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Abstract
Exegetical criticism of Beowulf has always assumed the primacy of Christianity as a criterion of judgement, while older modes of mythological criticism have viewed Christianity as an obstruction to the transmission of "pagan" Germanic culture. The "New Comparative Mythology" of Georges Dumezil permits a more synthetic view of the myth structures combining to produce Beowulf. Rather than being radically different from its predecessors in Europe, Christianity must be recognized as a stage in the development of Indo-European mythologies. Christianity during its spread through the Roman Empire ceased to be a Near Eastern mythology and became one which the Indo-European speakers of the Empire could accept because its external and internal constitution was rendered ideologically indistinguishable from paganism. This realization releases us from obligations to discuss Beowulf as though the poem resulted from an inherent "conflict" between pagan and Christian pre-occupations. Christianity preserved the most notable features of Indo-European myth and society: a tendency to see metaphysical and social phenomena as divided into three "functions" of Sovereignty, Force, and Fecundity; and to see the relationship of Sovereignty to Force as potentially antagonistic. The Beowulf poet's Christianity did virtually nothing to obscure the ancient instabilities of Indo-European society. Beowulf the warrior must encounter and overcome dangerous perversions of Force, Fecundity, and Sovereignty, represented respectively by Grendel, Grendel's Mother, and the dragon; and he must do so in a context of human characters who likewise represent distortions of the three functions. The structure of Beowulf is thus tripartite in the Dumezilian sense. The hero's role, however, is bipartite. Beowulf must occupy the rank for which he is best suited, the second, but is forced by tragic circumstances to assume the responsibilities of Sovereignty, the first function. This crossing of functions produces the poet's sense of the admirable futility of heroic action; of the dangerous tendency of his people to advance warriors to kingship; and of the transience of human endeavor. The poet has exploited Indo-European devices to emphasize the necessity of maintaining social distinctions, and of repressing or destroying individuals who pervert their functions.
