Summary: Gold in Beowulf is more than a sign of wealth or heroic generosity: it exposes the violence underlying the poem’s social order. The gold freely distributed by Hrothgar and other “ring-givers” may seem very different from the dragon’s buried hoard, but the two cannot truly be separated, since the treasure handed out in royal halls was acquired through warfare, plunder and tribute. Gold can reward warriors, strengthen loyalty, settle feuds and adorn halls or weapons, yet it always carries traces of the suffering involved in obtaining it. This becomes increasingly clear as the poem progresses, with the brightness and celebration surrounding treasure in its first half giving way to burial, destruction and death in its second. Beowulf therefore does not condemn its hero for greed, but instead reveals the fatal weakness of a society that measures honour through wealth acquired in war.
Gold and its Significance in Beowulf
By Patricia Silber
Annuale Mediaevale, Vol. 18 (1977)
Summary: Gold in Beowulf is more than a sign of wealth or heroic generosity: it exposes the violence underlying the poem’s social order. The gold freely distributed by Hrothgar and other “ring-givers” may seem very different from the dragon’s buried hoard, but the two cannot truly be separated, since the treasure handed out in royal halls was acquired through warfare, plunder and tribute. Gold can reward warriors, strengthen loyalty, settle feuds and adorn halls or weapons, yet it always carries traces of the suffering involved in obtaining it. This becomes increasingly clear as the poem progresses, with the brightness and celebration surrounding treasure in its first half giving way to burial, destruction and death in its second. Beowulf therefore does not condemn its hero for greed, but instead reveals the fatal weakness of a society that measures honour through wealth acquired in war.
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