Beowulf - Light vs. Dark
Traditionally, light means good and dark means evil. This assumption is proven in many instances of Beowulf, though in all three battles we also see contradictions to this assumption. Sometimes, what we see or assume may not always be just that. The light and dark imagery used in Beowulf helps to create this ambiguous theme and furthermore makes the contrasts between the battles more evident.In the Grendel episode, light and dark imagery are very evident. Before Beowulf arrives in the Danish kingdom he hears stories of the powerful Grendel and how he "never dared to touch king Hrothgar's glorious throne." This is the first instance where light and dark imagery collide. Grendel wouldn't touch the throne because the throne represented glory, or light, and Grendel represented evil, or dark. The second occurrence is the actual attack of Grendel. "He moved quickly through the cloudy night...toward that gold-shining hall." In this imagery we see an obvious light and dark conflict but we also see a good vs. evil conflict as well. Grendel comes to attack the mead hall at night, which reveals that the dark, or evil, is attacking the light, or good, in which case the good overcame the evil. We notice this in the third example.
Beowulf entered the lake, the "brilliant light. The sword, portraying light, was "blessed with [the giants] magic" and was used to conquer Grendel's "mighty" mother, portraying dark; once again, good has defeated evil. This is parallel to the Christian motif of the religious symbolism of the battle with Grendel's mother. In all the battles it seemed as though evil was defeated by goodness, but through these paradoxical images, as compared to the literal light and dark imagery, we see that it's not the good that predominately prevails, it's the evil-not what most would assume. Trophies are typically representative of goodness and reward, but here, it's described as "terrible" which implies an evilness about it. The tower is the place of residence of the Dragon and is representative of a place of evil or isolation of oneself. Beowulf dives into the lake, representative of the underworld, or hell. The fall of nighttime was described by using a religious being, implying a bit of light embodied within the darkness. "Only Beowulf would risk his life in that lake. Also, we have the light that was seen in Grendel's eyes, though in this case the light is considered evil because of the source from which it came, Grendel.
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