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. Beowulf’s bravery makes him refuse when people suggest for someone else to fight the dragon because of his old age. He says with great pride he will face the dragon and not run away “I feel no shame, with shield and sword/ and armor against the monster: when he comes to me/I mean to stand, not run from his shooting flames.” Beowulf feels no shame in using his armor to defeat the dragon.

Upon hearing about the dragon Beowulf claims “I have never known fear”(Beowulf 607) proving his stagnant personality throughout the story. Showing immense courage, he charges into battle against the dragon. 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.

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”. Centaurs are highly intelligent, but do not wish to mingle with humans to be “servants or playthings” become angry when their territory is restricted by the Ministry.

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.

One of the most important works in Old English literature is Beowulf, it is a great example of an epic hero. 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.

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. On the Land of the Cyclops, he is able to prove his cleverness and his ingenuity by defeating Polyphemus.

Wiglaf runs to his rescue where he stabs the dragon in the stomach and the dragon returns the act with fire, scorching Wiglaf’s hand. Even though Beowulf was struggling, he pulls a knife and with every ounce of strength that he has left, stabs it into the dragon’s flank, killing the dragon. In the end Beowulf destroys evil once and for all. He was brave. Beowulf gave up his own life for his kingdom and would forever be Herot’s hero.

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).