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Achilles And Beowulf Comparison Essay

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In the well-known epics, Beowulf and The Iliad by Homer, both stories feature a majestic hero in each (Achilles and Beowulf), with inviable masculine powers and seeming complete invulnerability. They are both faced with a predicament that will determine the fate of their nation or fellow community. These heroes in contrasting situations tend to both reach their personal moral conviction, and decide to do what they think is necessary. In these epics both luminaries each must conquer their own ego to complete a task, were motivated to achieve their own personal renown (or Kleos), and confront death after achieving great triumph in battle. Commencing, these featured heroes, Achilles and Beowulf, were both faced with overcoming their ego and …show more content…

Each have defeated grand battles, and achieved the unachievable, but were now faced upon death, only to let their names live on forever. Achilles set his goal early in the epic, when his mother gave him the choice of letting his name live on forever, and perishing, or to live a normal happy life, with a loving family. Since Achilles chose the path of eternal glory, and to let his name live on forever, confronting death was the final step for him to do so. Inevitably, he was going to die, and after the battles with Troy and defeating Hector, he was shot in his achilles and killed by Paris. As he lay dead, his name did not go unnoticed, and his legacy would live on. For Beowulf, the interchangeable occurred, as he was faced with a greater opponent than that of Grendel, and Grendel’s mother, which was the dragon. When preparing for the final fight, Beowulf quotes, “This fight is not yours,/ nor is it up to any man except me/ to measure his strength against the monster/ or to prove his worth” (line 2532-2535). Which exemplifies that his final fight is only to maximize his legacy in history. Confronting death was essential for both characters to live on in

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