Combination of Religious and Secular Elements in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

In this essay I will point out, on the one hand, the elements of the pagan warrior society and the Christian elements in Beowulf and, on the other hand, the contradiction of the heroic code with religious elements in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In Beowulf there is an important value of human relationship in the pagan society, based on relationship between the warriors and the king. Warriors are protective and loyal to his lord who provides them with food, drink and various gifts for their brave deeds. The meaning of the gifts is not only materialistic but also spiritual. However, there are two main plots in Sir Gawain that are of significant importance: the seduction of Sir Gawain by a lady and the hunting scenes of Bertilak which are parallel and the mortal blow of the hero.

Beowulf is introduced as courageous, bold, noble, extremely strong, the bravest of all men and has a very good reputation. The chivalrous code is very important in the pagan society. The warriors are estimated by the good deeds that they perform for their king and for return he provides for them. The relationship between a warrior and a king is ba

lso the five joys of the Virgin. The poet also tells us that courtesy consists of liberality and loving-kindness and continence or sinlessness. These are all courtly virtues and each virtue is reinforcing and feeding into the others. The attempt to maintain religious values with secular ideals of courtesy fails at the Bertilak’s castle. Before that scenes, Gawain sets off to seek for the Green Chapel. He prays for help on Christmas Eve:

sed on the mutual trust and respect. Beowulf has the reputation of being invincible. And when he cuts off Grendel’s arm, it only acknowledges his reputation. However, the story of Beowulf is interwoven with many elements of Christian religion which seem to be very important for the pagan society especially when performing the deeds. The poet refers to the Old Testament where God is the creator of all things on Earth and only with God’s will people can preserve their lives. God’s will is identical with fate (wyrd in the old English) which entirely determines about lives of men, who will live and who will die. Beowulf chooses the heroic way of life, he uses his strength in the most courageous way, fighting with monsters alone and unarmed. He is very likely to be killed but he has to fulfil his pagan ideals of chivalrous code in order to maintain his reputation. There is a strong sense of heroic pride within Beowulf which is at times in conflict with Christian values. For example pride verses humility and sacrifice verses selfishness. He says that fate does not entirely foredoom a man but his courage also influences on fate. Therefore courageous men are more likely to survive - because of their courage they will receive God’s help. Beowulf acknowledges God as his protector throughout the poem. At the beginning of the poem the poet refers to Grendel as the “ creature of evil, savage and cruel..” and compares him with Cain from the Old Testament who is also the symbol of evil. But on the other side Beowulf has the strength of thirty man “…and God in His mercy, has sent him to save us ” (line 369), says Hrothgar when he meets Beowulf. There are many references to God and fate throughout the poem. A warrior must be true to his values, courage, pride, honesty and also humility and only then he will earn God’s protection. In Beowulf’s fight with Grendel’s mother, he sees a weapon hanging on the wall, but he does not take any credit for this perception. Instead he gives the credit to God who will be his protector in the fight. The hero believes that “Fate often saves an undoomed man when his courage is good.” Grendel and his mother are referred to as the descendants of Cain – “From him [Cain] sprang many a devil sent by

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