APPROACHES TO BEOWULF

The nature of Beowulf‘s dragon

“…39 Such a blending of symbolism with a real flesh-and-blood dragon is reiterated by Bonjour (following Fisher), who points out the compatibility of a symbolic and literal interpretation;40 whereas Gang suggests 'that the arguments by which Professor Tolkien shows that the poem may be symbolic are not cogent, and that the internal evidence is against this view, or at least against the particular symbolism that he discerns'. 41 Gang's contention is that if the poet regarded the dragon as symbolizing Evil, he would have 'told us so quite clearly and repeatedly'.42 This is not necessarily the case. The poet uses concrete imagery, in this case the dragon, as symbolism the meaning of which is not revealed openly and clearly, but is merely hinted at.…”