As the threat of monsters is central to all major elements of the epic poem Beowulf like character, plot, and theme, the idea of monsters is an external threat because they are described as “born of Cain, murderous creatures banished by God, punished forever for the crime of Abel’s death” (Grendel, 20 – 24) and “mankind’s enemy” (Grendel, 80). According to the Bible story Genesis, Cain (Son of Adam and Eve) killed his brother Abel and God cursed him. In the Anglo-Saxon period of Beowulf, all forms of evil were believed to exist and descend from Cain, as Grendel, Grendel’s Mother, and the Fire Dragon were. The term external means anything coming from the outside or excluded like the 3 monsters were when “The Almighty drove those demons out, and their exile was bitter, shut away from men” (Grendel, 24 – 26). In this case in Beowulf, the 3 monsters were excluded from the society of good consisting of Beowulf, the Danes with King Hrothgar, the Geats with King Higlac (Beowulf’s Uncle), and Wiglaf (A cousin of Beowulf).
The term internal means anything coming from inside, within, or included like Unferth, a courtier and thane of King Hrothgar who was part of the society of good. However, Unferth symbolized an internal threat, because unlike the external threat the 3 monsters symbolize, Unferth posed a potential threat to Beowulf coming from his jealousy of Beowulf. The name Unferth translates to “Un-peace”, placing him as someone against peace. Before Beowulf fought Grendel, Unferth saw Beowulf wasn’t strong enough to defeat Grendel because he lost a swimming contest against a boy named Breca. When Beowulf defeated and killed Grendel with only his bare hands, Unferth viewed Beowulf as superior and lends Beowulf his sword, Hrunting, to defeat Grendel’s Mother.
Despite Beowulf’s victory over Grendel, Unferth acted hostile against Beowulf, like polar opposites of each other. Unferth was also a descendant of Cain like the 3 monsters were because there were stories of Unferth killing his brothers, making Unferth similar to Cain because Cain also killed his brother Abel. As Grendel ruled the celebration hall named Herot by fear and terror before his death by Beowulf, Unferth later ruled the kingdom Beowulf takes place in by treachery to Beowulf and the society of good.
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Bringing together the ideas of external and internal threats, internal threats are much worse than external threats because internal threats come from within people who are close friends and seem to be good like Unferth was to Beowulf, while external threats like the 3 monsters who just slaughter people either because they’re naturally evil (Grendel), for revenge (Grendel’s Mother), or because treasure was stolen (Fire Dragon). Internal threats can play into people’s emotions, often seen as betraying someone with faith and trust, as Beowulf had for Unferth. What modern readers should take away from this idea of monsters is that monsters symbolize what humans must face, the societal values humans challenge or obey and a reflection of the internal conflicts humans have.
