Beowulf - Significance of Scyld Scefing

Significance of Scyld Scefing Scyld Scefing often deprived his enemies, many tribes of men, of their mead-benches. He terrified his foes; yet he, as a boy, had been found a waif; fate made amends for that. He prospered under heaven, won praise and honor, until the men of every neighboring tribe, across the whale’s way, were obliged to obey him and pay him tribute. He was a noble king! (BEO 4-11). At first glance …

…manner to contribute to the bigger picture. In addition to being an accurate omen, the tale of Scefing is integral to the setup of an atmosphere of doom. The reader gets a gut feeling from the beginning that somehow, Scefing is not simply embedded accidentally. Yet at the same time, the apparently arbitrary abstract manner in which the story Scefing is inserted seems to whisper, “just ignore me, I’m nothing, just a small digression.”