Beowulf & A Step Back
Having been discussing Beowulf along with each new epic we read, I’ve decided to perpetuate the comparisons. First of all, the most obvious similarity between The Faerie Queene and Beowulf is the common antagonist: Grendel’s mother, or in the case of this epic, Error. In both epics the female creatures reacted only when they were disturbed. In Beowulf, Grendel was killed and with him being his mother’s only other “kin,” she saught revenge. Similarly, in The Faerie Queene, the knight entered Error’s cave and startled her with the light from his armor so she reacted. Could this be another epic convention? Meaning, could these authors be implying that the evil forces only react when the “good” figures in the story trigger a reaction, whether intentional or not? They may not really be evil by themselves, they just oppose the protaganist which is stereotypically good. Another interesting connection I found between Error and Grendel’s mother was their “followers” reaction to the death of their “masters.” In Beowulf, after Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother, the demons that were living in the “lake of fire” vanished, or disappeared (i can’t exactly remember). Anyway, then, in The Faerie Queene, after Error’s head is chopped off, the “thousand yong ones…sucked up their dying mothers blood” and burst having killed themselves (131;224) What is the reason that these two events parallel eachother? What could the authors be suggesting here about the role of Grendel’s mother and Error?
Enough with the antagonists. I’ve also made some connections between Beowulf and the Redcross Knight. Besides the fact that both of these protagonists portray epic hero qualities such as bravory and strength, they also seem to follow along the same plot line. Beowulf is orginionally sent to Heort to defeat Grendel, but in additioin to this defeat, Beowulf encounters two other foes he has to kill. In The Faerie Queene, so far (since I have yet to finish reading about the rest of the knight’s journey) the Redcross Knight has been sent to defeat a dragon, and has encountered two other opposing forces along the way. If the dragon is the last battle that the Red Knight has to fight, the story lines would almost be identical in the broader scope: Beowulf defeats three enemies and the Redcross Knight defeats three enemies. Do you find the repetitions within these epics redundant or “beat to death?” Do you think there is a similar message that the authors want to convey to their audience upon reading these poems? I just find the parallels quite blatant.
Furthermore, do you think that with the common threads between most epic heros within these stories give readers “tunnel vision?” Let me explain. Because there is a protagonist–who is usually good and an antagonist who is usually the bad figure in the story, some readers may not try to explore other possibilies outside of these standards. For example, as a class we explored the way Grendel behaved and decided that he might not be “evil,” because who are the we to say that he is evil when his home was tampered with and he is an outsider. So, that was a big of a tangent, but I’d love to hear your ideas in response to this blog! Thanks!
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What’s up, Paige
You brought up several very interesting points when you compared Beowulf and The Faerie Queen since the parallels between the stories are a bit uncanny. I also was reading Spenser’s poem with the same connective line of thinking since we have been dissecting all of these epics so extensively, so I am glad I get to respond to this subject.
First off, I was very interested in the conjecture you made about the forces of good, or the protagonist, creating his own worst enemy by provoking an antagonist. That is a very fascinating view to take because the typical approach is to reverse that: the forces of good arrive to battle back the invading evil or the protagonist is innocently going about his own mission only to be confronted by obstacles that are presented through an antagonist. Instead, observing the aggravation of something that may exist outside of what is widely considered good or normal, like Grendel or Error, as something that results in the antagonist waking up and spreading evil and destruction is very unique and provides a whole new perspective as to what it means to be a villain in a story. Perhaps good and evil are not nearly as black or white as many would initially assume out of ease or indifference. These two characters, Grendel and Error, provide a good representation of some new sort of archetype emerging from the old stereotypical villain, an archetype that continues to shape in today’s literature as more and more we seem to want to understand the psyche of those considered evil and, in some case, rationalize their actions.
As for the heroes, I do agree that Redcrosse and Beowulf do not break the mold, so to speak, and fit well between the lines of what we would expect the hero of our epic to do. Granted, it may be an unfair assessment given that, especially in Beowulf’s case, these characters might have set the trend more than remain confined to it. While their straight and narrow roles seem rather boring to a modern audience, I do not know just how much internal confliction and dynamic assets the contemporary audiences would have relished in discovering in their heroes. I also have a suspicion that Spenser would probably taken a few cues from Beowulf when writing The Faerie Queen, so for better or worse, I would argue that perhaps the similarities are not merely a coincidence or are just following a weather-beaten road. It is very possible and plausible to consider that Spenser was attempting to make direct correlations between Beowulf and Redcrosse.
I very much enjoyed your blog, Paige!
Sincerely,
Matthew Marlowe
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