Beowulf As A Hero's Journey

What action made your favorite hero become the hero he now is? Joseph Campbell, the author of The Hero With A Thousand Faces believes every hero is called to adventure by some act that opens his eyes to become a hero. In the story “Beowulf” translated by Barton Raffel, Beowulf is “woken up” by the news of Grendel’s destruction. The story of Beowulf follows along with campbell’s “call to adventure” claim. The epic poem “Beowulf” exemplifies the claims made by campbell regarding the hero’s call to adventure.

“The Hero’s Journey” is a pattern of narrative identified by the American scholar Joseph Campbell that appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development. It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization. The hero’s journey is divided into three sections departure, initiation, and return. The three sections are then divided into subsections that give a little more in detail journey that the so-called “hero” takes in the storyline. Hamlet and Simba are the main characters in the two storylines that take on the role of the hero.

A hero must do many things to be allowed the title of hero. However, there are some aspects a hero should not show. If these characteristics are shown, they should not be considered a hero. One attribute a hero should not display is selfishness. In the Knight’s Tale, written by Geoffrey Chaucer, Arcite and Palamon acted selfishly. They perceived a beautiful lady. They fought for the beautiful lady. They died for the beautiful lady. Nevertheless, they acted selfishly during this gripping story. For example, they fought for Emily, the beautiful lady, because neither could live without her. Nonetheless, neither ambitious young man could bother themselves to question her on whether she wished to marry either of these headstrong knights. She may not have desired to marry either of them. Therefore, they acted selfish and do not live up to one requirement of a hero. On the contrary, Beowulf, the main protagonist in the epic poem Beowulf written by an unknown source, did not act selfishly. Throughout the poem, he risked his life to fight horrendous monsters to save the good people living in the area. These actions define Beowulf as a hero. Contrarily, Sir Gawain, who starred in the book Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, embarked on a dangerous journey. The Green Knight had tasked him to find the Green Chapel. Before finding the chapel, the tired knight came across a castle tucked away in the peaceful forest. When he asked to stay for a night, his host proposed a trade. The host would

The “Hero’s Journey” is a common template in stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, wins a victory in a decisive crisis, and then comes home changed or transformed. This template has been used in tales throughout history to convey the journey that a protagonist goes on. The universality of the struggles and conflicts these heroes overcome allows this template to become as popular as it is today. Many of the stages that exist within the “Hero’s Journey” can be applied to my journey as well as yours. The stage of my grandfather’s death in my journey is comparable to “The Ordeal” in the “Hero’s Journey.”

The article summarizes that “the hero goes forward in his adventure until he comes to the ‘threshold guardian’...the powers that watch at the boundary are dangerous; to deal with them is risky; yet for anyone with competence and courage the danger fades.” Being knowledgeable on the first trial the hero must face is key to understanding the article as it gives the reader the ability to understand and see the growth of a hero from the very start of this growth. In a hero’s journey, the character must learn something and be better than he was

A hero’s journey or a monomyth as Joseph Campbell called it, is a basic pattern that a person must take to become a hero. No matter the time period or culture the literature was created in heroic characters followed it. For example, an epic poem called Beowulf whose author is unknown because the poem had been passed down for centuries. The main characters of Beowulf are Beowulf a Geatish hero who fights the monsters, Grendel a demon descended from Cain, Grendel's mother an unnamed swamp-hag who possess fewer human qualities than Grendel, and a fire-breathing dragon an ancient powerful serpent who protectors a horde of treasure in a hidden mound. Beowulf obtains lots of approval from the Danes, King Hrothgar, and the Geats. Beowulf almost didn’t

The Initiation is the second stage in The Hero’s Journey. The Belly of the Whale, which usually occurs during the hero’s departure, happens much later in both Beowulf and Spider-Man. In Beowulf, that part is represented in the scene when he is in the lake fighting Grendel’s mother. “Squatting with her weight on his stomach, [Grendel’s Mother] drew / a dagger, brown with dried blood, and prepared / to avenge her only son. But [Beowulf] was stretched / on his back, and her stabbing blade was blunted / by the woven mail shirt he wore on his chest. / The hammered links held; the point / could not touch him” (lines 502-507). For Spider-Man, this is when he is fighting his final battle with the Green Goblin. Peter is getting beat to a pulp by

“The Hero’s Journey Defined” is an article compiled by Joseph Campbell (or Anthony Ubelhor), in which the characteristics of a hero and the outcomes of a journey are explained. Campbell explains that the journey taken by a hero, who may also be an underdog, may be long and treacherous, but most evidently exemplifies the growth of the hero himself. According to Campbell, the hero may sacrifice his life for someone or for the general welfare of others. Most heroes are called to make the odyssey because one that is superior to them, such as a god or a leader of his town. In the duration of a hero’s journey, the hero will be appointed to trek to a place in which he may sacrifice his life for someone or general welfare of people, and may

Monomyth is a term coined by Campbell from the author James Joyce. Monomyth describes the series of events often found in stories that make up the hero’s journey. Campbell divided the journey into three main parts: the departure, initiation and the return. Each part of the journey is further divided into smaller more detailed sections. The basic structure outlined by Campbell’s Monomyth has become a template used for most stories centered on a hero. Many stories and blockbuster films follow Campbell’s Monomyth. This keeps the monomyth still relevant in story writing and useful in the analysis of films.

A central theme in works detailing a hero’s journey (monomyth), such as Dante’s The Divine Comedy, is that every hero must overcome adversity. No hero, no matter how valiant they may seem, can get away from it. These works illustrate to the modern reader that we are really all heroes on our own journeys, and we must all face adversity—and no one is exempt.

According to Joseph Cambell’s Hero’s Journey, there is a standard set of actions that transpires in multiple stories, particularly in heroic ones. This sequence of actions guides

"He laid up against me and had the other side of my body against the concrete seating, and I was pretty much boxed in. He is a hero. And he was a hero before this, and before I met him. All he wanted to do was serve his country and help people in need." Survivor of Aurora theater shooting Jenn Young talking about her boyfriend, Jon Blunk. Modern day heroes do exist, and they exhibit the same characteristics discussed in the epic, Beowulf. Heros must possess loyalty, courage, and faith in all situations; and be willing to sacrifice their own lives in order to save others from evil. The epic Beowulf parallels this story as well as the story of Christ in several ways, each hero had to leave their home, stay strong through ongoing battles,

Beowulf’s heroic adventure is a reflection of the importance of heroism in dealing with challenges that negatively affected the stability of the society in the early time periods.

This part of the text marks the end of an important journey for Beowulf and his Geat troops as well as for Hrothgar and his Danes. Beowulf begins this part with a speech addressing Hrothgar and the Danes about how wonderful they treated him and his men and how he and the other Geats wanted to return home to Hygelac. Beowulf offers arms of assistance in the future if Hrothgar and his troops ever need it. Hrothgar responds by complementing Beowulf. He compares Beowulf to the Lord, making comments on his strong body, maturity of his mind, and the impressiveness of his speech. Hrothgar goes one step further by saying that if the Geat king, Hrethel, somehow passes, that Beowulf would be very well suited to undertake the lordship. He concludes that

Joseph Campbell was a well known mythology teacher who spent his whole life trying to understand the different types of stories that are told. To Campbell “all humans are involved in a struggle to accomplish the adventure of the hero in their own lives.” He made a list of stages that every hero goes through, and sums it up to three sections: separation (the departure), the initiation, and the