Creating the Christian Anglo-Saxon and the Other in the Old English Judith and Beowulf

Abstract

This thesis explores the thematic relationship between the Old English poem Judith and the Old English epic Beowulf. I focus on seven narrative similarities between the two texts that are used to distinguish between the heroes, Judith and Beowulf, and their enemies, Holofernes, Grendel, and Grendel's mother. In doing so, I claim that this Beowulf-Judith parallel exists because they define what the Christian Anglo-Saxon is versus what it is not despite the fact that both poems based on stories that are not Christian or Anglo-Saxon in origin. The seven similarities create a Christian Anglo-Saxon us versus them dichotomy as a way to identity the Christian Anglo-Saxon as a distinct identity and culture.