『베오울프』를 통해 본 서양문명의 자연의 타자화 고찰

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze how the ethnic groups of the East Asian nomadic races are portrayed and the negative images are connected to Westerners through cultural origins and symbols in Beowulf, which is a combination of Christian values and Germanic perspectives. Beowulf is a story about the heroes of the Germanic people, but it is a work with a Christian perspective in the process of describing in writing letters that have been passed on to the oral tradition of Christianity in the later years. Beowulf and Grendel form two distinct axes, good and evil, which are depicted in the work as images of light and darkness. In this work Grendel is an image of a wolf symbolizing an ancient East Asian nomadic ethnic group. The immigrants from East Asia who came to Europe along the pasture, where animals can be eaten, worship dragons as life of primitive nature and live according to the nature of nature. The fact that the emblems representing nature are perceived as objects of conquest and elimination can be said to provide an opportunity to constantly typify nature and identify objects of conquest. In other words, it can be seen that Christian civilization denies all pagan civilizations other than Christianity by worshiping nature, rejecting the horizontal relation between nature and man, and looking from a vertical perspective. In the beginning, human beings have tried to be in awe of nature and united with nature, and worship and awe of this nature were unacceptable in Christian worship of God alone. In conclusion, from a Christian point of view, nature is an object that must be destroyed and eliminated. Therefore, this Christian perspective can be said to recognize nature as an object of conquest and to connect with the viewpoint of the West.