Beowulf the Hero and the Man

The new school year has started and with it, as always, comes Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf. I love this story because Heaney's poetry is beautiful and majestic, stark and blunt, big and small, like Beowulf himself. Every year, the great debate rages over Beowulf's larger than life persona and his arrogance, his self-delusion, his boasting. "Be the man I know you should be" he scolds Hrothgar. "I will fight Grendel without swords" he shouts at the Danes. "I did beat Breca" he corrects Unferth.

Is he a punk?

Sure. Why not?

Typically the discussion takes us back to different passages that demonstrate Beowulf's handle on the situation and how those around him seem to receive his boasts. And typically, he comes away fairly clean. But I say let him boast. Let him be arrogant.

Who cares!

I don't. I have decided that I want a little dirt on my heroes. Those who are perfect are also boring. They are self-serving. They are people I don't want to examine. Besides, I propose that Beowulf-as-Hero and Beowulf-as-Man can coexist in the same space. Why does it have to be one or the other, a black and white cookie-sheet cutout of a man? It doesn't. It shouldn't.

Beowulf can get away with a little arrogance here, a blatant boast there because Beowulf, Hero and Man, is made up by his constituent parts. The half moon is still a full sphere in space, even when we cannot see the other side. So too with Beowulf. If he decides to show a part of his Human self, then we still know with confidence that the rest of him, the Hero self, still resides attached, unnoticed for now, in the shadows, waiting to be reflected later. And I am glad for this assessment, that we may allow for this kind of duality. If I were assessed by such an all-or-nothing measuring stick, then surely I would be among the most despicable. Depending on when you caught me.

Beowulf is a hero. And he is arrogant. At times. And I say let him. Because ultimately, when he finally turns his gaze fully at us and we see the whole man, we understand. He is better than Hrothgar, Unferth, Wiglaf, Grendel, Hygelac, us, because Beowulf gets it right most of the time. His tally is better than ours. He is much more Hero than Man.

And even at 51%, this is a good majority.