Symbolism and Archetypal Heroes in Beowulf and Le Morte De’ Arthur

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When the question of “What is a hero?” arises in literature, we are often reminded of the modern philosopher and mythologist Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. A hero shares definitive traits and symbolism, and Campbell’s Monomyth theory compares mythology, oral stories, and legends from multiple cultures, equating the definition of a hero. Beowulf, an epic Anglo-Saxon poem written in the 8th to 10th century, and Le Morte D’Arthur, a 15th century prose, share Campbell’s characteristics of Monomyth heroism, while also incorporating symbolism of warrior culture, chivalric Christian ideology, and religious syncretism between pagan and Christian belief. Campbell outlines that a hero can be defined by their journey within the Monomythic structure and its symbolic reflection of the legend’s culture and religious beliefs (Campbell Masks of God 215). Although these heroes take different paths inaction, both epic tales have similar themes, and are examples of a mythological hero legend steeped in cultural and religious symbolism.

In the time of the introduction of Christianity to the Anglo-Saxon people, both stories incorporate religious syncretism and intertwine pagan symbolism. Beowulf represents a dialectic between Christian and Norse mythologies (Helterman 3), and Le Morte D’Arthur’s storyline inpursuing the Christian Holy Grail while simultaneously accepting help from pagan super-nnatural forces and sorcerer, Merlin (Malory 15) shows a contrast in belief. Both stories incorporate these things while exemplifying what a heroic figure is. They display a warrior figure, an outlier of exceptional ability, who follows The Call to Adventure, Campbell’s starting point of The Hero’s Journey (Campbell The Hero with a Thousand Faces 41). Beowulf answers the hero’s call by leaving his kingdom and responding to a crisis in another land to kill a monster terrorizing the Danes. Arthur’s call to adventure is when he pulls supernatural Excalibur from the stone, activating his exceptional nature, though once hidden within his banality, the act ascends him tothe throne of Camelot. Both heroes are steeped in symbolism within their tales, Beowulf’s tale reflects the fears and religious changes of the day within its monsters. Each monster threatening social order, as Kathryn Hume writes in her essay The Theme and Structure of Beowulf, “Specifically, these threats are troublemaking, revenge, and war–problems inescapably inherent to this kind of heroic society, yet profoundly inimical to its existence (5).” Arthur in Le Morte D’Arthur is a complex tale of the life and death of a Feudal lord, while also exemplifying the adopted justice and values of the chivalric code (Bedwell 4) within Malory’s time of society. These Christian and chivalric values were challenged by paganistic culture and newly converted Christians, and the Feudal system of justice was highly criticized within the courts.

Beowulf’s heroism begins, exemplifying the pattern of Campbell’s hero, by leaving his home to cross the ocean and battle the supernatural monster Grendel (Schwartz 83). Campbell himself writes, that Beowulf is a hero made for “lately converted Christian ears, an old Germanic hero-legend of the monster-and dragon-killings” (Masks of God 113). Beowulf’s story is steeped in symbolism such as the monsters, which represent supernatural unknown forces from the Land Below Waves, their power and mystery but also paganistic and earthly origin unexplained (Campbell Masks of God 118). Beowulf fights Grendel, an amalgamation-descendant of Cain, a character incorporating newly adopted Christian belief of Biblical Cain and Abel. Cain is known for being the first murderer, slaying his brother and being cast out into the desert where he became a creator of spawn like Grendel. Beowulf, a hero of old warrior-culture ideals, maiming, then killing Grendel is a strong image of adopting the belief that Grendel was inherently evil, an existential threat, and his death would result in Beowulf’s righteous glory to God and the kingdom. Grendel in most ways behaves as an earthly creature like all others, but similar to the Biblical snake at the Tree of Knowledge, is now demonized for its deeds.

Campbell describes Beowulf as a Queller of Wild Beasts, a Monomythic trope in which a figure embodies humanity’s struggle to conquer nature’s primal and chaotic forces (Campbell Masks of God 176). Beowulf’s first supernatural, chaotic monster-slaying leads immediately to his second, Grendel’s revenge-stricken mother. His mother is an unnamed mysterious creature of chaos that is struck down as evil without considering the motivations of the death of her son and only companion. No thought is given to these creatures other than the apparent evil they represent and their inherent otherness and ties to Cain. Beowulf is shown here as a man possessing Christian virtues, doing what is righteously good by destroying and stamping out the evil terrorizing the town (Woolf 87). This symbolic gesture of monster-hunter that Beowulf becomes represents the cleansing of natural paganistic forces of the land, the induction of a new religious and chivalric culture by a hero of the original culture is apparent. He continues his journey throughout life with one more of Campbell’s Trials. Campbell’s Monomyth and Archetypal ending concludes with Beowulf’s Abyss, his last Trial, where he faces his demise fighting a dragon. This dragon symbolizes the inevitability of death, Beowulf’s aging, his turn from a mortal, being wounded, into a legend, dying and passing on as a hero. The dragon’s death and Beowulf’s ascension show us that he has accomplished his last Trial, and followed through his Abyss.

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Le Morte D’Arthur, in contrast, is a prose of a legendary figure with a path interwoven with the acceptance of Christianity and chivalric code ideals in Britain. In Malory’s tale, King Arthur is a child who grows up orphaned, then ascends to a throne by magical anointing of fate, where he rules his kingdom governed by justice and chivalry, and aided by supernatural forces (Bedwell 3). Arthur’s trials are much different from Beowulf’s; he is not part of a warrior culture honor, but of a feudal system of honor. Arthur is given great otherworldly power through his sword Excalibur, a gift from The Lady of the Lake, representing the symbolic nature of divine authority and fate. Campbell mentions that the earliest chronicles of Arthur’s legend, Historia Regum Britanniae, in 1136, first introduce Excalibur as Arthur’s “divine weapon” (Campbell Masks of God 190). Arthur’s journey through life in creating the order, loyalty, and justice of his legendary court is also aided by a pagan sorcerer named Merlin.

Merlin embodies Campbell’s Wise Old Man (Campbell 61) and another supernatural aid, a guide-like presence in Arthur’s life. During the time of the legend’s origin, Merlin would have been a syncretic symbol to aid in converting pagans to Christianity through the tale. Merlin is a figure that displays pagan mysticism, similar to Celtic traditions of the natural world and supernatural power, and yet Merlin chooses to aid Arthur, a Christian, solidifying his role as the true King of the people. Merlin is important to not only the legend’s Monomyth but also as a syncretic bridge between pre-Christian mysticism and divine theology of Christianity. This righteous and Christianity-adapting hero tale accepts and merges the ideals of chivalric values while incorporating familiar pagan beliefs. Arthur’s life story itself is a tale of an average pagan of the time rising to an exceptional Christian king’s power. Arthur ascends to his throne through the Lady of the Lake’s gift in Excalibur and Merlin’s protection, but does so on Christian tenets and ideals within an oath he and his knights take (Bedwell 6). These elements of symbolism and religious syncreticism are deeply interwoven into Arthur’s hero journey of trials throughout, culminating in the quest for the Christian Holy Grail but only ending successfully for one pure-of-heart knight (Bedwell 10). In the Death of Arthur chapter, Arthur faces his Campbell’s Abyss as a hero through his final battle with Mordred. Arthur, like Beowulf, is mortally wounded and begs his remaining knight to throw the sword back to The Lady of the Lake, to return his power to the unknown and allow him to pass to Avalon, the heaven-like after place for his soul. After Excalibur is returned to the Lady, and Arthur’s Divine Gift is returned to the supernatural force it came from, he begins to die, showing his God-given fate has finally come. His funeral return to Avalon on the lake is his journey from mortal to legend, mirroring a Christ-like ascension, and reinforcing the idea of his return to mortality from being magically anointed by forces unseen.

These classic hero tales illustrate Campbell’s monomyth, symbolism and syncretic origins in their own themes. Beowulf follows the journey of the life of a warrior-culture hero overcoming supernatural threats, while Le Morte D’Arthur’s theme of Arthur becoming a chivalric and divinely guided king. These myths are consistently re-translated and reinterpreted by the culture of our time, even in modern society. Films, books, comics, and media, continue today to be based on the monomythic structure that each represents and helped establish. The heroic ascension of Beowulf and Arthur resonate with readers as each completes Campbell’s cycle and transitions from mortal to legend. Readers can find unforeseen depth in the symbolic undertones. Both hero figures were shaped by the pagan and Christian syncretism of their time with impactful and relevant symbolism throughout. These legends reinforce the classic heroic journey that shows us morality, perseverance, and fate, reflecting the cultural and religious shifts of the time, which universally still impacts us today.

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Works Cited

Bedwell, Laura K. "The Failure of Justice, the Failure of Arthur." Arthuriana, vol. 21, no. 3, Fall 2011, pp. 3-22. Scriptorium Press. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/23238951.

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 3rd ed., New World Library, 2012.

Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God: Creative Mythology. Viking Press, 1968.

Hume, Kathryn. "The Theme and Structure of Beowulf." Studies in Philology, vol. 72, no. 1, Jan.1975, pp. 1-27. University of North Carolina Press. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4173860.

Malory, Thomas. Le Morte D'Arthur. Modern Library, 1999.

Mead, Philip Lawrence. A Consideration of Some Archetypes in Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur. 16 June 1969. University of New Mexico, Master's thesis. UNM Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1340&context=engl_etds.

Schwartz, Sheila. "The Idea of the Hero." The English Journal, vol. 58, no. 1, Jan. 1969, pp. 82-86. National Council of Teachers of English. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/812354.

Woolf, Henry Bosley. "On the Characterization of Beowulf." ELH, vol. 15, no. 2, June 1948, pp. 85-92. The Johns Hopkins University Press. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2871483.