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Beowulf And Odysseus Comparison Essay

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A man runs into a burning building to save his elderly neighbor. A doctor goes to a third world country to offer free health clinics to the poor. The teachers who gave their lives to protect the students at Sandy Hook. These people are all perfect examples of what a hero is. A hero is someone who honored for his or her brave actions and noble merits. However, in an epic poem, there is a particular type of hero portrayed; an epic hero. An epic hero is born of nobility, obtains superhuman capabilities, and embarks on some sort of journey. Beowulf is a story of the epic hero, Beowulf who is courageous, arrogant and endures a treacherous journey. The Odyssey written by Homer brings the reader on a perilous journey with Odysseus who is courageous and arrogant. Though Beowulf and Odysseus are both epic hero’s they share many similarities and many differences on their journeys.
Beowulf is definitely seen as a …show more content…

Odysseus must brave a sea filled with treacherous monsters who want to kill him and put himself in danger several times. When he and his crew came upon Polyphemus’ cave he didn’t back down he fought for his men. Odysseus even devised a plan he got the cyclops drunk and was able to blind him and told him his name was “nobody”. Odysseus blinded him he cried out saying that nobody blinded him When the other giants came to his rescue they thought that a god had attacked him. Odysseus and him men then escaped the cave by tying themselves to the sheep. They were sailing away on the boat Odysseus revealed his true identity to Polyphemus. However, this wasn’t a normal cyclops this was Poseidon’s son and he punished Odysseus for blinding his son. This deviated Odysseus even farther from home. He braved listening to the Sirens by doing so he put himself in a great amount of danger but, he trusted his crew and his own willpower to not be tempted by them. He also faced all the suitors waiting to kill him at his

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