Examining The Story Of Beowulf Religion Essay

Examining The Story Of Beowulf Religion Essay After hours of self debate on why the Christian influences in Beowulf slowly die out and eventually cease to exist towards the end of the story; I have come to the conclusion that the monk who rewrote the story was not a full blooded Christian. In this time period, the pagan religion had not been completely dismantled, and it had been around at the same time as Christianity. The monk, I believe, was fighting an internal battle with himself. Two religions clashing inside of him, waging war through the very text he was rewriting. In the beginning of the text he adds heavy amounts of Christian influence but pagan beliefs such as: superhuman strength, revenge, and fate still linger amidst the Christian references. As the story progresses it is clear that the monks pagan beliefs are beginning to overtake his Christian beliefs. The beginning of the story through the battle with Grendel contains the largest amount of Christian reference and influence used by the monk and the least amount of pagan influence. The beginning consists of Grendel listening in on the Danes singing about the creation of the earth and man by the almighty ruler or God. He also listens in on them singing about his creation; he is a descendent of Cain, the brother killer, therefore Grendel is forced by God to live a life of exile. The first conflict between religions lies here; Grendel is forced to live a life of exile yet one of the main beliefs in Christianity is forgiveness. It is the Anglo-Saxon pagan belief that once a name is cursed, it is cursed forever. Hrothgars throne being protected by God is another Christian element along with God sending Beowulf to watch over Herot as a savior. It is not until Grendel sneaks back into herot that the pagan influences start to turn up again. Lines 24 through 27 of The Battle with Grendel rea d: Ere morning came, since fate had allowed him The prospect of plenty. Providence willed not To permit him any more of men under heaven To eat in the night-time. (Lesslie Hall 29) Now fate is showing up in the story, fate being a pagan belief, mixed in with the idea of Devine providence willing that Grendel shall kill no more. Then Beowulf exhibits more superhuman strength when Grendel cannot break his grip and he rips Grendels arm off; these are more pagan elements. Beowulf is protected by God in this section however. He has come to save the Danes, not seek revenge upon Grendel; Christianity does not believe in revenge. This section of the text was the beginning of the religious battle inside of the monk; this struggle becomes more evident as the story goes on. Before the battle with Grendels mother she bursts into Herot and takes Hrothgars closest friend as reparations for the death of her son. Before Beowulfs decent into the water to find Grendels mother he gives a speech about fate to the men. Beowulf tells Hrothgar that if fate decides that he will not win the battle, he wants him to be a king to his men and send the jewels that Hrothgar gave to him to Higelac, king of the Geats, to show how generous of a king he was to Beowulf. The monk is walking a tight-rope between religions here. Beowulf being the savior sent by God to save the Danes is now about to take revenge for them; however at the same time he is once again helping save them. Paganism comes into play once more here; Beowulf sinks down to the sea floor for nearly the entire day, these are more examples of superhuman traits. Once at the seafloor the monster has the upper-hand on Beowulf it seems; she grabs him and brings him to her lair, she destroys his helmet (which has never been done before) and Unfearths sword is unable to damage her. It would seem he is fighting a losing battle with Grendels mother until the monk begins adding more Christian influence to the text. Lines 79 through 82 of The Battle with Grendels Mother read: And had God most holy not awarded the victory, All knowing lord; easily did heavens Ruler most righteous arrange it with justice; Up rose he erect ready for battle. (Lesslie Hall 53) It appears as if the Monk is assuming that God is allowing Beowulf to live since he is the only man who can defeat this monster and save the Danes again, even though he is fighting the monster for revenge this time. Then once again Beowulf exhibits superhuman traits by picking up the giant sword and cutting Grendels mothers head off. It would seem that the monks pagan beliefs are beginning to overpower his Christian beliefs; there is a noticeable difference in the amount of Christian influence versus the amount of pagan influence being used in this portion of the text. The monk is beginning to doubt his faith in Christianity therefore he is adding more pagan elements to the story; for now though he is still using Christian elements to keep Beowulf alive. Now it has been many years since Beowulf saved the Danes; Higelac has passed away and Beowulf has become king of the Geats. A thief enters the lair of a dragon and steals his treasure; now the dragon begins to terrorize the land and Beowulf hears news of it. There is almost no Christian reference or influence in this section. The monk makes two different pagan references to fate in the same battle. On top of that Beowulf is only fighting the battle for fame to further secure his immortality after he passes on. In previous sections he was set apart from the rest of Anglo-Saxon culture because he was going out of his way to save the Danes because he was sent by God. It would seem that now he is just another warrior set out to kill for fame and treasure. Fate decides against him now when his shield is not strong enough to fend off the dragons fire and his sword breaks after piercing the dragons scales. All of his warriors save for one have no faith in him and run away. Compared to the b eginning and middle of the text the monk has only used pagan elements here. Beowulfs victory or defeat was based solely on fate; there was no Devine assistance given to him here. Beowulf kills the dragon with his knife but ends up being defeated as well; not before he is brought his treasure by Wiglaf, his follower, and then he tells Wiglaf to build a massive tower that will forever immortalize him. Beowulf gets his treasure and immortality but at the price of his own life. Compared to the beginning and middle of the text the Christian influence has dissolved completely and left the pagan influence to thrive. It is known that paganism and Christianity were around side by side in this time period. Pagans were being converted to Christians by the Catholic Church and it is a possibility that this monk was a pagan convert. This possibility supports my theory that the monk may have been balancing upon a razors edge, this edge being the line between religions. The monk was fighting an internal battle between paganism and Christianity and the text was directly affected by this. Whether or not he intended his struggle to be shown in the text he was rewriting we will never know, but it certainly has been. The beginning of Beowulf starts out with heavy amounts of Christian influence and little amounts of pagan influence. The battle of religions begins around the middle of the story when Beowulf battles Grendels Mother. The end of the religious war comes at the battle with the dragon when paganism seems to have won and leaves Beowulf to die. All we can do is speculate about this monks life; did he l ose faith in Christianity or keep his pagan roots? Maybe one day we will finally have the answer to that question.

Socrates as “Eros”

Esther Rodulfa PHL-1010H-LD01 09/18/12 Socrates as eros? Truly, love takes on many different forms. Love, for many centuries, has been given many different names. It also serves different functions. To distinguish a specific type of love, one of them is called eros. How love as eros can be defined is based upon the utilization of a specific writer’s perspective. Numerous published written works may account for the definition of eros. In this Essay, Plato’s perception of love as eros will be described. Furthermore, how and why Socrates, of â€Å"The Apology† by Plato, embodies Plato’s definition of eros will be shown.This embodiment will be based off Plato’s eros as poor being, eros as an intermediary between God and men, and eros as resemblance of the â€Å"god of Plenty†, eros’ father (Needleman 15 – 17). According to Plato’s â€Å"Symposium†, eros has always been in need or poor (Needleman 16). Socrates embodimen t of this description of eros can be seen in Plato’s â€Å"The Apology†, where Socrates â€Å"remain in infinite poverty† (Plato 509) as a result of his commitment to his god through convicting Athenians of the condition of their souls and lives.Most of his time, Socrates converses with people and asks them questions pertaining their lifestyle. Due to this he does not have enough time to make earnings for himself. In return, some of his listeners put in time to hear him out and take on his advices (Plato 509). This even more takes time off from Socrates. Although others perceive this as Socrates teaching the Athenians with a charge, not one witness testified of Socrates’ activity of charging fees from anyone (Plato 519), which proves his disinterest in obtaining monetary wealth that contributes to his impoverishment.It can be suggested that Socrates does not spend great deal of time in obtaining monetary wealth or pleasure (Plato 519) due to this commitme nt. He places more priority on his care for Athenians than tending for his own health. His full dedication and sacrifice for others’ good sake contribute to his condition of being poor. Other than this, after Socrates was charged guilty, he had to offer an alternative penalty for himself. However, he said â€Å"I have no money to pay† (Plato 526) if ever his alternative penalty was to pay a fine.It can be implied from this Socrates’ deep poverty condition due to his inability to pay his freedom from the unjust guilty charges pressed against him. Since the death punishment upon him is too great, Socrates would need so much money to annul this punishment; but as he said, he does not have any means of doing so due to his poverty. Another definition of eros, as Plato defines it, is an intermediary between God and men. By intermediary, it means that eros â€Å"interprets†¦between gods and men† (Needleman 15).He also delivers â€Å"to men the commands of the gods† (Needleman 15). Thus he brings connection between god and men. Socrates in â€Å"The Apology† embodies these characteristics in few ways. During Socrates trial, he admits that he has been â€Å"commanded by god† (Plato 521) to rebuke the Athenians of their foolish ways and reach an epiphany of their lives wasted on money and fulfilling selfish evil desires. He also says that he occasionally receives â€Å"signal from God† (Plato 529) whenever a wrong impulse is about move him.Since all he desires is fulfilling the right and just actions, he fully depends on the divine voice he claims to hear so the message of god will definitely reach the Athenians. In doing so, he will accomplish the god’s commanded upon him. However, it seems that the Athenians do not desire moral living as commanded by the god Socrates’ follows. Nevertheless, Socrates stays on his task and does not give into discouragement as he serves his intermediary role. More over, Socrates emphasizes to the Athenians that â€Å"I am really the one given to you by God† (Plato 519).How he affirmed this is through his denial of self; denial of own pleasures, denial of health, and denial of own interest throughout his life for the sake of the Athenians virtue. Doubtlessly, denying or depriving self of fulfilling own selfish desires is difficult as human live for own selfish ends. Also, these selfish desires seems built-in to humans. Humans have natural tendencies to act according to what he or she desires, in spite of it being selfish and sometimes evil.In the Athenian society, which Socrates describes as a â€Å"big thoroughbred horse† (Plato 518) due to its riches, wealth, and greatness, it can be inferred that some of its citizens posses this riches and wealth, and for those who do not may have great desires for earning such wealth and power to, again, meet own selfish ends. However, Socrates differs from this in this that he never craved f or wealth and richness, which makes him extraordinary and approve his claim as sent by the god to the Athenians.And, this confirms he embodies eros as the intermediary between god and men. Moreover, Plato also defines eros through eros’ inheritance of his father’s, god of plenty, characteristics (Needleman 16). These characteristics include eros being bold, being â€Å"terrible as an enchanter†, who interlace interest or curiosity, â€Å"keen in pursuit of wisdom†, and a â€Å"philosopher at all times† (Needleman 16). Socrates in â€Å"The Apology† displays these characteristics in many ways. Socrates’ boldness emanated from his audacious and specific address towards the Athenian citizens and officials.He sought out other well known citizens of great power and are known to have â€Å"highest reputation† (Plato 508) and cross-examined them to measure their wisdom. In particular, he approached poets and concluded that â€Å"no w isdom enabled them to compose† (Plato 508) and they resemble diviners and oracles by not â€Å"understanding anything of what they say† (Plato 508). As a poet whose passion is literature and is known for eloquence, creativity, and gift of poetic thoughts, for Socrates to make a claim of a poet’s void composition renders great offense on the poet’s part, and all the more proves Socrates’ boldness.Moreover, Socrates claims he cannot be damaged by either Meletos or Anytos’ proposed death punishment to Socrates for he thought â€Å"the eternal law forbids a better man to be hurt by worse† (Plato 518). By this, he referred the better man as himself and the worse as either Meletos or Anytos. Apparently, these men have some power as they represent those people who may have been offended by Socrates. Yet Socrates boldly acknowledges them as worse than himself. Other than this, Socrates honestly claims that he exposes and hinders â€Å"the man y unjust and illegal doings† (Plato 519) of the Athenian state.Certainly, the Athenians would totally dislike Socrates for admitting these deeds of his yet he carelessly and publicly declares this during the trial. Beside this, Socrates fully declares that the Athens’ lives are wrong (Plato 528) and ending his life would not stop any reproach to come upon them. His confidence on this matter can also stir up more irritation among the crowd but he still bravely announced this. From each examples Socrates gave during his trial, he was aware of the risks yet due to his audacity, he was able to get across his message to the Athenians.Other than his boldness, Socrates also embodies eros as someone who is â€Å"terrible as an enchanter† and who interlace the curiosity and interest of his audience (Needleman 16). He achieves this through his talent of clever wordings and phrases to connect to and capture attention of the Athenians. Socrates often used phrases such as â⠂¬Å"I beg and pray you most earnestly† (Plato 503), â€Å"I appeal to most of you to bear me out† (Plato 505), â€Å"don’t make an uproar, gentlemen, remain quiet as I begged you, hear me without uproar at what I have to say† (Plato 507) and many others.Through these, he can captivate their attention and hinder a possible uproar among them so he can clearly deliver his message to them. For a crowd of 501 people, it will be difficult to counteract uproar if it arises. But it turns out that Socrates had the situation under control while he delivered his speech on his trial day. This reflects his strong enchanting abilities, just like eros. Socrates also has a talent of stirring up interest of those that he speaks to.Although some citizens of Athens have been offended by Socrates’ conviction, some of them were actually â€Å"delighted to hear people being cross-examined† (Plato 509) and that some of them chose to imitate Socrates’ ways of making people, who thinks they have wisdom, realize that they have no wisdom at all. Furthermore, Socrates embodies eros through their resemblance in â€Å"keen pursuit of wisdom† and being a â€Å"philosopher at all times† (Needleman 16). As he was going about cross-examining people, he â€Å"approached the craftsmen† (Plato 508). He has no knowledge of being crafty.But since he loves gaining knowledge, whatever it may be, he continued his talk with them since he knew he would learn something that has â€Å"much of real value† (Plato 508). Going further his trial, Socrates assures the citizens that he will â€Å"never cease being a philosopher† (Plato 517) and that he will continue giving advice and cross-examining and testing those who think they possess wisdom. Even if this costs him his life on the line, Socrates will insist in doing these to anyone he comes across with. After the jury finally approves his death punishment, Socrates found the decision favorable because he will have the hance to cross-examine and investigate those who have deceased, including Troy, Odysseus, and Sisyphos, of whether they are wise or not (Plato 530). Socrates perceives this as his â€Å"infinity of happiness† (Plato 530) if he does meet these great men and other numerous men and women because in the second life, he believes he will gain immortality, and he can infinitely live as a philosopher there. Surely, Socrates has strong desires for gaining knowledge and for living all his life as a philosopher. In conclusion, although there are many ways in which love can be defined, Plato’s definition of eros has been utilized.The definition for this eros love refers to eros being a poor being, eros being the mediator between god and men, and eros being a resemblance of the god of Plenty’s characteristics. In analyzing Socrates of â€Å"The Apology†, we can see how he embodies Plato’s definition of eros and the re asons for this embodiment in many ways. Definitely, Socrates’ personify eros of Plato. Works Cited Page Needleman, Jacob. The Heart of Philosophy. 1st ed. New York: Tarcher/Penguin, 2003. 15-17. Print. Plato, . â€Å"The Apology. † Trans. W. H. D. Rouse  Great Dialogues Of Plato. New York: Signet Classics, 2008. 502-531. Print.

The True Meaning of Research Essay

The True Meaning of Research Essay Writing an essay is quite a struggle in case you don't understand how to have it done on your own. Our essay typing services are extremely simple to use and just take a couple of minutes to do the job. You're going to be guaranteed a paper that's free of errors in grammar and sentence construction. Even a very brief paper is the end result of a practice. First requirement, when you get started selecting a topic, is the understanding of the topic. Because of our developed on-line platform you may place an order within couple minutes. You just need to order a paper which you want to have written, fill us in on all the specifics of your work and discover out how simple it is to work with us. If you would like to discover topics for research paper use our website! Research Essay - the Conspiracy If you're going to write a comparative essay, you want to get a notion of the impacts of unique aspects to the result that you could get at the conclus ion of the writing activity. The very last thing we would like to do in the practice of doing your paper for you is waste your valuable moment. Now let's consider a different type of research. It'll be quite so rewarding once you give yourself time to create something of meaning. If you writeRecent research indicates that or Many scholars feel that, you're making a claim. On the flip side, students discover that it's much easier to stay informed about school with several tools they can utilize to research, learn, and organize. Some professors will provide you with a list and ask you to pick one. You see, there are many professors around who are either unemployed or retired but who need to keep relevant in their fields. Research Essay Secrets If you are searching for a person who can provide you assistance with your essay, then you're in the most suitable place. You won't understand what your finest ideas are until you've written a complete draft. 1 aspect to consider is wh ile you're writing your essay you have to have a crystal clear outlook that you should do first before you commence writing in earnest. It's not quite as easy as writing an essay about your summer vacation, your loved ones, or the previous party you've been to, as you don't need to do research to learn about your own private experience. Bridget's essay is extremely strong, but there continue to be a couple little things that could be made better. Mitchell and Taylor's model starts with the writer. Antony and Cleopatra's union isn't your usual love story. The Ultimate Research Essay Trick At any moment you begin a narrative essay always concentrate on the topic that you want to select. Though it may seem that composing an essay is easy, it's quite a challenging undertaking to compose an essay properly. The same as descriptive essay examples and other sorts of academic essays, a comparative essay can be produced in various ways. Whether you are looking for a scholarship essay help or a different essay writing help, you can rely on us. With what has been gathered, someone may then compose a comprehensive essay about the exchange. Now you know a bit about what online essay writers do, there are a variety of important reasons why you ought to only trust experienced academic writers to supply you with an adequate paper. Any information that will make a credible image for your interviewee will be critical. Before writing a comparative essay, you should first arm yourself with the data that you demand. You'll observe a similar structure in lots of the essays. For example, you compose an essay, and you'd like to have a look at your grammar somewhere on the net. Definitely Yes and you're on the most suitable essay writing website! Research Essay Help! Easy Essay is a company designed to supply academic writing services to its clients, and if you're looking to make sure that you get the greatest marks without needing to do much at all, then we can certainly be of assistance! The last level of your paper relies on you. The last high level of your paper is dependent on you. Being a student isn't usually connected with opportunity to waste budget. Ultimately, however, they actively use Essay Typer and other online writing services and will continue to do so in the future.

Essay about The Daydreaming Problem - 2500 Words

The Daydreaming Problem - Creative Writing Well said the head in assembly, The start of a new school year, He stood beaming round at everyone in the hot and humid theatre, At the end of the next year you will be taking your GCSEs, these will help you enter the profession you wish to take when you leave this schoolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Captain were ready for take off Okay Jones, take her up! mike replied. The engines roared and the plane vibrated violently as the heavy boeng 747 lifted up off the ground. As the plane reached cruising altitude the Captain was disturbed by a voice behind him, come on Mike time to go to lesson, (pause) Mike! He felt himself being pushed and pulled violently but†¦show more content†¦Mike escaped lightly with a week of after-school detentions, and also if he did anything else wrong before the end of term he would be suspended, it would also be written into his report for when he left the school. Mike was feeling very lonely that week, he had had a massive argument with his mates, for getting him into trouble in the first place, they had refused, saying that he was talking to himself anyway, and had already distracted the attention of half the students there, the sound did not reach the teachers at the front at that time anyway. Mike did not want to believe any of this, so he had a blazing row, which ended up with them going off and leaving him. Everyone was now tormenting him, especially when he went to dinner, he would get called names like Billy and reject. Whenever he did try to go and sit with someone, they would instantly tell him to go away or move to another table themse lves. By the end of that week Mike was fuming. After four detentions so far, he had one left. He usually only had to stay behind about half an hour, but he had a feeling Mrs Sheehan ( the year head) would make this a detention to remember. 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