Susana Kalaj
INT 296B
Dr. Driver/Dr. Meyer
In ancient, biblical times, "Cain" was a character in the story of brothers, Cain and Abel. Cain, a farmer, and Abel, a shepherd, were the children of Adam and Eve. Cain is remembered for his cold-blooded murder of Abel. Cain, who is jealous of God's favoring of Abel's offering over his own, is banished from his home by God for his unpardonable sin. He is exiled to become the wanderer, a drifter, with no real place in society. He loses his family, his security, and his ability to be an integral part of any community. Instead, Cain is to live a doomed existence with his only shield being protection from God in the shape of an unknown marking so that no one can avenge Abel's death. Furthermore, this only serves to amplify his despondent life because he can no find solace in death.
According to one website, "In the Anglo-Saxon times of "The Wanderer" and the epic poem Beowulf, Cain is believed to be the seed of Satan." (http://www.geocities.com/athens/acedemy/3878/saxon.html) He is the first person to commit a mortal sin, murder. Cain does not just commit murder; he commits fratricide, the killing of his own brother. In the Anglo-Saxon period, this is the highest taboo of all crimes. A person who commits fratricide cannot pay the wergild, or man-price, in repayment for his crimes because it is his own family he has shamed. Take the character of King Hrethel who's son Haethcyn kills his brother Herebeald. No one can pay the wergild for Herebeald's death, and consequently, King Hrethel dies from grief.
In the epic poem Beowulf, Grendel is considered to be a descendant of Cain, as is evident in lines 99-114:
Here we see the intermixing of Christian and pagan ideas. Grendel, a pagan monster, is described as a member of Cain's clan, which is a Christian idea. Effectively, Cain is a reference to Christianity, which illustrates the beginning influence of monotheism in an otherwise prevalent, pagan society.So times were pleasant for the people there
Until finally one, a fiend out of hell
Began to work his evil in the world.
Grendel was the name of this grim demon
Haunting the marches, marauding round the heath
And the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time
In misery among the banished monsters,
Cain's clan, whom the creator had outlawed
And condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel
The Eternal Lord exacted a price:
Cain got no good from committing that murder
Because the Almighty made him anathema
And out of the curse of his exile there sprang
Ogres and elves and evil phantoms
And the giants too, who strove with God
Time and again until He gave them their reward.
Cain does eventually marry and have children, but he is still forced to carry the stigma of outcast all his life.
The Holy Bible. King James Version. Chicago: Good Counsel Publishers. 1960. (Page 4-5)
Beowulf. Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams et. 7th Edition, Volume 1. New York: Norton, 2000. 29-99
http://www.geocities.com/athens/acedemy/3878/saxon.html - 9/11/00.