Beowulf Leadership Analysis

Throughout the story of Beowulf, there are many examples of leadership. The most prevalent example in Beowulf is Hrothgar’s Sermon. In the speech Hrothgar talks about God making a leader, “Sometimes He allows the mind of a man of distinguished birth to follow its bent, grants him fulfilment and felicity on earth and forts to command in his own country. He permits him to lord it in many lands until the man in his unthinkingness forgets that it will ever end for him” (McArthur). Hrothgar said that God made leaders who were of noble birth, and let these leaders to control control their own country. In Beowulf’s case he did just that. Beowulf was the nephew of Hygelac, king of the Geats. He also took on the role of leading the Geats into gaining access back to Heorot.

Hrothgar also states that, “He indulges his desires; illness and old age mean nothing to him; his mind is untroubled by envy or malice or the thought of enemies with their hate-honed swords. The whole world conforms to his will, he is kept from the worst until an element of overweening enters him and takes hold while the soul's guard, its sentry, drowses, grown too distracted” (McArthur). Hrothgar said that sickness and old age did not affect leaders. Also, the leader was hardly troubled by

“In the case of Beowulf, we witness a good example of the heroic ideal that in several important ways fits well the Conger-Kanungo charismatic leader model summarized in the previous section. He is absolutely fearless and supremely confident in his own abilities” (Loughman and Finley, 159). There was no doubt that Beowulf was a very confident leader. He delivered a boast about how he was going to defeat Grendel, which he followed up on by killing the monster. Even when he was an old man, and even when all of his Geats left his side, he was still confident in taking on the dragon by