Every act of translation is at the same time an act of interpretation. Regarding the last scene of Beowulf and the last words to the young warrior Wiglaf, an analysis of three translations of the poem, by E. Talbot Donaldson, R. M. Liuzza, and Seamus Heavey, demonstrates this general principle. Each version of the passage between lines 2799 and 2820 offers a reading of the underlying ambiguity between Christian and pagan worldviews that is one of the fundamental tensions within Beowulf as a whole. The intersection between the concepts of predestination and individual agency both within and between these worldviews changes substantially between these translations. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Although he is a significant governing force in all three passages, Beowulf's struggle against fate is considered more futile in Heaney and Liuzza's interpretations. At the beginning of this passage, following his fight with the dragon and subsequent mortal wound, Beowulf is primarily concerned with securing a leader for his people, through the young thane Wiglaf, and with building a physical legacy through the monument "mound" overlooking the river. sea. While the idea of ​​a monument built to aid those traveling by sea is a noble undertaking, the use of the word “mound” denoting a burial site dampens such intentions and is reiterated by the image of the darkened waters surrounding it . The aspects chosen to emphasize this mood differ within all three translations. While this proposed “reminder” to his people carries connotations of dignity and strength in Donaldson, where he “will rise high” (Donaldson, XXXVIII) and in Liuzza, where he “will rise high” (Liuzza, l. 2805). Heaney's description of it “looming on the horizon” has a somewhat altered and more sinister meaning (Heaney, l. 2805). In particular, this translation might be better suited to the following description of the “darkness of the seas” (Donaldson XXXVIII), the “shrouded waters” (Heaney, l. 2808), or the “darkness of the flood” (Liuzza, l. 2808). Likewise, this last description of Liuzza carries with it a biblical allusion to Noah's flood that creates an atmosphere of future or perpetual catastrophe, ultimately dictated by the indifference of the wyrd, which is similar to Heaney's tone. Using a crucial moment in the Old Testament when the social order was in crisis, Liuzza seems to channel the tumultuous historical and socio-political implications of Beowulf's death. In both cases, Beowulf's attempt to secure worldly immortality as dictated by the heroic code carries with it a darker quality in the readings of Heaney's line 2804 and Liuzza's line 2807, in contrast to Donaldson's simpler reading . The extent to which Beowulf chose his "destiny" or worked futilely under limited individual agency, as dictated by the pagan concept of wyrd, or fate, or through the determining will of a Christian God, also varies significantly between these three interpretations. . The fundamental ambiguity surrounding both individual and social agency is seen in this passage through Beowulf's instructions to Wiglaf. There is a considerable difference between Liuzza's choice of the pronoun “they” in line 2799 and both Donaldson's and Heaney's decisions to employ “thou,” meaning Wiglaf. Consequently, according to Donaldson and Heaney's readings, it is Wiglaf who is given individual responsibility for ensuring that the treasure Beowulf has secured through his confrontation with the dragon is used to meet the "needs" of the people. On the contrary, Liuzza's reading indicates that it isabove all the treasury itself, and not the mediation of Wiglaf, to "provide for the needs of the people" (Liuzza, l. 2800-2801). Both decisions contribute to the notion of individual agency in this passage; that is, to what extent is the social order determined by individual will or by socio-political and historical circumstances? In lines 2814 to 2816 of all three readings, it is the pull of the story and the underlying principle of the wyrd that ultimately prevails over the possibility of autonomous human action. Beowulf's last words are informed by a worldview of fate and destiny dictated by the history of his own "kin" (Donaldson, XXXVIII). Since "fate" has "swept away" his family, Beowulf submits to this force, telling Wiglaf, "I must pursue them" (Donaldson, XXXVIII) or "I must follow them" (Heaney and Liuzza, l). 2816). This acquiescence is complicated, however, by later descriptions of his soul. While choosing the action of the treasure over that of Wiglaf himself, Liuzza's translation suggests a considerable amount of human agency in the final lines of this passage. It is said that Beowulf "chose fire" and, in fact, his death: "from his chest his soul flew to seek the judgment of the righteous" (Liuzza, l. 2818-2820). The verbs “choose,” “fly,” and “seek” imply that Beowulf possesses a considerable amount of self-determination and personal autonomy both before and after his death. This element of choosing one's destiny, however, is lost in the readings of Donaldson and Heaney. In the first case, personal volition is removed from Beowulf's soul as it is considered “the soul” (Donaldson, XXXVIII); italics added). Although the verb “seek” is used in the same position as Liuzza's reading, any personal instantiation its hold is lost due to the impersonal subject of the verse. Heaney's reading is closer to Liuzza's but connotes a certain division between the earthly and the otherworldly that is consistent with Christian conceptions of death and the afterlife. While retaining the personal pronoun denoting possession, “his,” Heaney's translation uses the verb “fled” to describe Beowulf's death. This choice connotes a sense of escape, in the "destined place among the stopped" (Heaney, l. 2820). While there is significant overlap between this description of an afterlife and Liuzza's translation of this phrase as "...the judgment of the just" (Liuzza, l. 2820), Heaney's reading more concretely signifies a certain discordance Christian between the ideal of the afterlife and contempt for the earthly kingdom. Rather than simply choosing his death, the use of “escaped” suggests an anxiety to escape the world into the afterlife, where it is right and inevitable. This dualistic tension between an imperfect world and the perfection that follows death effectively removes the element of choice present in Liuzza's reading. In this sense, in Heaney acquiescence to the wyrd is reinstalled in a Christian framework, while Liuzza's reading maintains an ambiguous tension between the absolutes of human action and divine determination. Alongside these conceptions of individual agency, or the lack thereof, we can also ascertain the value judgments that all three translators placed on worldviews within Beowulf. In this regard, perhaps the most substantial variation between these three passages occurs in the final lines of the narrative describing Beowulf's death. In particular, the characterization of the fire on Beowulf's funeral pyre is indicative of the metaphysics that informs the respective reading. For Heaney, the passage is informed by a Christian metaphysics. Beowulf's death is violent; the fire contains a “furious heat” within which “the pyre would attack it” (Heaney, l. 2818-2819). Such a violent description is coupled with connotations of escape andrefuge whereby “his soul fled from his breast,” as previously noted (Heaney, l. 2819). Similarly, Donaldson reads the funeral pyre as “hot hostile flames” that Beowulf “should savor” and through which his soul “went out of his breast to seek the doom of those who fast in the truth” (Donaldson, XXXVIII). As in Liuzza's interpretation that Beowulf's soul seeks judgment, there is a sense of moral evaluation that will follow Beowulf's death. According to Liuzza's translation and accompanying note, it is unclear whether Beowulf will receive a positive judgment or he will be considered an irredeemable pagan (Liuzza, l. 2800). Heaney, on the other hand, suggests that Beowulf ascends to Heaven; his soul flees to a “destined place” which is next to “the stationary ones” (Heaney, l. 2820). In contrast, Donaldson's reading implies that Beowulf must suffer the hostility of a negative judgment under which he will have to be condemned. Rather than denoting a refuge or escape from the world, Beowulf's soul, emptied of personal will, encounters an afterlife of “doom” that denotes the works of the wyrd (Donaldson, XXXVIII). Liuzza's interpretation departs from the readings of both Donaldson and Heaney. Rather than employing personified descriptions of the fire as angry or “hostile,” Liuzza describes the funeral pyre as “hot raging flames” through which Beowulf chooses to travel. In this sense, fire is a significant motif that recalls the purifying fire that Dante must go through in Hell. Where Donaldson's interpretation suggests that Beowulf's soul is sent to Hell, and Heaney suggests that Beowulf ascends to Heaven, it can be suggested that in Liuzza's reading Beowulf must undergo the active process of purgation, as Dante undergoes in the Divine Comedy. Aside from these interpretive suggestions regarding whether Beowulf's soul goes to Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell, these translations raise an interesting related question: which is more important: what Beowulf is leaving as his legacy, or where his "soul" is he going following the fire of the funeral pyre? Each of these translations offers a slightly different answer. Until the final lines of the narrative, Beowulf is clearly concerned about what he leaves behind. Although resigned to fate and destiny, in all three translations he wishes to secure a level of earthly immortality embodied in his "mound" and establish a successor for his people to Wiglaf. The nuances of a pagan concern with immortality through historical memory are complicated by the plight of Beowulf's soul. Donaldson's interpretation shows a disjunction between Beowulf as an individual and the action of his soul; the latter is seen as a mere extension of the former which follows through the course of the wyrd to the “destiny” which is, as Heaney writes, the final conclusion of all those subject to fate (Heaney, l. 2816). In other words, death is a finality for which the soul retains no personal will. It is “the soul” (Donaldson, XXXVIII; emphasis added), not “his soul” (Heaney; Liuzza, l. 2819-2820). In contrast, Liuzza's reading maintains a strong sense of proactive self-determination in both Beowulf's person and soul. By choosing death, Beowulf is able to transcend the grip of fate and destiny that is wyrd. In this sense, Liuzza's interpretation can be seen as denoting a certain disjunction between the needs of the conscious self and the needs of the soul, or unconscious self. It is the latter that is in tune with the will of God, to adopt the Christian terminology, while the conscious self interprets the operation of divine determination as the futility and "condemnation" of the heroic ideal, but nevertheless strives to preserve immortality through earthly and historical conquests., 2000.