Why Beowulf Is A Hero

Why do people do the things they do? In almost every situation, people are inspired or encouraged before they react. In general, people don’t have a habit of doing anything without reason. Furthermore, stories of heroes have been around about as long as stories themselves, they give us something to believe or someone to root for. Sometimes, the hero is the underdog, but in other cases the hero is someone who's already known by all for being incredibly strong or brave. Not to mention, most people root for the good guy, but every great story has an even greater villain. In reality, a lot of times in these types of stories, the hero's endeavors are hardly ever impetuous. Stories including superheroes and villains, excite people because they leave sitting at the edge of our seats, dying to know how it ends. In the poem, Beowulf, a hero not only goes up to battle once, but three times; which leads the question: why does he do what he does? Beowulf's motivations can be summed up by capability, fame, and selflessness.

In the first of the three battles, Beowulf was motivated by duty. In the beginning, Beowulf stepped up to fight Grendel because he was capable of fighting him. Because Beowulf was capable of battling Grendel, it became his duty, something he was expected to do, something he felt obligated to do. Beowulf says, “...that my duty was

Beowulf is motivated by glory, duty, and sacrifice to take on Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a dragon. He shows an inspiring amount of courage to fight all three deleterious monsters in his life. Even though glory is important to Beowulf, it isn't the most important aspect. The fact that Beowulf was able to conquer all three monsters is fortuitous. Beowulf knew he was expected to save the day for many of his followers, which at the end meant that sacrificing his life was