Compare And Contrast Beowulf And Sundiata

In the epics of Beowulf, The Song of Roland, and Sundiata, great displays of bravery, loyalty, and spiritual discipline were shown. In each epic, there are different but still important lessons and displays of these attributes shown. The Tale of Roland and Beowolf show more physical and violent displays of bravery from their main characters, while Sundiata shows more of a mental strength and courage. In the story of Sundiata, Sundiata’s was rough for a prince. He was born crippled and could not walk until the age of 7. On top of this the king's first wife (his step mother) spreads rumors about him and his mother in an effort to raise her own son's image. Even though he had physical limitations, his father saw wisdom in his son. The king died and his eldest son was given control by the elders, who did not see much promise in the crippled sundiata. One day, when Sundiata’s mother was embarrassed by the queen, Sundiata used a rod to stand on two legs and from then on

The story begins with Charlemagne's army fighting the Muslims in Spain, and the last city standing is Saragossa. Roland bravely offers to lead the rear guard. Pagans attack them at Roncesvals and the Christians are overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Seeing how badly outnumbered they are, Roland is asked to blow on his oliphant by another officer to call for help from the main body of the Frankish army. Roland proudly refuses, saying that they need no help because the rear guard is strong enough to hold them. While Roland and the Franks fight hard, there's no way they can hold off the Saracens, based on sheer numbers. Almost all of Rolands men are dead and he knows that it's too late now to be saved, but he blows his oliphant anyway. The emperor sees what happened to his men and tries to avenge them. However, when Roland blew his horn he blew it so hard that his temples burst. He died a martyr, and saints took his soul to