Beowulf & the bane of the Thirteenth Retainer

Abstract

There is a thirteenth retainer in the band of thanes who eventually fail Beowulf in his last fight, and his enigmatic presence has often been noted as part of a possible allegorical reading of the episode as strongly allusive to Gethsemane and the betrayal of Christ. Yet it seems to me that this discreet and, as it were, intersticial character is functionally perhaps more rewarding to study than it may seem at first. His theft of a cup, which he unfortunately reinvests into the symbolic system of indebtedness, ultimately compells a particular reading of Beowulf's hamartia, and hence of his ultimate tragedy. The fault, or the tragic flaw, may therefore be pointed out to reside not so much exclusively in the character of the hero as an individual man, but rather in a more communal and societal dimension. I would like to approach the poem from that particular angle, which does not at all imply a cultural study of the context, but simply a particular analysis of the text itself. For my suggestion happens to be corroborated, I think, by a cursive survey of those elements of the poem which have sometimes been called digressive, and which are really those textual hinges, when the scop swerves off from a diegetic telling of his story (as for instance to mention the thirteenth retainer). Thematic and structural links may be brought to light by a diachronic reading, which make for what I consider like a performative depth and momentum of the poem.