Character Development In Beowulf's Heroic Development

Beowulf: The heroic traits development It is proven that people look up to others as heroes because it is in the human nature, but what makes a hero? The qualities of a hero consist of excellence and courage used for the greater good. In the story of Beowulf, that took place in the Anglo-Saxon Culture, Beowulf uses these heroic traits to save the Danes from a beast named Grendel, as it had been bothering the Danes for a long time. In the modern age, heroes like Malala Yousafzai are displaying the same traits that were displayed in the Anglo-Saxon culture by heroes like Beowulf, but as the times are changing, the qualities of a hero are manifested differently. Firstly, Beowulf used his physical excellence to help the Danes from the monsters haunting them. When Beowulf goes to fight Grendel he brings his best men to help him but as the fight between him and Grendel goes on, Beowulfs followers learn that they

This situation proves how in the Anglo-Saxon culture the hero had to have physical excellence without any help from either the heroes' followers or his armor. Secondly, for Beowulf to be a hero of his time, he needed to have a lot of courage. Beowulf proves he is courageous by diving into Grendel's mother underwater lair alone, which we know because "as his words ended he leaped into the lake, would not wait for anyone's answer;" (Burton Raffel: Beowulf, 467-468), and promises to not fight with armors as it would not be fair to the monster. Furthermore in the modern days, heroes like Malala Yousafzai are showing excellence and courage differently than the heroes in the old age. Malala is a Pakistani girl who got shot by a terrorist group, known as the Taliban, on her way to school to get an education. But before her life changed, the BBC had asked her