164 Anonymous
such prominent themes as community, religion,
violence, and revenge.
Tony Perrello
cOmmunity in Beowulf
The basic communal organization depicted in
Beowulf and described by the first-century Roman
historian Tacitus in his Germania (ca. 98) is the
comitatus, or clan structure. Central to the func-
tion of the clan is the relationship between the
lord and his retainers. Gift giving solemnizes the
bond between lord and retainer, and in return for
goods received, the retainer takes a solemn oath of
fealty. Time and again, the poet refers to Hrothgar,
Hygelac, and Beowulf—good kings—as “ring-giver,”
“helmet of the Danes,” and “giver of treasure.”
Hrothgar’s success is marked by the poet’s acknowl-
edgment that he “doled out rings / and torques at
the table” (ll. 80–81). This social contract solemnizes
allegiance in the heroic world. The so-called Finn
digression (ll. 1069–1158) shows the tragic and
shameful consequences of a group of retainers who
choose to follow their lord’s slayer rather than die
trying to avenge him.
Revenge is the most powerful bond that held
Anglo-Saxon communities together. The members
of a comitatus had a moral obligation to avenge
the slaughter of kin. Compensation took the form
of a wergild, or “man-price.” Each member of the
comitatus had a precalculated worth. If someone was
slain, the offending party had to pay the wergild,
or life would be taken in return for life, even if the
slaying was accidental. Though the onus for exact-
ing revenge fell upon the victim’s family, it had the
support of the lord and the force of law behind
it (hence the modern legal term posse comitatus).
Failure to gain retribution was the source of terrible
grief and shame. Indeed, the most distressing aspect
of Grendel’s depredations is, as the poet tells us,
that “he would never / parley or make peace with
any Dane / nor stop his death dealing nor pay the
death-price. / No counselor could ever expect / fair
reparation from those rabid hands” (ll. 154–158).
On the Geatish side, King Hrethel’s son, Herebeald,
is accidentally slain by his brother, Haethoyn, who
fires an arrow at him. Hrethel pines away in despair
because no reparation can be taken, and the king’s
death results in the first Swedish/Geatish war (ll.
2,435ff., 2,472ff.).
Beowulf begins with the genealogy of the Dan-
ish royal house and highlights the ways successful
communities were formed. Lines 67–83 recount
Hrothgar’s rise to power and the building of Heo-
rot, the mead hall of the Danes. Heorot is a large,
centrally located hall in which the Danes gather to
eat, drink beer or mead, hear the songs of the scop
(a combination poet, musician, and historian), boast
of their exploits, and receive gifts at the hands of
their lord. In building a mead hall, a lord walls in his
people and offers a sense of warmth and communal
belonging. He also walls out the dark, chaotic, and
uncontrollable forces of nature. The lavish descrip-
tions of treasure and gifts that occur time and again
in the poem—right down to Beowulf ’s dying wish
to behold the dragon’s treasure hoard—always bring
readers back to this early moment when Hrothgar
builds a hall and blocks out nature and his enemies.
The immediate threat to this sustainable community
is Grendel.
The monsters of Beowulf represent more than
simply a threat to the safety of the Beowulfian com-
munity. These creatures and the horror they inspire
represent the deep-seated anxieties of a warrior cul-
ture. Grendel represents, on one level, the monstrous
principle of kin killing: He is the product of Cain’s
murder of Abel. Fratricide runs counter to every-
thing the comitatus stands for. Gerendel is a “lone-
walker” who stands apart from the community. He
does not use weapons, pay reparations, speak, boast,
or enjoy hall noise. Grendel is the dark-side mani-
festation of everything a heroic warrior and model
community member—like Beowulf—ought to be.
Grendel’s mother represents a more vexing prob-
lem. Women in this community have certain limited
functions: They are “peace-weavers” and “cup-bear-
ers,” like Wealhtheow and Hygd, or mourners
beside the funeral pyre, like the wailing woman at
Beowulf ’s tomb. Grendel’s mother threatens the
gender-specific revenge code of Anglo-Saxon soci-
ety by leaving her home beneath the water to invade
Heorot and avenge the death of her son. She may be
a “natural” mother, but she represents the opposite of
what that culture seems to have valued in women.