Chill Chivalry

Out of all the wonderful things in this week's reading to talk about, one thing that really stood out to me was the issue of family loyalty. In class we talked about how family connections were highly honored, and debts were always repaid, but around line 2030 there is this scenario of conflicting family loyalties.

Beowulf is recounting how Hrothgar intends to marry off his daughter in hopes to heal old wounds and create bonds. However, he then goes on to imply that when a prince is killed, generally violence is bound to reign anyway.  Does this imply that wounds are stronger than bandages? Perhaps family ties passed through the male bloodline are stronger than ties made through marriage? 

Regardless, this bit also seems to imply that one thing NOT highly valued is the concept of forgive and forget. Which means that although this setting is becoming a more Christianized culture, they still hold concepts of vengefulness and family honor near the top of their list. It's interesting, because although I love that the concepts of honor and chivalry are held in high esteem, honestly sometimes I wish they would be just a tad more chill about life, haha. But then maybe that's where we've gone wrong! Perhaps our culture has been "chilled" into apathy.

~commented on Brannen's post~