A Collision of Two Stories “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to preserve and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles,” said Christopher Reeve, an American actor and author. Whenever readers think of heroes, the first thought that comes to mind is their success: defeated the monster, rescued the princess, or happiness at the end of their story. The journey, however, is hardly ever thought of because why does it even matter if the heroes reached their desired goals in the end? It matters because readers would not understand the meanings behind their success without the hardships throughout their journeys. It all becomes purposeless. An epic hero is a defined as “the main character who represents society or culture and
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“Crossing the threshold” is when the main characters leave their ordinary world and are exposed to what they will be facing in their journey in a foreign land or region. Both characters, Beowulf and Dante, “cross the threshold”, however, one character already has an idea of what to expect from what he has heard, while the other has no idea what is going to happen to him. Beowulf stays calm on his journey to the Danish nation because he has encountered and defeated other monsters before. “Through my own hands, the fury battle had finished off the sea-beast,” explains Beowulf to Unferth over one his battles (Heaney, 45). Readers can infer that he is going into the battle with Grendel confident, even when he has never seen the monster himself. Unlike Beowulf, Dante enters the Inferno without any ideas of what is going to occur or what he will see. Readers can infer that he trusts Virgil because he ended up following him into an unknown land. Virgil would care for him there, but it still did not give Dante an idea of what was to come, “…all my shattered senses left me. Blind, like one whom sleep comes over in a swoon, I stumbled into darkness and went down” (Alighieri, 22). Dante’s fear can also be seen is various accounts of fainting due to his emotions from his observations. His body does not know how to react so it simply faints (Baur, 33-65). Beowulf and Dante …show more content…
Christopher Reeve gives the perfect definition of a hero as someone who endures difficult obstacles. Monsters were obstacles throughout Beowulf’s life and Dante was his own obstacle the whole time. Both characters attempted to try their obstacles, and it did not matter whether they succeeded or not because their willingness to defeat their hardships, in the end, defined their worth and capabilities. Not all heroes experience the same challenges, but almost all stories end with the readers being satisfied with the hero’s final
“Crossing the threshold” is when the main characters leave their ordinary world and are exposed to what they will be facing in their journey in a foreign land or region. Both characters, Beowulf and Dante, “cross the threshold”, however, one character already has an idea of what to expect from what he has heard, while the other has no idea what is going to happen to him. Beowulf stays calm on his journey to the Danish nation because he has encountered and defeated other monsters before. “Through my own hands, the fury battle had finished off the sea-beast,” explains Beowulf to Unferth over one his battles (Heaney, 45). Readers can infer that he is going into the battle with Grendel confident, even when he has never seen the monster himself. Unlike Beowulf, Dante enters the Inferno without any ideas of what is going to occur or what he will see. Readers can infer that he trusts Virgil because he ended up following him into an unknown land. Virgil would care for him there, but it still did not give Dante an idea of what was to come, “…all my shattered senses left me. Blind, like one whom sleep comes over in a swoon, I stumbled into darkness and went down” (Alighieri, 22). Dante’s fear can also be seen is various accounts of fainting due to his emotions from his observations. His body does not know how to react so it simply faints (Baur, 33-65). Beowulf and Dante …show more content…
Christopher Reeve gives the perfect definition of a hero as someone who endures difficult obstacles. Monsters were obstacles throughout Beowulf’s life and Dante was his own obstacle the whole time. Both characters attempted to try their obstacles, and it did not matter whether they succeeded or not because their willingness to defeat their hardships, in the end, defined their worth and capabilities. Not all heroes experience the same challenges, but almost all stories end with the readers being satisfied with the hero’s final