In Beowulf, the theme of Christianity is clearly evident throughout the poem’s entirety. Many Chaucerian critics have spoken of the Christian allusions woven in the story including FR. Klaeber who wrote,

“The Christian elements are almost without exception so deeply engrained in the very fabric of the poem that they cannot be explained away as the work of a reviser or interpolator” (Klaeber 1). These engrained elements Klaeber speaks of are strongly found in the battles of Beowulf and the three antagonists of the poem, Grendel, his mother and the dragon, whereas each battle represents the struggle between good and evil.

Early in the poem, Beowulf appears as if an agent of God to “calm the turmoil

In the last trilogy of battles, Beowulf, who is now an old man ruling as King must fight against a wicked dragon terrorizing his kingdom. In Harold Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations of Beowulf, the author writes that the dragon is “referred in language which is mean to recall the powers of darkness with which Christian men felt themselves to be encompassed” (Bloom 18). In the poem, the dragon is described as if he is a guardian of hell, “the guardian of the mound […] the hoard-watcher” (2302-2303). Beowulf, aware of the doom he faces in battling the dragon has an apocalyptical vision of the outcome. “After many trials, he was destined to face the end of his days, in this mortal world, as was the dragon” (2341-2343). Beowulf must face his final hour of battle, the last struggle between good and evil. As though this is the battle of Armageddon with all mankind looking towards him for safety, Beowulf succeeds in destroying the last seed of evil but ultimately sacrifices his own life for his people.

The next antagonist Beowulf must battle is Grendel’s mother whom is described as a “monstrous hell-bride “ (1259) sprung from the misbegotten spirits of Cain. She is “grief-racked and ra

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