At the end of the 18th century, the Vikings began their raids on England. Their excursions initially targeted coastal monasteries and then slowly spread across the nation until the English and Nordic cultures merged into one. The story of the invasion is well documented in historical texts and letters written by monks in monasteries, and through allegorical fiction written by intellectuals of the time. However, the merger between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings was far from peaceful and smooth; it was filled with animosity, prejudice and hatred. In Wonders of the East and the Beowulf manuscript, the English describe foreigners as monsters due to their different cultures and beliefs, as well as fear of the unknown knowledge they represent. In Beowulf, feelings of fear turn into feelings of hatred and the author attacks the Vikings by representing them, collectively, as Grendel. Meraviglie d'Oriente portrays foreigners as monsters; however, it is not a direct attack on a specific group of people, even if it conveys a feeling of unease and distrust towards 'monstrous' things. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The author of Wonders of the East gives detailed and strange descriptions of the different monsters that have been encountered in the east of England, such as “ people… born six feet tall. They have beards down to their knees and hair up to the heels. They are called Homodubii, that is, 'doubting men'" (177). Although the words are descriptive and precise measurements are used to make the writing more realistic, some words are deliberately vague to create an aura of mystery around the people. Homodubii. For example, the phrase “doubtful humans” is meant to be ambiguous; it could be interpreted in many different ways because the author is not sure whether the Homodubii belong to the human race or to an entirely different species. observation that questions their humanity. The author may also have meant "doubting humans" in the sense that the Homodubi doubt the existence of the God of Israel, or the Christian God, so they belong to a different faith, pagan, which would make them different, strange and presumably inferior to English. If both meanings of “doubtful” are put together, this combination exemplifies the erstwhile English belief that since this foreign race does not believe in Christianity, it is doubtful whether they could be human, thus showing the English sentiment of having a superior religion and, therefore, to be the superior race. These interpretations also highlight a pre-existing prejudice against this race of people because they do not resemble the accepted race of white Anglo-Saxon men and do not share the same beliefs as the Anglo-Saxon people. But each case reinforces the idea that this is an example of the old English apprehension towards mysterious things and the feeling of superiority towards those foreign things. Elsewhere in Wonders of the East, the author describes chickens catching fire when touched; he then describes this ability as a form of “unheard of magic” (175). The reason this can be seen as distrust of creatures is because in the Middle Ages things that were said to be magical could not be trusted. Magic was used by witches and fairies to manipulate and use people, and was a sign that those who possessed it were working with the devil. So to describe chickens as magical is to say that they are a product of the devil, which would make them an unholy enemy of God and Christianity and therefore of the English people. Furthermore, the diction used in Wonders of the East reveals a general feeling ofdistrust and disgust for foreign creatures found in the East. For example, the words such as “believed” and “doubtful” are repeated several times when referring to human-like beings, which shows that the author does not trust them and questions their humanity. The entire piece is built around assumptions and speculation; for example, on page 179 the author writes: "Certainly, whoever they capture, they devour." This statement assumes that these creatures are cannibals because they capture people and the author assumes that they eat them. By using the word “certainly,” the statement shifts from a statement of fact to a hypothesis. After all, the word "certainly" means "undoubtedly, irrefutably, indisputably, or without doubt" (OED), but there is no further evidence given that the beings mentioned eat people or do anything cannibalistic. The reader should take the author's word for it. There is no textual evidence provided to support this claim, nor any stories or artwork provided as further evidence; therefore the author does not prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this species is composed of primitive savages who eat humans. From all this it can be concluded that the author is tired of the assumptions he has made and is afraid of these foreign creatures and their culture, which is why he makes assumptions about their behavior. The account of the newly discovered species then continues with the description of a place that has “dragons…that are one hundred and fifty feet long” and because of these dragons “no one…can travel easily” (179). At about the same time that these accounts of foreign lands were being commemorated in print, the Vikings had begun perfecting their long boats, also called "dragon boats" because they were often carved to make the bow look like the head of a dragon. a dragon. The largest of these vessels were warships that could be up to one hundred and twenty feet long and hold more than sixty oarsmen (History). From this information it can be argued that the dragons described were actually Viking warships. This could be further confirmed by the fact that it was difficult for people to travel to these areas due to the "dragons". Furthermore the Vikings were known for their fighting prowess, being great warriors, their homelands were also well known for being surrounded by many narrow and shallow rivers which made it difficult for European style ships to pass, making them therefore easy targets for the Vikings. Equating the Vikings to dragons creates the image in the reader's mind that they were monstrous people. Dragons were specifically known in stories and poems as greedy hoarders of treasure and as ferocious, destructive, and ruthless. This image therefore symbolizes what the Vikings represented for the author, a foreign people who came to destroy his homeland and steal its riches, and everything that the English people held most dear; this is especially true because this collection was written during the same period that the Vikings began invading England. Where Wonders of the East was a subtle attack on foreign populations and the Vikings, Beowulf is a blunt attack on the Vikings and their culture. . The poem executes this criticism by describing the Vikings as monsters through their portrayal as the monster Grendel, the antagonist of the story. Throughout Beowulf, a full description of Grendel is never given. Fragments are described, such as his arm that Beowulf tears off, but never the entire creature. This tactic is important because it shows that the English did not know what to expect from the Vikings; they were unsure of what they would look like or how to prepare for their arrival on English shores. He also gives to Grendel, andso to the Vikings, more power because it's easier to prepare to fight something that is tangible, but there is no way to prepare to fight the intangible. Thus the monstrous Grendel is a representation of the English fear of foreigners as well as the fear of the unknown. The fear of strangers is further developed later in the story when Grendel is described as having a "pagan soul". A pagan, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is "a person who does not believe in a widely held or practiced religion." in this context the widely held religion is Christianity, which is not practiced by Grendel, and by association the Vikings. By choosing to use pagan the author mocks the Vikings because people marked as pagan were often marginalized, exiled and hated by the community. It is also a way of saying that the Vikings are inferior to the English because their religion is not well known or widely practiced, which presumably means that they are an uncivilized and subordinate race they received" which is degrading to the Vikings because history says that, since they also do not believe in the Christian God, they are pagans who do not deserve to live in heaven, which is the final purpose of life, to be good on earth so that after death the soul can ascend to heaven and be with the True Father. However, the insult may have missed the mark because the ultimate goal in Viking religion was to reach Valhalla, where brave warriors who died in battle would then sit beside their gods as their equals (The Choice of Heaven). This shows that the English disapprove of the Vikings' religious beliefs and believe theirs to be superior. Beowulf is the superior and ideal hero of this tale while Grendel is the monstrous and evil villain, an arrangement made evident by the author's diction in describing the opposing characters. Through this device his position on the Viking attack on England is made clear; he despises the Vikings and believes that the English are the superior race. When describing Grendel, words such as "a terror", "hostile", "ferocious", "reckless", and "ruthless" are used and each of these words has a negative connotation associated with it. “Terror” specifically emerges as a vehement word because it is the root of terrorism which is defined as “the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce”; the second half of that definition can be associated with the Vikings' method of invading England. They were brutal, ferocious and used intimidation to defeat the English. Although "terrorism" is a modern word created in France during the Reign of Terror, it still has a profound meaning in this text. There must be a reason why the editor chose to translate the text using “terror” to describe Grendel, instead of another synonymous word like “evil” or “frightening.” This is because Grendel is meant to represent the violent and intimidating figures that the Viking invaders were. Beowulf, however, is described using heroic, positive, and hopeful words such as “worthy,” “mighty,” “victorious,” “brave,” and “protector of warriors.” The last phrase “protector of warriors” is particularly significant because being the man who protects protectors is a great honor; proves that he is the best and noblest. He is the man that the fiercest fighters want at their side and the one they have chosen to guide and defend them in battle. As for the English, this term is their way of saying that they are brave and chivalrous, that they are the ones who will protect themselves and the world from the evil represented by the Vikings. Their aim is also to calm the English people and give them hope that everything will be fine; one sincerely hopes that the Vikings are not