Loyalty And Honor In The Epic Of Beowulf

The basic traits of being a hero are simple. You must have courage, selflessness, humility, loyalty, patience and care deeply about others. “A hero is a person or main character of a literary work who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through impressive feats of ingenuity, bravery or strength, often sacrificing their own personal concerns for a greater good. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero)”. One of the most important works in Old English literature is Beowulf, it is a great example of an epic hero.

Hrothgar recalls, “Ecgtheow acknowledged me with oaths of allegiance” (472). Beowulf traveled with his men to fight a fearsome monster not for the glory of it but so that he could help his father to repay his debt. Many years later, Wiglaf shows his loyalty and devotion to his king Beowulf by following him into the fray when no one else did, promising, “I shall stand by you” (2668). In the end, this loyalty reveals Wiglaf’s valor, proving him to be just as heroic a character as Beowulf. The characters in Beowulf demonstrate three of the most important morals at the time of the story’s creation: bravery, honor, and loyalty.

Beowulf, from Scandinavia, held a great deal of pride without too much arrogance. He withheld his strength, unless necessary, and with time, grew the loyalty, courage, and faith warriors have today. To start off with, loyalty is defined as “the quality of being loyal to someone or something”. In Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, Beowulf is illustrated in your mind as a powerful being who is modest in thought and speech and he is very loyal to his king and the Danes king, Hrothgar. Beowulf, is both modest and humble, when kindly explaining to

Although he died in battle, Beowulf’s leadership, bravery, and sense of morality made him an epic hero among men. Beowulf was a great leader and he was well respected by his warriors and his people. The men that followed Beowulf into Herot were prepared to die for their leader and one did suffer this fate. Janoski proclaimed in her article “Why Beowulf is an Epic Hero”,” Beowulf becomes King of the Geats and is responsible for guiding his kingdom. During his 50-year rule, the kingdom is attacked by a

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.

Written in England between the 8th and early 11th century. Beowulf is about a hero, defeating two monsters to save the Danes kingdom and later on fighting a dragon threatening his kingdom. The setting of Beowulf is around 500 A. D. in Southern Sweden. In the epic poem Beowulf, translated by John McNamara, three major themes: loyalty, reputation, and revenge influence the poem by having ripple effects.

Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon epic poem with no known author and it shows a young warriors three main heroic battles throughout his lifetime. Beowulf is written as a courageous but loyal man, who often wishes to prove his honor through these crazy deeds which often puts his life at risk. The main focus in this poem is his honor and loyalty to not only himself but those around him. Beowulf has consistently shown how loyalty and honor have proved most important to him through his journeys as this epic poem’s hero. When the town of Herot showed signs of rejoice or happiness through their victories from war and to reward Hrothgar’s thanes with treasures and land in the Heorot, Grendel will rise and feast on the men.

Beowulf was a hero, not only because he was brave, but also he protected Danes, brought peace to them, because he was a good king, even when he was almost eighty years old, he was still brave to fight with the fire dragon, what a pity was that he died, with the fire dragon. He was a true hero who devoted his life to protect his people; he was the hero who held his sword and his shield to fight with the whole

Beowulf had fell to his pride for a awhile through the story but the thing with Beowulf is that his pride made him what he is. Beowulf is known to be a great warrior since the begin of the story and also a good king later on down in the story. Beowulf self confidence make him a guy with a lot of pride and that same pride also lead him to is demise. A great dragon was sleeping beneath the earth guarding a treasure until a thief stole a gem and the dragon woke up starting to burn places to the ground looking for it. The Dragon had soon burn down Beowulf’s throne-hall to the ground and Beowulf began to plot his revenge.

The main character is set apart from the other warriors because of his courage and humility. The story tells of many characters who faced the same circumstances as Beowulf, yet failed to respond in a similar and valiant effort, like Beowulf. For example, when facing the dragon nearly all of his hand picked soldiers coward in fear. Beowulf then showed humility by turning down his first offer to be king. When Hrothgar died, he offered Beowulf the throne; however, he refused, which allowed the rightful heir, Hrothgar’s son to be placed into power.