In the Poem Beowulf, the reader follows the hero, Beowulf, through his journey of his three battles with monsters and dragons. Beowulf is a folktale brought to Britain by the Anglo-Saxons when they conquer the British land. The tale originates long before common era, but when Christian Missionaries come to convert the the people in Britain, they are told the story of Beowulf and they write it down. Because the missionaries write to appeal to a christian audience, they add many Christian elements to this Anglo-Saxon poem. When reading this poem, one might think that it is a Christian text because it talks about G-d and it has a big emphasis on the dangers of pride, but really Beowulf in an Anglo-Saxon text because throughout the entire poem the reader sees how much kinship, the relationship between kings and thanes, and between thanes and thanes, is cherished and how Beowulf’s downfall only comes because of his lack of kinship.
One of the first mentions of G-d that the reader sees in the text is when Beowulf and his men get off their ship after arriving in the land of the danes. The poet says, “With clatter of trappings and coats of mail/ Gave thanks to G-d that His grace had granted/ Sea-paths safe for their ocean- journey”(10). This is one of the many christian inserts from the missionaries. They put this insert in because they want to make the men more relatable to the christian readers. It is a Christian value to thank G-d. Later,