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accurately. And since the Scyldings are not only not Christian (the scop
meets Hrethic as the prince is sacrificing a pig to his “deity”), but are
also totally unaware of Christianity, we can assume that it is the scop
who “adds in” many of the poem’s Christian elements or who gives a
later Beowulf poet the idea to fuse the pagan story with Christian
ideology.^^ The scop tells a story that explains the concept of Christianity
to the Scyldings and Geats, and it is he who suggests, at the very end of
the novel, that Grendel was spawned by the race of Cain.
Along with other Beowulf-hdiSed. stories, Oldham’s novel, which
she says stems from her own long-term interest in the poem, corresponds
with Barthes’ imperative for readers to engage actively with or “play”
with Texts. According to Barthes, the goal is active readi