Beowulf A Hero Essay

Every character has dramatic battles with their antagonist that they win, until they don’t. Beowulf is a Northern European myth that sings the praises of our hardy hero, Beowulf. Beowulf starts as the young, brash prince of the the Geats who battles the grotesque monster Grendel with his bare hands. Fifty years later, he is the adept King of the Geats and battles a hideous dragon with a sword and iron shield. Throughout these battles, Beowulf makes mistakes and learns from them.

A way Beowulf demonstrates his heroism is the way he stays true to the Geats by honoring them. Before

The poet admired Beowulf’s ability as a warrior stating “There was no one else like him alive. In his day, he was the mightiest man on earth,”(15). The poet described the great warrior as wielding “the strength of thirty in the grip of each hand”, treating his comrades with great respect, and only using his immense strength for noble deeds, to the point where the Geats considered him weak (149). Like most warriors at the time, Beowulf believed in a fatalistic view, made clear in line 1386 saying, “For every one of us, living in this world means waiting for an end. Let whoever win glory before death.” (97). The poet emphasized this philosophy, including many passages where Beowulf’s thirst for glory is

Beowulf ‘s confidence in his abilities and courage to carry out his mission exhibits how he could be considered an epic hero. When he first hears of the Danes’ plight with the monster Grendel, Beowulf wastes no time in “his plan to sail the swan’s road and seek out that king” who desperately needs assistance in his troubles (Heaney 201-202). He eagerly accepts his call to action, wasting no time in ensuring King Hrothgar of his “awesome strength” and exhibiting an unwavering self-assurance as he recalls how he “battled and bound five beasts” (Heaney 418-420). In these first encounters with the hero, it is evident that Beowulf’s defining characteristics include his courage and pride. There is no fear or reluctance in his attempt for glory,

Beowulf’s strength is beyond any of human comparison and has allowed him to accomplish tasks that would have obliterated lesser men and gain renown throughout the world. Beowulf’s boasts of his strength are not to be received as prideful or egotistical but rather as a true representation of his power as Beowulf always fulfils his boasts. When Beowulf pledges to vanquish Grendel, he does not take it lightly and tells Hrothgar and his wife, Wealhtheow, that “..I shall fulfil that purpose, prove myself with a proud victory or meet my death here in the mead-hall.”(636-638), showing that he is prepared to die, if needed, to defeat this hellish creature. Later that night, in his battle with Grendel, Beowulf showed his strength. “The Captain of evil discovered himself in a handgrip harder than anything he had ever encountered in any man on the face of the earth… in all his days, he had never been clamped or cornered like this”(749-752,755-756). Beowulf’s strength surpassed that of even supernatural beings and allowed his to go on the offensive against a foe that had ravaged Heorot for years and thus allowed him to fulfill his boast. Beowulf power is brought out in his recitation of his deeds and again later actions against the mother of Grendel and a fire breathing dragon that threatens his home. In all of this fights, Beowulf is not seeking glory for himself, but

Beowulf displayed the qualities of an immature warrior during his battle with his first enemy, Grendel. Qualities like impulsiveness and inexperience in battle represent the Anglo-Saxon warriors’s eagerness to fight for glory during this time. Beowulf came Hrothgar’s aid more out of a personal desire for fame and fortune rather than out of need to fulfill an inherited obligation to a neighboring king (Kelley 141). This exhibits the immature, selfish behavior warriors during this time possessed. Warriors would partake in perilous journeys to obtain glory or riches because that was more important than trying to help someone in need.

‘Beowulf steadily shifts from a primarily defensive role to an aggressive one, motivated to varying degrees in each of his battles by thoughts of glory, vengeance and treasure'

Fear is a painful emotion excited by the expectation of evil. In “Beowulf”, translated by Charles W. Kennedy, fear is not an option, or emotion, nor does it even exist for the hero. The hero, Beowulf, is also given strength equivalent to thirty men. These things are demonstrated in the tale of the most celebrated hero of Anglo-Saxon times, Beowulf. A man, of which people loved and respected throughout the entire region where he lived. He made the people feel that they had someone to rely on through times in which failure seemed unavoidable. Beowulf, from the epic poem “Beowulf”, is an extremely courageous hero and confronts his many difficult battles without fear.

Beowulf also ripped off Grendel’s arm and hung it from the ceiling in the Herot so his legend would beremembered.One of the most persuasive parts of Beowulf that makes him seem heroic is after many years another monster would arise terrorizing the Geats. It was a great fire breathing dragon, Beowulf aftermany years of not fighting and at a much older age would return to battle against a much greater opponent than Grendel, the beast was so massive and powerful that Beowulf would break his sword on the dragons massive scales. In this battle Beowulf would kill the great beast and he would be forever remembered as a hero. In the quote “ The brave geats build me a tomb when the funeral flames have burned me , and build it here, at the waters edge, high on this split of land so sailors can see this tower and remember my name, and call it Beowulf’s tower and boats in the darkness and mist crossing the sea will know it.” This is a good example of his legend being carried on and him being remembered furthering his reputation as a hero and insuring him being remembered.In conclusion Beowulf was a great hero and a great protector of his people. Beowulf always looked to further his reputation as a hero and insure that he would be remembered. So to finalize my thoughts I feel like that Beowulf was a true

“A protector of his people, pledged to uphold truth and justice and to respect tradition, is entitled to affirm that this man was born to distinction. Beowulf, my friend, your fame has gone far and wide, you are known everywhere.”

Beowulf does not fail his people, even at the last, when as an old man

Beowulf succeeds at not failing his people, evenly when as an elderly man, he goes ahead without a second thought to fight mythical dragon. He does what he knows he should do. This is similar to Hamlet in the last demonstration of Shakespeare's play, who is at last prepared to vindicate the demise of his dad. Like Hamlet, Beowulf is dedicated for his part of his role designated for him. He stands up to his fate, his destiny, without recoiling. Doing this, he makes himself a ideal for the Geats in a vanished brave society as well for the present day peruser as well.Beowulf succeeds at not failing his people, evenly when as an elderly man, he goes ahead without a second thought to fight mythical dragon. He does what he knows he should do. This

     Some literary scholars maintain that Beowulf developed character flaws through the course of the long narrative poem, and that at the time of his death he was a victim of pride, avarice, selfishness and an inordinate craving for glory. The purpose of this essay is to show that he was a tremendous hero from beginning to end.

I was amazed to the attitude of Beowulf. Even though, he has no fear at all but there was a part of his attitude for being warm-Hearted, kindness to help the people of geatland. But we all know that we have the weakest as a human. So Beowulf itself as a man will not escaped from this temptation. There was a saying "the weakest of a bravest man is a woman". In this part of the story, I felt mad , sad but i can't blame him because of that.

Beowulf was the ideal hero because of all the brave courageous things he did to put the safety and protection of his people first also he was a very fair fighter. Beowulf heard about the attacks Grendel has been committing so Beowulf and his 14 men suited up and traveled to Herot to go and take down the evil Grendel once and for all. When Beowulf and his men arrived at Herot they went into the mead hall and had a feast with the geats and danes. Once the feast was over Beowulf's warriors went to sleep but Beowulf didn't he stayed up waiting for Grendel to come because Beowulf knew that Grendel fights unfairly by attacking at night so Beowulf being the fair fighter he is did not bring a weapon to use because he said ”I have heard that the monster's scorn of men is so great that he needs no weapons and fears none nor will I”(. He isn't using a weapon because he doesn't want to fight unfairly and become a coward. So after waiting a little while Grendel comes up from his cave and goes into the mead hall and eats one of Beowulf's men so Beowulf took action