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Beowulf: God, Men, And Monster, Emily Bartz

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon epic poem translated into Modern English in 2000 by Samus Heaney. My paper hypothesis that the central conflict of Beowulf is the struggle between the decentralising and supernatural ways of the ancients (Shield Sheafson, Gendel, and Grendel's Mother) and the centralising and corporeal values of modern heroes (Hrothgar, Beowulf, and Wiglaf). The poet traces a definitive move away from the ancient's pagan heroic values to his own Christian heroic values. However, as in the poet's contemporary culture, certain pagan traditions, such as familial fidelity, persist in Beowulf. The poet's audience, the Anglo-Saxons, honoured their pagan ancestors …