It is the earliest form of English literature that we have. Written somewhere between the eighth and tenth century A.D., Beowulf is a staggering epic about early-Christian, Germanic peoples. Because this epic is written in Old English, which is almost unrecognizable to most readers, it has been translated into a number of more modern English dialects (Beowulf 29-30).
In plot, Beowulf may seem familiar to some. Readers who enjoy Tolkien books, most especially The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, will note a number of similarities between the ancient epic poem and these modern literary hits. Some things that may appear especially familiar to readers are the presence of man-eating beasts, magical weapons, and gluttonous dragons. These parallels are especially easy to see because Tolkien himself was a Beowulf scholar and it is widely accepted that this text influenced the author’s novel sensations. This post will focus on the three above-listed similarities between Beowulf and Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
The first parallel that can be drawn between Beowulf and The Hobbit is the appearance of intelligent, man-eating monsters. The beginning of the Beowulf epic describes the troubles of the Danish people as they are being violently tormented by a beast named Grendel. Every night, Grendel attacks the guards of the city’s social center and eats a number of the men. Grendel, and later his mother as well, are similar to the trolls in Tolkien’s The Hobbit. The trolls capture a group of dwarves and spend the night arguing about in what way they should cook the dwarves. As both Grendel and the trolls are intelligent beings, it is especially grotesque that they resort to such violent killing of other intelligent, human and human-like life forms. These beings represent societal violence in the world.
The next similarity between these two works is in the form of magical weapons. In Beowulf, two swords are used which surpass the quality of regular swords. The first is the sword found by Beowulf in Grendel’s lair which he uses to kill the mother of Grendel. Because of the sword’s enormous size and ancient craftsmanship, only Beowulf is strong enough to wield it effectively and therefore the only person capable of killing Grendel’s mother. The second ancient blade mentioned in Beowulf is the sword belonging to Wiglaf, who would take Beowulf’s place after his death. Although Wiglaf does not use his sword to slay any invincible creatures, his sword seems to instill in Wiglaf extra courage as he rallies the soldiers to Beowulf’s aid as he fights the dragon. In Tolkien’s The Hobbit, Bilbo’s sword Sting exhibits the magical quality of glowing any time goblins are near, providing a warning for its holder. All three swords bestowed upon their carriers a sort of advantage against their enemies.
The final, and perhaps most obvious of the parallels between Tolkien’s work and Beowulf is the appearance of a greedy dragon. Both Beowulf’s dragon and Tolkien’s Smog are intelligent, but not human-like, and therefore do not exhibit the same sort of horrifying violence so apparent in the instances of the trolls and Grendel. Both Beowulf’s dragon and Smog live in mountains guarding their treasure troves. They both have a sense for the amount of treasure they have and are immediately aware of anything that has been taken by a thief. Both dragons also seem to have a love for burning villages. In addition, both the dragon in Beowulf and Smog bring the culminating calamities upon the characters of each story. Finally, although Beowulf’s dragon and Smog seem invincible, both have fatal flaws which lead to their final demises. The dragons stand-in for the theme of greed and self-indulgence of mankind.
It is apparent, through a close look at Beowulf and Tolkien’s The Hobbit that a number of themes are carried from that ancient text into our modern pop-culture. Grendel and the trolls, the magical swords, and the two dragons are just a few examples of the similarities between these two stories. They are ways in which ancient literature has made it into the main stream entertainment of today’s world.
Beowulf Translation:
Beowulf. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. 29-100. Print.
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