come in many disguises (mother) and then the last foe the serpent (reptile/dragon) Satan. For a life after death we must fight Satan unto death. The story of Sigemund's victory over a dragon parallel's and pre-figures Beowulf's final encounter with the wyrm (Lines 883-914)
The 'Finnsburg episode' (Lines 1070-158) immerses us in a society that is honour bound and blood stained (Uhtred's society), here the laws of blood-feud, where kin of a slain person are bound to exact a price for the death either by slaying the killer or by recieving wergild (manprice) a legal compensation. We find this in many Sagas, but the world has changed by Malory's time and the deaths inflicted by the knights are not compensated for. (Except in some novels the Orkney clan exact blood-feud). Arthur wants to find another way because he knows that fighting only means more fighting, because the loser will want a return match and so it goes on.
The doom laden atmosphere in Beowulf and The Pale Horseman gives us a glimpse into the meaning of wyrd/fate, as man is tied into the great wheel of necessity, in a code of loyalty and bravery, bound to seek glory in the eyes of the warrior world----Beowulf fights Grendel, Uhtred fights Ubba, but the wheel still turns and there are more Grendels and Ubba's still to fight as the horseman still rides.
Unlike Hrothgar who patiently awaited someone, giving a chance to a young warrior to make a name for himself, but also put his tribe first for without a leader they were vulnerable to attack. Beowulf wanted one last glory and fought the dragon, putting his people at risk of attack by the waiting nations who take defencless ones like the Heathobards (Lines 2020-69). This is Beowulfs fatal flaw. Hrothgar had even warned him of over boasting, of the desire for glory.
The Geats, Beowulfs tribe like Uhtred's Babbenburg live high in the mountains, feeling safe from attack, but this is only temporary as Hygelac's alliances have been put into jeopardy by two of his Thanes (Lines 2484-9) and (2922-3003) who have killed the Swedish King Ongentheow and their nation will exact retribution (exactly what Uhtred wants to do for his father). Similarly it is not Beowulf but a slave who endangers the Geats by raiding the sleeping dragons cave and taking its treasure (Elgin Marbles). Merlyn as a boy told a king not to awake the two dragons under the land he wanted to build his castle on one the RED DRAGON of Wales and the other the WHITE DRAGON of England. The waking of the dragon and its terrifying raids on the Geats (a re-inactment of Hrothgar's Danes) leads to Beowulfs death and the likely downfall of the Geats.
Like Grendel and her mother the Swedes stalk the horizon waiting their time. Likewise in The Last Kingdom huge marauders from some 'other world' eventually enter the hall / county Wessex (The Capital City), the symbolism of refuge and safety, heat and light a solidarity sealed in the gleo and gidd of peace-time feasting and ring giving. The wyrm rears its head and smashes the very heart of Arthur's Round Table, and every time Uhtred does something good for Alfred he smashes Uhtred's feelings with uncertainty.
With the changing world, literature changes and the Christian monks censure and distant a time past when avenging a loved one and winning glory meant an end which conflicted with the doctrinal certitude of life after death.
The ancestors who built Stonehenge for the dead would understand that as soon as Beowulf enters the 'rock wall' fate has chosen. The world is changing and dragons and boasting warriors are redundant, Arthur and laws, a secular Round Table to a Spiritual one, for might is not right. Gold the symbol of wealth and power rusts /rots and is just as useless to Arthur as it was to the dead Beowulf. Christian gold is not physical, Uhtred has not learnt this yet but Arthur has to his cost and now he is Dead / asleep until he is needed again. The age of the warrior has become the age of Christianity, how will Uhtred fare.
mossflower started this discussion 6 months ago. ( )
