Beowulf

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folklore. Not only to them, but to future people who come to read these documents. We have been lucky in the fact that over the last few hundred years, we have recovered many works from all over the world, dating back through years that had been long forgotten to many of us. In a great many of these works we have come into contact with many tales of heroism and the fight between good and evil. Just as the heroism in these stories may take on different faces, so does the evil present itself in many different guises.
This brings us to one work in specific, , one of the earliest Old English poems that we have today. It is the embodiment of the struggle between good and evil. The poem begins with the funeral of Scyld, the mythical founder of the Danish Royal House. One of his descendants builds a great hall called Heorot, and it is here that the people gather to rejoice and sing the praises of G-d. This singing angers a vile fiend named Grendel, that inhabits the nearby bog. The poet ...

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outcast, like the enemy of man that he
was, made frequent attacks and produced unspeakable
havoc. In the darkness of night he occupied the rich hall of
Heorot; but he could not approach the treasure-throne be-
cause of the Lord, nor could Grendel know His love.
(2.165-169)
With all of his hatred and because of the evil that dwelled in his heart, Grendel would never know what they love of G-d felt like. No amount of money, or treasure could ransom the lives of the people from Grendel’s ...

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