This semester, in my Special Topics Brit Lit class, we are covering Tolkien, and before that, his sources: including the Völsunga Saga, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Beowulf. Everyone else in class absolutely loved Beowulf (for some reason). And I hated it.
Not the story, the story was simple: Beowulf hears of a monster, Grendel, terrorizing the hall of a Danish King, Beowulf goes over, kills Grendel by ripping his arm off. Beowulf slays Grendel’s vengeful mother with a sword made by giants. Time passes, and Beowulf has been king for 50 years, and hears of a dragon terrorizing his people. He goes off with a party to kill it, but only he at first is brave enough to fight it, struggling due to his advanced age. Eventually, one of his men, Wiglaf returns to him, and together they slay the dragon. Beowulf was mortally injured and names Wiglaf his successor. At his funeral, they mourn their king, and make a mound on his pyre-site, adorned with treasures from the dragon’s hoard.
Simple. Again, Not the story, but the way it was told. I thought it was too unfocused on the actual plot; it’s written in such a way that the narrator can go off on tangents about anything anytime they want— it’s unfocused. I’m used to modern fiction conventions, where exposition dumps are frowned upon. I don’t want to read several pages about the political conflicts of groups outside the kingdom, just get to the action! I don’t need to know every detail about the song the scop sings at the feast, just tell me what the characters do at the feast— I do not care about Hoc and Hnaef and Hengest, what do they have to do with the story?!
I was so mad about it that I went to my advisor, who also took that class, just to vent about it, like “Beowulf sucks, it goes on tangents, yada yada”, but she said that it mirrored real-world speaking conventions, that people go off topic in real life, that people get distracted from the plot themselves. And obviously, it’s a respected work, and I admit that this is just my own modern sensibilities clashing with historic literary criticism. I’m not gonna be like “My opinion is right, and everyone else is wrong.— I don’t care if you have a doctorate.—”
I conceded, too, that those moments also would fill in any information that people at the time (let’s say when it was still unwritten) would need because the story, the historical figures would be more relevant to them. But to me, it’s just filler, it has no relevancy to me; I don’t live there! I Don’t live with the complex socio-political relationships of Danish and Swedish kingdoms. I just want to finish the story, so I can pass the test in class, so I don’t fail the class.—
And more to the text’s reputation, when we were discussing the piece after the test, my professor was talking about the repetitive nature of the story, how often the recounter will just reword details; there were a couple reasons for this given to us: for the teller’s sake, and for the audience’s sake.
For the storyteller, repeating what they just said gives them time to remember/make-up what happens next, what they’re going to say next. We have to keep in mind that epics and sagas were traditionally told orally. Having buffer time helps the teller load-in new information to recount.
For the audience, it helps them listen. Beowulf is a long poem to listen to, and it would be hard to in person, absorb every line if it was filled with absolutely necessary information. Thus, filler information that repeats in case the audience lost attention for a bit. (Plus, my professor said, if the reader was paying attention the first time, they can relax the second and third.)
It’s just. It’s frustrating to try to read something you have to for class, and it wastes your time. Sure, redundant information is helpful to listeners, but to me it’s like sifting through unnecessary information. Exposition dumps are nice for intent listeners, who could use the information; plus it sounds like how people regularly talk. I can respect Beowulf for its historical value and cultural influence, but I can also hate it because it’s just. frustrating.
So yeah.
-Luz Filoteo
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