In which I wonder about a nagging thing in the Beowulf scholarship...

[darkelf105]

Beowulf critics, what is with all the Hrothgar hate? By the poem's own internal logic, only Beowulf can defeat Grendel, what with being God's champion and all and therefore being the only one who can stand a chance at altering wyrd, so why blame Hrothgar? When Beowulf shows up, Hrothgar is on the uptake, he KNOWS that Beowulf is the answer and lets him do his thing...he also interprets the sword from the mere...and is noted for being an awesome ring-giver...so why with all the speculation of how he is a weak king? I just don't see it. I'm not even doing my paper on the problem of Hrothgar and it irritates me, especially since my paper IS about gift-giving and hoarding in the poem, so I just don't see how the major critics of Hrothgar can make the argument that he gives TOO much when all of his gift-giving is totes within expected boundaries.

Just sayin'.

Had to get it out there because it has been on the brain.