Graduate Work

Beowulf and Beyond
Scott Hays

‘Beowulf’ and the Seven Deadly Sins

It occurred to me while reading Seamus Heaney’s translation of the Old English Beowulf, that perhaps there are veiled references in the text to the Seven Deadly Sins, a classification of vices used in early Christian teachings to educate and protect followers from basic human instincts. My first inclination came during the initial feast at Heorot, when Unferth engages Beowulf in the art of flyting. The poet writes, /Beowulf’s coming, his sea-braving, made him [Unferth] sick with envy/ (Line 502). Or later, during the second celebration at Heorot, when King Hrothgar warns Beowulf of the seductive dangers of success after Beowulf defeats Grendel’s mother. /O flower of warriors, beware of that trap. Choose, dear Beowulf, the better part, eternal rewards. Do not give way to pride/ (Line 1760 ).

Of course, Envy and Pride are two of the Seven Deadly Sins.

But in order to connect-the-dots between Beowulf and the Seven Deadly Sins, it first needs to be established that the Deadly Sins themselves were conceived sometime prior to Beowulf, purportedly written down during the 10th century by a Christian scribe. As it turns out, they were indeed conceived prior to the writing of Beowulf, and it seems plausible the Christian poet might have had access to these resources.

The origins of the Seven Deadly Sins, along with their exact descriptions and purpose, have baffled historians for centuries. Some, like Oliver Nicholson, a professor in the Medieval Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, attributes the original list of eight sins to a French ascetic monk . Other historians have suggested a Greek monastic theologian.

Around 400 AD, the early Christian poet Prudentius drafted a poem titled Psychomachia (“The Battle for the Soul”), which tried to explain what people should and should not do in order to keep their souls free from sin. This poem included a popular set of seven virtues that could be used to cure their seven corresponding vices. The message was clear: for every battle between the spirit and the flesh, there existed a Christian response. This theme of spiritual warfare appealed to the early Christian church, and the poem became widely known within the Anglo-Saxon culture.

Then in the late 6th century, Pope Gregory the Great in his work, Moralia in Job, introduced the Seven Deadly Sins to illustrate for laypersons of the church the need to be mindful of sin. These eventually became accepted as Pride, Greed, Envy, Sloth, Wrath, Gluttony, and Lust.

Throughout the Middle Ages, many important theological works were structured around these seven deadly sins. The Christian church hierarchy, for example, emphasized teaching lay persons the Deadly Sins and their corresponding heavenly virtues. Other spiritual manuals embellished on this tradition.

While no list of these seven deadly sins appears as such in the Bible itself, each of them is condemned at various points in the text. A list of seven sins that God hates, for instance, is found in Proverbs 6:16-19 (King James Study Bible, 1988, Genesis 4.1-16).

/These six things doth the Lord hate; yeah, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among his brethren / (King James Study Bible)

Pope Gregory apparently took personal interest in the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. He believed these virtues would help counteract worldly temptations that tended to align themselves with the deadly sins. What a perfect opportunity, then, to teach these to countrymen who came from a pagan culture. And although there’s no way of knowing for certain whether or not the Christian scribe who wrote Beowulf actually read any of these resources, they certainly were in wide circulation through oral narrative for many years.
For the purposes of this paper, however, I’ve decided to focus on only four of the Seven Deadly Sins: Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, and Pride.

Sick With Envy
Unferth is a Danish warrior who stands side-by-side with his lord King Hrothgar in the hall of Heorot, which comes under attack by the powerful demon Grendel, who wages his “lonely war, inflicting constant cruelties on the people, atrocious hurt” (Lines 164-166). And no one, especially not Unferth, can do anything to stop the gruesome murders by Grendel.

On the day Beowulf and his warriors arrive from Geatland to help Hrothgar defeat the demon, a feast is held in the banquet hall in honor of the newly-arrived hero. Unferth challenges Beowulf’s honor through the art of flyting, an exchange of insults that often centered on accusation of cowardice.

Within the warrior culture, flyting was often a proper and acceptable form of self-assertion. It helped demonstrate rhetorical skills, depict patriarchal lineage, and assert heroic behavior and dominance. To this end, Unferth chides Beowulf about a swimming match he once lost in his youth. /How you may have fared in every bout and battle until now, this time you’ll be worsted; no one has ever outlasted in entire night against Grendel / (Lines 525-528 ).

Literary critics have suggested these slights stemmed from Unferth’s shame at being unable to protect Heorot himself . /He could not brook or abide the face that anyone else alive under heaven might enjoy greater regard than he did / (Lines 503-505).

Of course, our hero Beowulf takes in all in stride by first accusing Unferth of being drunk, and then by retelling his version of the swimming-match story. Beowulf then calls into question Unferth’s manhood.

/The fact is, Unferth, if you were truly as keen or courageous as you claim to be Grendel would never have got away with such unchecked atrocity, attacks on your king havoc in Heorot and horrors everywhere/ (Lines 590-595 ).

And the laughter started, the din of the crowed got louder, and Unferth continued to /feel sick with envy /.

If indeed the Beowulf-poet had wanted to introduce Christian tenets into the pagan culture of Beowulf, this seems like an ideal opportunity to introduce the concept of envy. After all, we envy what we do not have—real or imagined. In a pagan culture, such as the one in Beowulf, men might envy other men for their wealth or power or prestige, so-called “earthly” possessions that really should be of no significance to a Medieval-Christian. To that end, Unferth envies for what he does not have—strength and courage. This envy, in turn, leaves him emasculated and humiliated in front of his fellow-warriors in the mead-hall—a fate perhaps worse than death in some pagan cultures. On the other hand, if Unferth had adopted a more “Christian” attitude, one without envy, he might have welcomed Beowulf’s help, avoided the verbal joust, and held on to his standing in the community of Heorot

A Wrath for Grendel
The monster Grendel is a powerful demon who grabs 30 men at one time and butchers their corpses, feeds on their flesh. We learn from the Beowulf-poet that Grendel nursed a hard grievance. /It harrowed him to hear the din of the loud banquet every day in the hall, the harp being struck and the clear song of a skilled poet telling with mastery of man’s beginnings/ (Lines 87-91). The poet even hints that behind Grendel’s wrath lies in his loneliness and jealousy for being an outcast among men. After all, he’s a descendant of Cain who, according to the Bible, slew his brother Abel and was thus cast east of Eden where he would wander aimlessly, thus beginning the long history of human violence and man’s inhumanity to man.

Grendel has likewise been exiled to the swamplands, outside the boundaries of human existence. The Beowulf-poet seems to suggest that the /God-cursed brute/ is guided by these vaguely human emotions and impulses, which in turn fuel his deep bitterness and wrath for conquest during his night-raids on Heorot.
Grendel definitely is an outcast who seems to long to be reinstated back into a society of men. Spurned and joyless, the /shadow-stalker/ came /Greedily loping. The bane of the race of men roamed forth, hunting for prey in the high hall/ (711-713) and, maddening for blood, ripping them of life limb-by-limb until his death-battle with Beowulf, who ultimately prevails by ripping the whole of Grendel’s arm from his shoulder .

Here, again, we can imagine the Beowulf-poet’s desire to introduce the “Christian” concept of sin. Wrath is often defined as an extreme degree of anger to a grievance—real or imagined, past or present. Grendel’s wrath stems from his desire to be back among men (having originally been cast east of Eden). This built-up grievance over centuries turns him literally into a monster who feeds on strange flesh. The precise language may not be there in the text, but a Christian-scribe could easily have used the story of Grendel’s wrath as an example of how a person should not conduct himself in a Christian culture.

A Dragon Full of Gluttony
It’s roughly 50 years later and Beowulf, now King of Geatland, face s yet another unimaginable terror—the awakening of great, fire-breathing dragon from the /steep vaults of a stone-roofed barrow where he guarded his hoard/ (Line 213). But this time, Beowulf is much older, and the emergence of the dragon throws him into deep anguish and darkens his mood.

What arouses the Dragon from his lair is a thief who steals a gem-covered goblet. But as the Beowulf-poet states, the goblet gained the thief nothing and he /foresaw that his joy in the treasure would be brief/ (2240-2241). The slick-skinned dragon, however, begins to belch out flames and burn bright homesteads, raze coastal regions, and reduce forts and earthworks to dust and ashes, leaving nothing alive in his wake.

The Geat nation bore the /brunt of his brutal assaults and virulent hate/ (2318-2320). And Beowulf once again was called upon to execute justice.

Gluttony is often defined as an unreasonable consumption of more than necessary . The dragon’s emphasis on the treasure itself rehashes the moral ambiguity of “earthly” possessions as compared to “heavenly” possessions. If indeed the Beowulf-poet had wanted to introduce the concept of gluttony into the pagan culture of Beowulf, the idea of a dragon guarding his horde—and losing his life as a result of guarding the horde—seems only appropriate. Especially if the treasure isn’t much to behold: rusty helmets all eaten away, /as useless to men now as it ever was/ (Line 3168). Never mind the “earthly” possessions, the Christian-scribe might be thinking, where man needs to focus his energies is on the “heavenly” possessions.

Pride of the Geats
There comes a point in the poem, right after Beowulf defeats Grendel’s mother, that our hero comes across as somewhat prideful. He has returned from his battle with Grendel’s head on a spear, and speaks the following words:

/And this I pledge, O prince of the Shieldings: you can
sleep secure with your company of troops in Heorot Hall.
Never need you fear for a single thane of your sept or
nation, young warriors or old, that laying waste of life
that you and your people endured of yore / (Lines 1671-1676)

But King Hrothgar is a great warrior himself, although older and wiser. He’s aware of both the privileges and perils of wealth and power, and he warns young Beowulf not to give way to pride and, to always remember the blessings of God and the eternal rewards in Heaven.

/For a brief while your strength is in bloom but it fades
quickly; and soon there will follow illness or the sword
to lay you low, or a sudden fire or surge of water or jabbing blade or javelin for the air or repellent age. Your piercing eye will dim and darken; and death will arrive, dear warrior, to sweep you away/ (Lines 1760-1768).

Pride is often defined as an excessive sense of one’s own sense of self or dignity. The Anglo-Saxon reader who was still living in an heroic culture where boasting was accepted, may not have appreciated Hrothgar’s sermon to Beowulf. But the Beowulf-poet’s intention is clear: the heroic code is often in direct conflict with Christian values, and the sin of pride often leads to a person’s downfall. Consider Beowulf. Throughout his life, Beowulf exemplified the perfect Anglo-Saxon hero and leader. Yet for his battle with the Dragon, he decides to handle it alone—too proud to field a band of warriors.

/He had scant regard for the dragon as a threat, no dread
at all of its courage or strength, for he had kept going
often in the past, through perils and ordeals of every sort, after he had purged Hrothgar’s hall, triumphed in
Heorot and beaten Grendel. He out-grappled the monster and his evil kin/ (2347-2354 )

In the end, Beowulf wins the battle with the dragon but dies in the process, mostly because his pride got in the way.

Often when one man follows his own will many are hurt. This happened to us. Nothing we advised could ever
convince the prince we loved, our land’s guardian, not to vex the custodian of the gold, let him let where he was long accustomed, lurk there under earth until the end of the world.

/He held to his high destiny. The hoard is laid bare, but at a grave cost; it was too cruel a fate that forced the king to that encounter/ (Lines 3077-3086).

"As extensively as it honors Beowulf’s greatness, the final scene of the poem comes closer than any other to criticizing his behavior. Wiglaf reflects that there may have been an element of irresponsible in Beowulf’s single-mindedness and daring. His statement, in conjunction with the earlier statement that Beowulf was too proud to field a band of warriors against the dragon, suggest that his actions, perhaps, were imprudent and reckless. Much like some of the other characters in the poem who battled between the spirit and the flesh, between the pagan regard for “earthly” treasures and the Christian conception of “heavily” treasures, Between virtues and sins.

Works Cited
Fairlie, Henry. The Seven Deadly Sins Today. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre

Dame Press, 1978.

Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: A Verse Translation. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002.

Hill, Thomas D. “The Christian Language and Theme of Beowulf” (from Companion to Old English Poetry by Henk Aertsen and Rolf H. Bremmer, Jr.). Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1994.

King James Study Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1988.

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