Beowulf is an interesting story in that it has a meaning firmly rooted in fantastical creatures based on mythical origins, while also providing insight into the religious ideals and practices of the time. It also talks about tradition and man's struggle against what he perceives as evil. Especially in this tradition, Beowulf is an incredible allegory regarding the struggle between good and evil in the Christian tradition. To consider it as such an allegory, we must define the scope of the struggle. That is, what is good and what is bad? In the Christian tradition there is an imaginary figure who creates all the evil in the world. Some call this figure “Satan,” however the word comes from the Hebrew word meaning “adversary” and can refer to both physical and non-physical entities. As such, there is no single evil figure of Satan. The name “Lucifer” used in Isaiah is a reference to a fallen Babylonian king and it is only later, well after the writing of the Bible, that Lucifer is adapted to refer to an evil entity. The term “devil” is equally enigmatic as it means “accuser” and can represent any divine or worldly being. As such, there is not a single evil entity in Christian mythology that can be blamed for the evil in Christian tradition. It must therefore make sense that everything evil is that which is against or not of God. The creation story in Genesis refers to a serpent classically interpreted as an evil entity. If we consider God's warning that eating the fruit of a certain tree would result in death on the same day, and that records indicate that the only two humans on the planet did not do so, we must reconsider the role of the serpent and reevaluate the roles of good and good. evil and how it applies to... middle of paper... would not have expanded his consciousness or role in humanity. Grendel, having been perceived as evil, plays a positive role in Beowulf's development and life just as the serpent in Genesis did for humanity. In both cases, the fruit has been consumed in some way, the serpent has led to the expansion of the main character or characters, and there is a resolution of the moral question with the sacrifice of the Christ figures. In this retelling of the roles of good and evil, we see that there is a similar struggle in both stories. Beowulf mirrors this so closely, in fact, that careful consideration of clearly available information can cause the lines of good and evil to be perceptually blurred. It is clear that the author of Beowulf had a deep understanding of the concepts of the biblical story of creation and took great care to recreate the struggle between good and evil in his epic..