The Dynastic Drama of Beowulf

This book argues that Beowulf is a dynastic drama centered on the fortunes of three great royal houses, the Scyldings, Scylfings, and Hrethlings, and that the Geatish hero provides the link between these three dynasties. It offers a new interpretation of the work's structure based on the principle of the dynastic life-cycle, highlights its often-overlooked originality, and proposes that the poet created a fictionalized monster-slaying hero to dramatize specific moments of dynastic crisis. It also brings into focus the poet's debt to biblical paradigms of kingship and considers how the Anglo-Saxons came to read Beowulf as their own Book of Kings.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 323 pages
Publication date: 03 May 2022
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

A novel approach to Beowulf, connecting its structure to the dynastic life cycle. The original audience of Beowulf was deeply immersed in ancient Scandinavian royal legend. However, for modern readers of the poem, these traditions are frustratingly obscure and confusing. This book argues that Beowulf is a dynastic drama centered on the fortunes of three great royal houses, the Scyldings, Scylfings, and Hrethlings. At the center of the poem is the Geatish hero, whose adventures provide the link between these three dynasties. By unraveling the web of Scandinavian royal legends known to the work's original audience, the volume allows the modern reader to appreciate better the role of the monsters as portents of dynastic and national crises. It begins by offering a new interpretation of the work's structure based on the principle of the dynastic life-cycle, providing explanations for features of the poem that have never been satisfactorily explained, most famously its many digressions and episodes. Highlighting the work's often-overlooked originality, it then proposes that the poet created a fictionalized monster-slaying hero and inserted him into royal legend to dramatize specific moments of dynastic crisis. Finally, it brings into focus the poet's debt to biblical paradigms of kingship and considers how the Anglo-Saxons came to read Beowulf as their own Book of Kings.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781843846291