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Beowulf: Characteristics Of A Traditional Hero

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"His father 's warriors were wound round his heart/ with golden rings, bound to their prince/ by his father 's treasure. So young men build/ the future, wisely open-handed in peace, / Protected in war; so warriors earn/ their fame, and wealth is shaped with a sword." Page 24, Beowulf. This story is about the adventure of the hero from Geatland named Beowulf, a man who has come to prove his worth in battle and pride has decided to come to Denmark to defeat Grendel, the monster that has been terrorizing and devouring the Danes in Hrothgar’s great mead-hall, Heorot. He then goes on to defeat and kill to more monsters while staying with the Danes. Despite that Beowulf is different from others perception of a traditional hero, he still shows many of the characteristics of a Traditional hero. He is still strong, brave, and has helped people just a traditional hero would. The way Beowulf shows his strength throughout the whole story is amazing. He starts out with going to what is now called Denmark to defeat and kill the monster called Grendel. When Grendel does show up, Beowulf is not in armor, like Grendel, and allows the monster to devour one of his men. This was taken to believe that he was trying to see how Grendel fought to get an idea on how he could over power the monster before anyone else got hurt …show more content…

With those three qualities you can very much fit Beowulf into a hero mold. Of course every hero has to have other qualities, as Beowulf does, like Loyalty, Courage, Smarts, and Patience’s all that can clearly be seen in some way or manor in the epic story Beowulf. So, while Beowulf is different from other, more sought after, traditional heroes such as say Superman or Captain America, he is still a hero in the eyes of others and has many of the characteristic that would be seen in a traditional

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