The Allegory of the Dragon in Beowulf Essay - 1938 Words

The Allegory of the Dragon in Beowulf In the Book of the Apocalypse, Rome is represented by several allegories: the beast of the land, the beast from the sea, the harlot, Babylon, and the dragon. The Beowulf-poet also manipulates the dragon allegory to represent Rome, but his dragon represents not Rome, pure and simple, but a hostile area of the (former) Roman empire, the Romanized Britain or the Roman-British . There is increasing consensus among critics--against Tolkiens views--that the dragon is a different sort of creature from the Grendel tribe (Gang 6) and that among the innumerable dragon stories there is probably not one which we can declare to be really identical with that of Beowulf (Chambers 97). Of course,†¦show more content†¦Therefore, there are several reasons for Beowulfs taking up of arms against the dragon: defense of the country, vengeance, and punishment: With his live coals the fiery dragon had utterly destroyed all the coastline and nations impregnable fortress, the stronghold of that region; the warlike king, the prince of the Wederas, planned to take revenge on him for this (2333-36). Though the dragon is in many ways different from Grendel, he is in some ways very much like Grendel: he too hates the Geats and humbles them (2318-19); he, too, harms the Geats and even destroys the royal hall of Beowulf (2325-26), while Grendel is not allowed to approach Hrothgars gifstol (168-169). The dragon, like Grendel (166-167), is also a ruler of the land only during dark nights (2210-11). Both have heathen associations: Grendel is heathen (852, 986); the dragon, though not called heathen specifically by the poet, guards, however, the treasure of the heathen (2276-77, 2216).[17] The poet indicates the quasi-indigenous character of the dragon by saying that he has guarded the treasure for some three hundred years (2278-79); in other words, he is not merely a foreign force like Grendel-Rome nor an intruder like the thief from the Germanic kingdom (2214-25). By limiting the dragons presence on the British soil to three hundred years, the poet seems to suggest that the British themselves came from elsewhere as the Anglo-SaxonsShow MoreRelatedChristian Allegory in Beowulf1027 Words   |  4 PagesThe Anglo-Saxon poem â€Å"Beowulf† takes the reader back into a time long past; one of family, fate, and fealty. 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Although written in this language, Beowulf focuses on the feats of the poem’s namesake Beowulf, a Geatish prince, and the invading Germanic tribes in Denmark. Understood early on in the poem, these tribes have a lengthy and powerful warrior culture; a culture heavily influenced by heroic virtues, blood vengeance, and paganism. Along with t hese