Possible interpretations of the warriors
Introduction
The year 1000 is considered the most primitive date to be able to speak of an English language and also the date on which we have the oldest manuscripts written in this. Medieval English literature offers us great sections, as is the one dedicated to religious works and, here, is where we can find the greatest contrasts. The theme in which we can see certain similarities is that dedicated to the heroic theme, either in poems such as Beowulf or, for example, in the romances of King Arturo and his knights of the round table.
Developing
Beowulf and her exploits escape the merely normal, the world in which they move is a magical world, full of supernatural powers. It is invincible and capable of winning the most difficult and extraordinary adventures. He is also admired for his noble character and strength. But there is a Christian element in Beowulf that underlies a second skin in the poem. Beowulf’s manuscript, known under the title of MS. Cotton Vitellius Ax-V, is located in the Manuscript section of the British Museum of London, and dates from the year 1000, although there were possibly previous copies.
If Beowulf Datara’s first written poem of the VIII or IX centuries, we would find an oral tradition that the poem from generation to generation had transmitted for three hundred or four hundred years. We know that you write them, when copying the texts of new works, they included new contributions more chords with their times, tastes or knowledge. And in Beowulf we can clearly see one of these aggregations: the pagan world in which Beowulf moves can be considered Christian. Despite these considerations, so far there is nothing strange in Beowulf, everything is logical understanding.
But, there is something that must attract our attention and it is that so far it seems to have been forgotten. We refer to the obvious relationship between certain poems of the Ossianic and Beowulf cycle, as is the case of the poem written in the gaelic language known as Laoidh Locha Deirg (Poem of the Red Lake). If we compare the argument of the two poems we can see a clear similarity, and that is that the relationship between Beowulf and some poems related to the Ossianic cycle also offer dark points that can be interpreted in different ways.
For this reason, we are going to try to be as objective as possible, and to start we see briefly the argument of Beowulf and the poem Laoidh Locha Deirg. King Hrothgar of the Danes sees impotent how Grendel, a terrible monster, breaks into his Heorot hall at night and devours their warriors. Upon learning of such tragic events the Swedish warrior Beowulf, nephew of the king of the Geats, offers his help to Hrothgar to end the monster. During the night while Beowulf along with his warriors sleep in the mansion.
Suddenly the monster appears and devours one of the warriors, Hondscio;Beowulf, disarmed, faces the monster, to which an arm starts. Grendel, wounded to death, seeks refuge in his den, returning to the "Streching Moor" and the "Misty Hollow" where he has come, leaving some bloody footprints to the "Nicors" pool ". Grendel dies in the depths of the lake, who dyes red with his blood. In the court of Hrothgar everything is joy for Beowulf’s victory. But, in the depths of the lake, in a cave, the mother of the monster lives.
This mother appears in the Court, kidnaps the king’s advisor, Aescher, and hides in the depths of the lake, where malignant storms are unleashed. Warriors manage. The Beowulf hero, wielding the sword, faces a monstrous wolf inside a cave, but his sword does not harm his body. Luckily, he finds a sword forged by giants and manages to kill the monster. The monster lies dead at the foot of Beowulf inside the cave and it cuts his head.
At the end of the poem we find an old Beowulf, king of the Geats, where he has been reigning fifty years. One last time, you have to face another monster, a dragon. Beowulf manages to defeat him, but he will be mortally injured by the dragon. His body burned by his loyal together with the dragon’s treasure. Finn and his Guerrero Army, the Fianna, arrive one day to Fionnloch (White Lake) with the intention of hunting in the mountains near the lake. Suddenly, a monster appears from the depths of the lake, killing many soldiers: as the text itself says, "two thousand or more/killed in a single day".
Finn agrees to deliver fifty horses or fifty cows to the monster every day. But arrival at night the agreement is not fulfilled and, the next morning, the hungry monster unleashes a storm on the lake and appears on the beach facing the soldiers. Many warriors die and are swallowed by the monster, but, at a given time, Finn grabs one of his joints with his hand and with a strong flip turns down the mouth. Finn’s son opens the belly of the monster, from which most cavalry leaves alive.
Due to the great bloodshed of that day the lake will be called Loch Dearg (Red Lago). The existing relationship as we can see cannot be accidental: both stories in their central argument are tremendously similar. The difficulty lies in whether Beowulf is based on the ostian story, or if the Ossianic story is based on Beowulf. There is also a third possibility: that both are based on a previous story. For the first and second possibility we must compare the age of both stories;We know that Beowulf Data of the year 1000.
In the oldest copy we have, some of the oldest poems in the ossianic cycle that have reached writings even date from the ninth century and even some fragments of previous times. However, the Ossianic poems remained written for quite later centuries. We must bear in mind that all the records of the first Literature of the Anglo -Saxons belong to a Christian England, written by scribes in the monasteries, kept there and that came to light in the reform.
conclusion
We must think of this literature as oral, transmitted from mouth to mouth from generation to generation, its creators mostly unknown, and only a written form is given long after its composition. Among the narrative sources of English history before the conquest, preeminence must be given to the Anglo -Saxon chronicle. It is a complicated record, which survives in seven manuscripts and for the period covered in this volume it is accurate to describe them as containing versions of the same work. Which suggests that these manuscripts descend from a common version.
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