Dichotomy In Beowulf

Throughout the epic, violence is evident in the actions and the decision making of the characters in order to obtain peace. The battles and suicides throughout the story are prevalent and gruesome, while moments of peace are minor and fleeting. The characters, whether man or god, result to violence as a primary way to manage their problems. Aeneas is strong, heroic, and seems calm; however, he does not receive true peace and calmness until he has killed his enemy, Turnus, to end the battle and avenge his friend, Pallas. Nonetheless, Aeneas is a noble character who overcomes bad odds and embodies Roman ideals, including violence.

Introduced as the “scourge of many tribes,” Shield is known by others to be powerful and dangerous. Despite the fact that Shield was loved by those around him, Shield acted as a monster, terrorizing other tribes. Through acknowledging the many perspectives towards Shield, this passage emphasizes the realistic and human aspects of power, displaying that nobiles are powerful yet also are not entirely beneficial to everyone, repeated throughout the book through kings such as Heremod and older Beowulf, both tempted by corruption. The passage also contributes to the idea of nobility throughout Beowulf by introducing the idea that kings have a two sided agreement with those they reign over. This deal is introduced as Shield’s men create a ship filled with a “massed treasure,” representing both objects that citizens find valuable during the time period of Beowulf as well as the need for mourning after the loss of an important figure.

An epic hero is a person who in a story who comes in and saves the day. An example of an epic hero is the character Beowulf in the epic “Beowulf”, translated by Burton Raffel. At this time, the Anglo-Saxons were scared of the unknowe disasters and evil in their life. The were afraid of invasions, natural disasters, monsters, and the unknown.

In the epic poem, Beowulf, there are clear distinctions between an epic hero and a monster. Beowulf is the prime example of a epic hero possessing characteristics such as superior strength, courage, and loyalty. On the other hand, Grendel and Grendel’s mother are characteristized as evil and immoral based off of their actions. These characteristics are presented throughout the poem, and monsters are given grotesque, hideous appearances to further prove that they are evil. After Beowulf kills Grendel, Grendel’s mother reaction revealed how the full presentation of a character can allow readers to react differently than before and even sympathized with them.

In terms of ego and prophecy, the character of Macbeth and 50 Cent are very similar. Ego and prophecy can be understood as two different categories, but it is because of their egos that they believe so strongly their prophecies. Macbeth, who was previously the thane of Glamis, had hubris, which was caused by the people around him. For example, in the beginning of “Macbeth”, the sergeant relays to King Duncan, “For brave Macbeth--well he deserves that name--Disdaining fortune, with his brandish 'd steel, which smoked with bloody execution, like valour 's minion…” to express Macbeth’s performance in the battle against Macdonwald. The sergeant talked about Macbeth in a very bloviated manner.

An example of the effect the feud has on others is Mercutio. Mercutio is Romeo’s best friend who always tries to cheer him up. However when he is fatally wounded by Tybalt in a fight between Tybalt and Romeo he tells them, “A plague o’both your houses!” (3.1.106). The people in each house hate each other with such a passion that they are oblivious what their actions do to the innocent people around them.

Macbeth and MacArthur inner confliction The inner battle between light and dark can tear you up from the inside out. such as it did to Macbeth and Douglas MacArthur. Macbeth from The Tragedy of Macbeth was a soldier who excelled at battle and managed to eventually become king through evil deeds.

For all the great strengths of these heroes it’s important to remember they’re still human. Humans are naturally flawed beings, in fact their exaggerated strengths seem to make their weaknesses more dramatic. These fatal flaws constantly get between the hero and reaching his goal contributing to setbacks, loss, and sometimes death. Odysseus’s fatal flaw is pride, usually in himself he lets his positive regard for his own abilities and wants get in the way of his decision making process. One example is his military leadership, he makes both very good and very bad military decisions in his time commanding men, Odysseus is, as Homer says,” polytropos, many-sided, mixed, multi-colored, piebald.

Repetitive Symbolism Light and darkness are both fluctuating stigmas of what society perceives as right and wrong. Each holds a representational standpoint in many forms of literature, both modern and old. In the epic poem Beowulf, light heavily parallels darkness by coming in several symbolic forms that institute an analysis of depth. One of these symbols in specific capitalizes itself throughout the epic poem as a shining hero and guiding light against the evil manifestation that may be terrorizing the innocent figures in the novel. For example, the 'helpless' Dane's were at first wary of this new person, but once he'd proved himself, held no doubt, and almost gawked at one of his most historic victories.

Grendel in the novel is very different from the monster in Frankenstein because Grendel wants to and enjoys to humiliate and kill people, the monster in Frankenstein wants to be able to socialize with people without them getting frightened by his appearance. They are alike because they are both alone, they both frighten people with their looks, and they are not welcome in the human world. Grendel in the novel knows he is a fright to people, he is danger. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with that, but at the same time is not proud of it, either. He does like the pain of others, preferably king Hrothgar and his men.

In The Germania, Tacitus pointed out many oddities that set the Germanic people apart from the Romans who encountered them on the outskirts of their great empire. One of the things that really stood out was their love for warfare and how important it was for men to be valiant warriors. The extent to which they feel about this is illustrated best when Tacitus says “they consider it base and spiritless to earn by sweat what they might purchase with blood.” Their hunger for war was so great in fact, that when there was an extended period of peace in their own nation, they would go to neighboring nations who were at war and fight there. They did not care who they were fighting for, as long as they were fighting.

Beowulf, an epic poem written by two unknown authors, portrays violence and the struggles of being someone in power. Beowulf is a warrior king who was raised with the Anglo-Saxons ideals. He faces many barriers and hardships throughout his life, fighting monsters both mentally and physically. Beowulf demonstrates leadership and heroic deeds through courage, pride and greed. Heroism is portrayed in the text through courage and syntax, which affects the way the reader perceives the story.

Beowulf and Grendel can be compared and contrast in many ways. Beowulf is a prince and more like a hero. Grendel is a monster, he is mean and selfish. They both are strong and very powerful. Also, both of them are a murder.

Beowulf is the epitome of the ideal Anglo-Saxon epic hero. The numerous amount of characteristics that he possesses benefit him in many ways, but eventually lead to his downfall. As depicted in Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney, the qualities found in Beowulf that were most admired by his society include inhuman strength, unreserved loyalty, and unending bravery. Beowulf was said to have inhuman strength amounting to “the strength of thirty in the grip of each hand” (380-381). Beowulf exposes this truth even further by dismembering the arm of Grendel, a devilish ogre brute, from his body.