Beowulf: A Hero of His Time, As Well as Today Beowulf, without a doubt, is the perfect representation of an Anglo-Saxon hero, as well as a modern day one. The characteristics he portrays throughout Beowulf truly sums up what it means to be a hero in the Anglo-Saxon period. He takes on great challenges and goes on difficult endeavors, all while embodying the qualities of a hero in his time. An epic hero is defined as a noble and brave character in an epic poem, and they are admired for their great achievements. Beowulf stands by that definition, and exemplifies having a sense of duty, courage, and super strength in the poem. He is known as one of the greatest Anglo-Saxon heroes of all time, and that title is well deserved, due to
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He realizes he must help the people in need and he carries this quality on throughout his whole life and all of his victories, as well as losses. One example of Beowulf’s selflessness is in lines 257-261 of the poem when Beowulf states that he has only one request; “That I, alone and with the help of my men, May purge all evil from this hall,”. Beowulf is stepping up when no one else will, risks his men lives as well as his own, and wants to rid the Herot of Grendel’s murder sprees. Another example where Beowulf is showing his sense of duty is in lines 264, “...Higlac might think less of me if I let my sword go where my feet were afraid to,..”. This example shows his responsibility, as well as loyalty to his lord. He mentions this because he is trying to set an example to Higlac to prove his loyalty to him, but his responsibility is to defeat Grendel; and he will do so with no weapons or armor. A third example that shows Beowulf’s true responsibility is at the end of the poem, line 843-845, when the Geats built a tower to honor him and the great sacrifices and victories he made over the years. The quote “Then the Geats built the tower, as Beowulf had asked, strong and tall, so sailors could find it from far and wide;...” is also ironic, because they did nothing to help Beowulf when he needed them, and never even offer …show more content…
He risks his life in fighting the strongest of beasts, and protecting the people who are below him. Many examples of courage arise in his great successes, too many to even name. One example includes when he is going to fight the Dragon, “I’d use no sword, no weapon, if this beast could be killed without it, crushed to death like Grendel,..” (613-630). Although Beowulf was not able to defeat him without a weapon, he was much older now and fought the Dragon fifty years after his two victories of Grendel and his mother. He made the smart decision that the Dragon would not be able to be defeated without weapons, he states that he is still noble and brave, but he needs some assistance in this fight, still brave nonetheless to fight alone. Another example exemplifying Beowulf’s courage is, again, when he is listing his past victories, “All of that race from the earth. I swam in the blackness of night, hunting monsters out of the ocean, and killing them one by one; death was my errand and the fate they had earned.” (250-254). The extents he had to go through to fight each beast would not have been achieved by the average man, Beowulf was a courageous one, not a coward. He swam through the dark, swam through the water for who knows how long, and killed each one of the sea monsters. Everything he does is to help the people, never himself. A last example is on lines 263-264, where Beowulf claims,
He realizes he must help the people in need and he carries this quality on throughout his whole life and all of his victories, as well as losses. One example of Beowulf’s selflessness is in lines 257-261 of the poem when Beowulf states that he has only one request; “That I, alone and with the help of my men, May purge all evil from this hall,”. Beowulf is stepping up when no one else will, risks his men lives as well as his own, and wants to rid the Herot of Grendel’s murder sprees. Another example where Beowulf is showing his sense of duty is in lines 264, “...Higlac might think less of me if I let my sword go where my feet were afraid to,..”. This example shows his responsibility, as well as loyalty to his lord. He mentions this because he is trying to set an example to Higlac to prove his loyalty to him, but his responsibility is to defeat Grendel; and he will do so with no weapons or armor. A third example that shows Beowulf’s true responsibility is at the end of the poem, line 843-845, when the Geats built a tower to honor him and the great sacrifices and victories he made over the years. The quote “Then the Geats built the tower, as Beowulf had asked, strong and tall, so sailors could find it from far and wide;...” is also ironic, because they did nothing to help Beowulf when he needed them, and never even offer …show more content…
He risks his life in fighting the strongest of beasts, and protecting the people who are below him. Many examples of courage arise in his great successes, too many to even name. One example includes when he is going to fight the Dragon, “I’d use no sword, no weapon, if this beast could be killed without it, crushed to death like Grendel,..” (613-630). Although Beowulf was not able to defeat him without a weapon, he was much older now and fought the Dragon fifty years after his two victories of Grendel and his mother. He made the smart decision that the Dragon would not be able to be defeated without weapons, he states that he is still noble and brave, but he needs some assistance in this fight, still brave nonetheless to fight alone. Another example exemplifying Beowulf’s courage is, again, when he is listing his past victories, “All of that race from the earth. I swam in the blackness of night, hunting monsters out of the ocean, and killing them one by one; death was my errand and the fate they had earned.” (250-254). The extents he had to go through to fight each beast would not have been achieved by the average man, Beowulf was a courageous one, not a coward. He swam through the dark, swam through the water for who knows how long, and killed each one of the sea monsters. Everything he does is to help the people, never himself. A last example is on lines 263-264, where Beowulf claims,