Close Reading

Summary

The chosen passage represents Hrothgar’s response to Beowulf’s arrival in Denmark. In this scene, Wulfgar — a regarded warrior and chief — brings King Hrothgar news of Beowulf’s arrival and request for an audience. Here, Hrothgar verbalizes his awareness of Beowulf to Wulfgar, highlighting his background and his famed exploits. With an uplifting and hopeful tone, the king recognizes Beowulf’s achievements and eagerly sends Wulfgar to welcome him, and his retinue.

Immagery

Through this section, one may appreciate Heaney’s use of selective vocabulary to convey a vivid and immersive atmosphere. Here, the passage delivers sensorial immersion thanks to its implementation of visual and sound elements. In its scene, Hrothgar speaks in regards of his incoming visitor, where he employs a gradually optimistic tonal shift as he narrates through his dialogue. The effect of the tonal shift is also vividly present in the passage, as king Hrothgar’s authoritative role would commend silence from others in his hall, allowing his voice to reverberate and be heard within the walls of hall Heorot.

Furthermore, Hrothgar exploits the visual effects of storytelling, where he conveys his audience’s to imagine the elements of his narration, such as the crew of gift-cargo sailors, or the muscular strength of Beowulf, illustrated as “…the strength of thirty in the grip of each hand.” Promptly, this visual description becomes elevated by relating Beowulf to having a connection to God: “Now Holy God has, in His goodness, guided him here to the West-Danes...,” giving his audience not only the visual of a super-humanly strong warrior, but that of a super-naturally powerful hero.  Thus Hrothgars reverberating voice, his use of language, and his visual storytelling delivers a sensory journey, immersively inviting the reader within it.

Rhetoric

Throughout the passage, Heaney makes effective use of rhetorical and stylistic devices to direct its language and style; controlling how the story becomes told, and therefore perceived. Here, the passage attempts to convey the story’s pivotal tonal shift from despair to hope, while also establishing its sense of grand importance by having the king in charge of this pivot.

Some of the rhetorical devices which Heaney employs here are the hyperbole, such as when Hrothgar states the ‘marvellous’ nature of Beowulf’s tales, the parallelism which envelops the anecdote, in which Beowulf’s friendship follow up becomes tied to being guided ‘here’ by God, ‘here’ to defend them against Grendel, and the simile within the anecdote, where his storytelling highlights Beowulf’s strength being equaled to that of thirty men, while also converging the notion of Beowulf’s strength attributes with those of Grendel. (Hall 2022, p. 189)

In the case of stylistic devices, Heaney makes ample use of alliterations to emphasize the theme of the passage — the news of Beowulf and his arrival. Some of the alliterations which stand out are ‘follow’ and ‘friendship,’ ‘goodness’ and ‘guided,’ ‘Danes’ and ‘defend,’ and ‘hope’ and ‘heroism;’ all of which highlight Beowulf’s positive significance.

In all, Heaney elevates the passage and theme’s significance by making use of rhetoric and stylistic patterns; highlighting the importance of Beowulf’s arrival, one which warrants the pivot of the story’s atmospheric mood.

Context

In regards to the wider context of Beowulf’s story, this passage carries strong meaning in regards of the plot’s problem. At the time of this passage, Heorot — a great hall —, finds itself under great distress as it suffers of repeated brutally fatal attacks by Grendel, a humanoid entity with super-natural/monster-like characteristics. It is thus that the passage carries great significance, offering Beowulf as the solution to Heorot’s crisis. However, this passage has a passive effect of blurring the lines between the hero and the monster, as it establishes Beowulf as being as powerful as Grendel — gripping the strength of thirty men. Beowulf thus uses this super-natural strength to defeat, in brutal fashion, the monsters of the story; something nobody had been able to achieve. Therefore, while the passage establishes Beowulf’s heroism, it also converges Beowulf’s and Grendel’s attributes, blurring the natural line between the hero and the monster. (Hall 2022, p. 189)