| Abstrakt: |
Though the relationship between Beowulf, Grendel, and Grendel's ancestors has begun to be explored by scholars, there is further work to be done to understand the importance of the entire Cainite family to the development of Beowulf's character. This paper argues that throughout all of Beowulf's encounters with Grendel and Grendel's mother, he is forced to take on Cainite weapons and a Cainite identity in order to overcome. By doing so, he inscribes himself into a familial tradition of kin-slaying that is drawn from the numerous Latin and Old English sources discussing the manner of Cain's death at the hand of his kin, Lamech. This history of violence and combat also surround the legends pertaining to Lamech's children--Jubal, Jabal, and Tubalcain--providing one resolution only to any one of Cain's kin. This paper thus argues that the narrative of Beowulf must reconstruct the hero as Cainite in order for him to destroy the Grendelkin and that it is this reconstruction that also helps to explain Beowulf's heirlessness at the conclusion of the epic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
