Friday, March 11, 2016

What are three concepts of revenge during the time when Beowulf was written?

Beowulf exists as a text of the
Anglo-Saxon period. Readers only see one distinct type of revenge in the epic poem:
destruction of sippes/comitatus (sippes: one's clan, kin,
or extended family; comitatus: the friendship between a king and his men). This revenge
is seen twice. First, after Beowulf kills Grendel, his mother goes to Heorot to enact
revenge (destruction of sippes). Then, Grendel's mother murders Aeschere (Hrothgar's
counselor and friend). In an example of destruction of comitatus, Beowulf then, in order
to enact revenge upon Grendel's mother for the murder of Aeschere, murders Grendel's
mother.


Outside of destruction of sippes, Anglo-Saxons
sought revenge based upon feuding and
betrayal. Feuding and betrayal (in any sort or sense) were
both found to be grounded reasons for enacting revenge.


One way to combat, or end, revenge in the Anglo-Saxon
culture was to pay a wergild (the value of a person's life or piece of property). The
Anglo-Saxons defined a value based upon the ranking of all people within the society. If
murdered, the charged party would be required to pay the value of the person's life to
his or her family.

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