Written in a Christianized culture that retained strong traces of its pagan spirituality, “Beowulf” draws on elements of both belief systems. For example, Beowulf balances his trust in his physical ability with his trust in God to direct the outcome of battles. The Danes, desperate to rid themselves of the threat of Grendel, pray at heathen altars: “Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed / offerings to idols, swore oaths that the killer of souls (the devil) might come to their aid / and save the people.” And Grendel himself is a monstrous descendant of Cain; when Beowulf kills him, the poem reminds readers of God’s triumph over Satan and evil. Scholarship remains divided on whether the poem is best read as a later Christianization of an originally pagan story or a composition by a Christian poet for a Christian audience, and what that should mean for its interpretation either way. For instance, should Beowulf’s final self-sacrifice for the Geats be read as a praiseworthy echo of Christ’s sacrifice or be critiqued as inappropriately prideful act by a king recalling his glory days as a warrior?
The poem suggests that hierarchy was a crucial part of Germanic society, and that ritual acted to acknowledge and preserve it. As kings in a warrior culture, both Hrothgar and Beowulf model appropriate interactions with their thanes, or warriors. The thanes respect their kings and fight for them, and the kings reward them richly: As Hrothgar tells the men about to defend his fall against Grendel, “There’s nothing you wish for / that won’t be yours if you win through alive.” Another important relationship was that among kin. Those who survived slain family members were expected to exact a death-price for their killing, either in the form of monetary payment known as “wer-gild” (loosely, “man money”), or of a retaliatory slaying. In “Beowulf,” even Grendel’s mother seeks wer-gild for her son after Beowulf kills him.
Beowulf himself embodies several key heroic traits that Germanic culture seems to have valued. He is physically mighty, defending the Danes against Grendel and Grendel’s mother, and later saving his own people from the dragon even though it costs his own life. He also displays good judgment and measures his words carefully. Hrothgar compliments him on both qualities, saying, “You are strong in body and mature in mind, / impressive in speech.” Finally, Beowulf is brave, and he engages in ritual boasts, but Hrothgar reminds him that he always should keep his pride in check by remembering the transient nature of earthly might: “Choose, dear Beowulf, the better part, / eternal rewards. Do not give way to pride. For a brief while your strength is in bloom / but it fades quickly.”
“Beowulf” also provides a window into the early oral-formulaic tradition of Anglo-Saxon verse. Since poetry in its genre originally was communicated through speech by a bard, or scop, it was composed in alliterative long lines that acted as memory aids to those reciting and hearing it. This form of poetry has lines with four stressed syllables that are divided into two half-lines by a medial caesura. Each half-line has two stressed syllables. The first three stressed syllables, and sometimes the fourth, alliterate -- that is, they start with the same consonant sound. The Old English lines “Swá sceal geong guma góde gewyrcean / fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme” illustrate this form.