In the epic poem “Beowulf” the character Beowulf is the foundation for all of our modern heroes, but was he really a great hero? A hero is classified as a person who is admired for their bravery, achievements, or nobility. Although Beowulf displays all these qualities, there are several reasons he is not a hero, mainly him being egotistical and arrogant. This is why Beowulf is not a heroic person.
“A Hero is an ordinary person who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles”, quoted by Christopher Reeve. Beowulf however, tends to be an epic hero based on the definition of one. Beowulf was definitely a hero, not because of his super strength, smartness, or even his sword. But because when everyone backed down he was the one to step up & sacrifice his life to save others. “
In the beginning of the reading, Beowulf faces a rude and self-absorbed being with the name of Grendel. Grendel causes much destruction and terror for the kingdom of Herot by killing many people for their display of happiness. Once hearing
Throughout the poem of Beowulf he shows heroism in different way, He is someone who has superhuman qualities who embodies the value of his society and who is larger than life. And also someone who defeats something that is bigger than him.
In the halls of Heorot, an evil presence terrorizes its people. An evil presence known as Grendel. Grendel is assumed to be a descendent of Cain, who is destined to be evil. Even though he is full of corruption, he is a lonely creature who seeks companionship by killing the people of Heorot. Every one in the castle is terrified of Grendel as well as the King’s warriors. There is only one man that is not afraid to confront this enormous beast, Beowulf. Beowulf is fearless and eventually rips the arm off of Grendel and brings it upon King Hrothgar. The people are overjoyed and feast in the great hall. Grendel’s mother however is furious about the death of her son. Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother with his sword. After retuning home, Beowulf has
There are an ample amount of qualities that one could stigmatize with an epic hero. Four of which are the most predominate; strong, ethical, and quest and glorified. The main protagonist within the story Beowulf is faced with three relentless foes of which no other human dares to go against. His battle versus Grendel, who was known as “mankind’s enemy” (L.79), he demonstrates his strength in a number of ways. “That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime, knew at once that nowhere on earth had he met a man whose hands were harder;” (L.273-275) The monster Grendel was mortified at the fact a human could be so strong as to seized his claws.
An epic hero is an essential character in a story that shows qualities of being brave and noble, and whose achievements are greatly admired. In The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins, Katniss Everdeen, the hero, displays much courage as well as skills. The story depicts Katniss as a symbol of hope in an otherwise cruel, dehumanizing, and corrupt regime. Another prominent figure in the epic world is Beowulf, a warrior who sacrifices himself for the good of others. The two heroes have both similar and different characteristics. The relative similarities that exist between these two heroes allow either narrative to have relevance to human need of hope and leadership integrity. Nonetheless, both narratives possess distinctive differences, in which the heroes possess different traits such as strength. They both display a number of characteristics that make them heroes. As The Hunger Games stated, "Courage is the spirit of the games”. Thus, Beowulf and Katniss represent and possess qualities of epic heroes.
Grendel is a man-eating demon who causes death and destruction in Herot mead hall. Beowulf exudes great strength that is not humanly possible. Often characters in fairy tales will have qualities or characteristics that are extreme for the fairy tale. In Beowulf this is expressed through his immense strength, “Beowulf grasped his arm and sat up. The criminal knew he had not met in this middle-earth another with such a grip. Grendel's spirit was afraid and his heart eager to get away, to flee to his hiding place, flee to the devils he kept for company. Never had he met a man such as this.”Lastly the epic Beowulf ends with the typical “happy ending” that is expected in every fairy tale. The story ends with the hero, Beowulf, defeating the evil villain, Grendel and saving the people from Grendel’s destructive
Beowulf was the nephew of Hygelac, who was king of the Geats. He was on the smaller size for his age, and had weak vision because of a bee sting incident, but was still strong and loyal to his uncle and his people. Beowulf was the rare kind of person who makes strength of his own weakness (Nye 19-20). One day, King Hygelac had received a message from the king of the Danes, Hrothgar, for help. Hall Heorot had been invaded by the monster Grendel, son of
An Epic Hero is the main character of an Epic Poem who is far greater than the average man. Epic Hero's differ from ordinary warriors by their immense strength, unwavering bravery, and prominent battles with vile creatures.Beowulf is a great warrior who possesses all of the traits of an Epic Hero.
As has been mentioned, Beowulf is a character in both Grendel and Beowulf. However, in the epic poem about Beowulf, he is seen as this glorious, superhuman soldier who is called upon by King Hrothgar because he is the only hope the kingdom has. Beowulf’s followers, the Geats, worshiped him and stood by his side after he dived into the lake chasing after Grendel’s mother. They waited for Beowulf even when the rest of the kingdom gave up home and left the marsh. Beowulf was made out to be this immortal warrior who could not die, and faced every fear without even hesitating. He was very boastful, and after falling to the dragon, he told his men to build a tower on the cliffside in order for every ship passing by to know how great Beowulf was. He was not shy of praising himself. The story of Beowulf exemplifies him as this amazing person who will go down the the slaying of Grendel as a trophy.
An epic hero is a brave and noble character in an epic poem, admired for great achievements or affected by grand events. Also, epic heroes are characters that do extraordinary objectives that a normal human could never do. In the poem, Beowulf, the main character does superhuman jobs when he battles monsters, swims underwater for hours, and is also a great leader, which also makes him an epic hero. By analyzing the character Beowulf, he is classified as an epic hero.
Is Beowulf really a hero or is this a myth? A hero is a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities. Does Beowulf fit those essentials to be a hero? Beowulf is a hero because whether Beowulf is a fighting sea monster, or a terrible fire-breathing dragon he displays his great strength throughout this book shows how a hero should be. In the beginning of this epic, a monster named Grendel is attacking King Hrothgar’s mead hall Herot. When Beowulf hears about this tragedy, Beowulf volunteers himself to go and battle the beast. When Beowulf arrives to battle Hrothgar he is given a feast and decides to stay the night and question and interrogate Hrothgar. When Grendel arrives he kills one of Beowulf's clan members
The poem, Beowulf, is about an extraordinary man with superhuman strength and courage that embarks on a quest to defend and save the Danes from the vicious monster, Grendel. J.R.R. Tolkien says that the theme of this poem involves a “man alien in a hostile world, engaged in a struggle which he cannot win.” I agree with this statement because Beowulf is superhuman like an alien, lives in a very hostile world, and is involved in a constant struggle that he is bound to lose.
In the poem Beowulf written by The Beowulf Poet, the hero is classified as an Epic Hero. Beowulf, the hero, is defined by how much treasure he wins, how many battles he has won, and how much honor he has. Beowulf defeats Grendel, battle won, he defeats a dragon and gains tons of treasure, treasure, and he becomes king of the kingdom,