Content area
Full Text
For over forty years, critics have keenly and at times hotly debated Beowulf's fate. Eric Stanley's view that the poet represents him as damned by the working of the curse laid on the dragon's hoard has been ably and widely supported, perhaps most effectively by A. J. Bliss's arguments from syntax and lexicography.1 But while endorsing their analysis of the syntax, Bruce Mitchell has lodged repeated protests on behalf of the many readers who cannot accept an interpretation of the ending that appears to run so completely counter to the spirit of the rest of the poem.2 Fred Robinson, Margaret Goldsmith, and others have sought to stake out some middle ground, denying the power of the curse but still presenting us with a Beowulf whose fate remains in doubt, because as a pre-Christian he necessarily falls short of the standard of conduct that the poet must have subscribed to.3 Others again have seen the poet as deliberately veiling or even shirking the issue of Beowulf's destiny.4 A fresh look at the passages that most obviously bear on the controversy may help to clarify it, if not to resolve it.
When introducing the dragon that will prove his hero's bane, the Beowulf poet also needs to tell his audience about its treasure, which will figure prominently in the last part of his story. A fugitive slave5 seeking shelter stumbles on the ancient barrow where the dragon has made its lair, sees the beast sleeping within on its hoard, and flees in terror, but not without first snatching a single cup (lines 2214-31). With that ancient treasure he hopes to buy his way back into his master's good graces (lines 2281-3). But the theft has roused the dragon's wrath, and it goes on a rampage of devastation (lines 2302-23). As a good king who cares for the welfare of his people, Beowulf resolves to deal with it (lines 2324-36).
Midway through telling us this, the poet turns aside to explain how the treasure came to be in the barrow. The dragon had not gathered it; the last survivor of an ancient race had chosen the barrow chamber as a resting place for wealth that his people could no longer use (lines 2232-70). But he had not sealed...