anyone" (Exod. 20.13). Throughout the poem, we see many instances where murder is a central theme. Grendel murders the Danes and a Geat, and Beowulf kills Grendel, Grendel' s mother, a dragon, and many other monsters. Even Beowulf, in the end, is murdered. If the poem were Christian, we would expect that so many rules of the religion would not be broken. Since they are broken, and so frequently so, paganism must be assumed to be the guiding force in this saga. There are two more Commandments that are broken in the poem, and they are the most important. They are both broken towards the end of the epic and deal with the death of Beowulf.The death of Beowulf and the events that follow thereafter are almost strictly pagan ideas. First of all, Beowulf is not buried in a Christian way. He is put on a pyre, and then he is set on fire until he is nothing but ashes. This type of funeral is purely pagan, and negates any implication that this part of the story is Christian. Next, another Commandment is broken, and this time it is the Second one. The Commandment states that "you must not make for yourselves any idols" , and goes on to say that "you must not worship or serve any idol" (Exod. 20.3-4). Beowulf conflicts with this when the Geats built a huge tower in memory of Beowulf and entombed his ashes inside the wall. Then twelve of the most courageous Geats circled the tower of Beowulf on their horses Wilder 5singing his praise and worshiping his name and memory. The Beowulf poet tells us that the men began "telling stories [o]f their dead king and his greatness, his glory, [p]raising him for his heroic deeds" (Norton 1613). This kind of behavior clearly conflicts with the Commandment God gave us to live by. Christianity does not allow for such worship of someone besides the Lord, and would not approve of this type of scene in a poem. Since the scene is included in the epic, it is just more evidence proving once again that...
