Beowulf: The 12 Characteristics Of An Epic Hero

One day a man came to Beowulf’s throne to show him that he had found a golden goblet from a hidden hoard guarded by a dragon. When Beowulf heard this news he knew he had to fight the dragon to let his people take the treasure and become wealthy. During battle, Beowulf realized he wasn’t as young as he used to be and could not fight without the young Wiglaf by his side. The struggle continued until the giant beast sunk his razor sharp teeth deep into Beowulf’s neck. Weak from loss of blood Beowulf stumbled back.

The Dragon had soon burn down Beowulf’s throne-hall to the ground and Beowulf began to plot his revenge. Beowulf had ask his iron smith to make him a mighty shield one that he hopes will stand up against the breath of flame. Beowulf could of use and army to help him kill the dragon but "He is too proud to assemble a huge army for the fight, and, remembering how he defeated Grendel single-handedly in his youth, feels no fear of the dragon. " This was Beowulf pride taking control over him even though he is now and

Beowulf’s bravery is shown throughout the whole story. For example, when he decides to fight Grendel without any weapons seeing as how Grendel does not attack and kill with weapons. This shows much bravery and as he said in the story “My hands/alone shall fight for me, struggle for life/ against the monster.” (Raffel, 267-270) Beowulf here is talking about how he will fight Grendel with his own bare hands seeing as it will be a fair fight.

With only one other soldier, he defeats the dragon at the cost of his own life. Truly he succumbed to morality for the first time in his life. Never showing compassion for anyone else, he realizes he has no heir to the throne. As a result, he names the one brave soldier who stood and

Karma affects both the good and bad sides. Hagrid, who is a half-giant, is slandered and mistrusted by Umbridge. Because Giants have violent natures, they have been nearly eradicated by the ministry and the few survivors left have gone into hiding in the mountains. Therefore, Umbridge fired Hagrid and sent five Ministry of Magic officials in case force was needed to subdue the “dangerous” and “filthy half-breed”.

When Beowulf is fighting the dragon: “The captain of evil discovered himself/ in a handgrip harder than anything/he had ever encountered in any man/on the face of the earth” (Heaney 749-751). With the fight with Grendel’s mother it is described like: “warming to this fight/with Grendel’s mother, gripped her shoulder/and laid about him in a battle frenzy” (Heaney 1537-1539). The fight with the dragon is described as: “the king of Geats/raised his hand and struck hard/at the enameled scales, but scarcely cut through” (Heaney 2575-2577). The approach is when the Geats throw a big feast for Beowulf for defeating Grendel in his honor. But they cannot get too comfortable because they learn there is a new enemy which is the mother.

Beowulf shows great feats of bravery throughout the story/epic. “In the beginning of the story Beowulf is called upon to rid the people of Herot of the monster Grendel, who had been on a killing rampage for the past twelve years, he lets it be known that he will do so with his bare hands. (http://study.com/academy/lesson/beowulf-bravery-quotes-examples-analysis.html)”. Another act of bravery by Beowulf is when he fights and kills the dragon. Beowulf’s final boast was, “I’ve never known fear, as a youth I fought in endless battles.

Odysseus shows a surplus amount of strength that no mortal besides himself demonstrates. Completing the horrendously impossible task of stringing the bow shows his superhuman abilities, and shooting the arrow through all twelve axe handles truly shows the fact that he is indeed an epic hero. I am able to conclude, that by the Greek standards, Odysseus can indeed be considered to be an epic hero. If the Odyssey were to take place in our day and age Odysseus would be thought to be selfish and careless, but back then they had a different criteria to meet.

He was brave. Beowulf gave up his own life for his kingdom and would forever be Herot’s hero. He passed the kingdom to Wiglaf, his bravest comrade. His final words were directed to Wiglaf, and he spoke, “You’re the last of all our far-flung family. Fate has swept our race away, taken warriors in their strength and I led them to the death that was waiting.

People during the Anglo-Saxon period tried to boast of their powers while trying to have a sense of wisdom and lack of humility like Beowulf and we see that lack of humility before his fight with Grendel when he states “When it comes to fighting, I count myself as dangerous any day as Grendel. So it won’t be a cutting edge I’ll wield to mow him down, easily as I might” (677-680). Beowulf boast of his own abilities saying that he don’t need any weapons and he can fight with bare hands which shows lack of humility in him for Grendel. Anglo-Saxon belief that the memory of heroism is only available to an adventurer through his death, but a loss of humility can weaken a hero like we saw with Beowulf during his fight with Grendel’s mom when he must steal a blade from her wall because his own sword is useless. “Then he saw a blade that blooded well, a sword in her armoury, an ancient heirloom from the days of the giants, an ideal weapon, one that any warrior would envy” (1557-1560).

Beowulf is telling us that he doesn’t value the lives of his citizen, but instead values glory and is willing to fight for it. In the end, Beowulf slays the dragon but paid his life as the price. In conclusion, Beowulf would be considered a great warrior, but not a hero. Although Beowulf accomplished many heroic deeds he never did any of them for the right reasons. Therefore, Beowulf is not a hero, but only a warrior who values renown and rewards.

The feud starts when a dragon becomes awakened from guarding a horde of gold. He begins to burn everything in sight, which includes the land that Beowulf now rules; therefore, Beowulf pledges to murder the dragon. The action portrays the dragon breathing fire multiple times towards Beowulf to hurt him, before Wiglaf, the only warrior brave enough to help his King, stands by Beowulf and attacks the dragon with his sword. Sadly, he is too late, as the dragon delivers a deadly, venomous bite to Beowulf’s neck. Then, Beowulf gathers up enough strength to inflict a deadly stab to the dragon’s stomach.

During the war, hiccup finally had a chance to see Drago. Even though his mother and father told him not persuade Drago, because he is a dangerous person, he still went up to him anyway. Hiccup didn’t understand that Drago’s plan was take over the world with his dragon army and he was willing to do anything in order for that to happen. On the bloody battle field while everything was going on, Hiccup stopped in front of Drago for a discussion, and he soon realized that he could not do anything to stop him. On top of that, not only was Drago not persuaded at all, in the matter of facts Hiccup even lost control of his dragon Toothless to Drago’s command.

Additionally, Beowulf’s immense courage makes him fit for representing the ideal epic hero. Beowulf is brave and he does not avoid doing anything that might be dangerous or risky. Beowulf is even willing to give up his life, when he performs some of the courageous deeds. For example, when Beowulf plans to fight Grendel, he tells Hrothgar: “’the monster’s scorn of men / Is so great that he needs no weapons and fears none. / Nor will I’”

Beowulf comes from a well respected family. His dad, the King of the Geats, allows Beowulf to step up as a hero and prove himself. He led his hero’s journey by conquering many, as well as keeping his reputation of coming out on top when it came to fighting battles. He shows many hero-like characteristics throughout the book such as bravery, courage, honor, and leadership which students and teachers alike still consider honorable in today’s day and age. Being a hero requires one to conquer many obstacles.