Vengeance and Vengeance in BeowulfThe oldest of the great poems written in English and perhaps the only survivor of an Anglo-Saxon epic genre, Beowulf, was written by an author Christian unknown on an estimated date only. Even so, it is a remarkable narrative story in which the poet reinvigorates the language, style, and heroic values ​​of Germanic oral poetry. It weaves together a number of themes, including good and evil, youth and old age, paganism and Christianity, and the heroic ideal code, into its main narrative and numerous digressions and episodes; all extremely important to his audience at the time. Revenge, part of the heroic code, was viewed differently by the two distinct religions. Christianity teaches us to forgive those who offend us, while in the pagan world revenge is typical and is not considered an evil act. In Beowulf, the old German proverb "vengeance does not remain long unavenged" is strictly respected and confirms that revenge is part of the pagan tradition. Two human relationships were profoundly significant to Germanic society. Most importantly, the relationship between the warrior and his lord was based on mutual trust and respect. The warrior swears allegiance to his lord and serves and defends him and, in turn, the lord cares for the warrior and rewards him generously for his valor. The second human relationship was between relatives. As Baker and Ogilvy suggest, there was a special form of loyalty involved in the feud. (P.107) If one of his relatives were killed, a man had an ethical obligation to kill the killer or to demand payment of wergild as compensation. The price was determined based on the rank or social status of the victim... middle of the paper... the point of view was "an eye for an eye", if a man kills your relatives you take revenge. In contrast, the Christian view was more like what Mohandas Gandhi said: "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." Christians believed that God would inevitably do what is right and would rather turn the other cheek than cause more bloodshed and murder. Throughout the poem, the poet strives to reconcile these two sets of values. Even though he is a Christian, he cannot deny the core pagan values ​​of the story. Works cited and consulted: Abrams, MH, ed. Beowulf: The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.Baker, Donald C., and J. D. A. Ogilvy. Reading Beowulf. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1983. Conte, James W. Thinking of Beowulf. Stanford: Stanford University Press: 1994.