Harry Potter and the Goblet of Beowulf: Rowling’s Beowulfian Allusions, Analogues, and Inversions

Authors

Mark-Elliot Finley, University of South FloridaFollow

Abstract

In this essay, I suggest Rowling’s Goblet of Fire literarily echoes the Old English epic poem Beowulf, while simultaneously updating the medieval epic to reflect the novel’s place within the modernized, Christian-influenced fantasy tradition. While cursory popular links have been made between the Old English epic with Rowling’s novel, this essay presents a sustained dialogue between Beowulf and Goblet of Fire. Both heroes engage in one-to-one combat (Beowulf with Grendel and Harry with Voldemort), venture into an unknown watery abyss (Beowulf diving into Grendel’s mother’s underwater cave and Harry rescuing Ron and Gabrielle from the merpeople in Hogwarts’s Lake), and fight a dragon (Beowulf’s final fight and Harry’s fight with the Hungarian Horntail). I argue Goblet of Fire, if read in parallel with Beowulf, presents us with mirrors and inversions of the Beowulfian duel sequence, highlighting thematic and characterological analogues between Harry and Beowulf. The fourth Potter novel, whether consciously or otherwise, reflects symbolic elements from the Old English epic poem, and such Beowulfian reflections allows us to further appreciate Rowling’s unique themes, of which sometimes align with and sometimes depart from the novel’s Old English predecessor. While Goblet of Fire’s instances of thematic and visual echoes from Beowulf could be read as alluding to the epic, where I discuss Old English words or passages, such connections are at the most analogues. However, Goblet of Fire reflects yet transforms elements from Beowulf within its narrative, allowing us to further appreciate Rowling’s piece as a work of mythopoetic literature.

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ORCID ID

0000-0003-4489-7545