Beowulf: An Epic Hero's Journey

Improved Essays
individual wants. A love that rise after Beowulf is pragma. Similar to agape, this love in unconventional compared to others. This form of love is when affection grows stronger over time. By definition, pragma is defined as "realistic and practical love that is not based on intense physical attraction but emphasizes the conscious search for a compatible partner" (Zeng). The love that requires the individual to wait for the right moment. It can also be interpreted as the love that grows over time. As one is looking, their affection grows stronger. This love is considered the "obsessive love" (Zeng) because it requires the individual to wait. The individual, at the end, would have a "need to feel in love" (Zeng). The person might not understand …show more content…
Yet, the sailor puts himself "back on the paths of the sea" (line 30). This represents the turning point for the sailor. He knows that nothing would change if he went back. The sailor explains that "frost bounds the earth and hail would fall" (line 32). The sailor knows deep in his heart that he hates it. He knows that every time he goes, he might die. Yet, he has another side. His heart is also in love. The sailor has not spoken of any relationship except for his true passion, the ocean. There are "no harps ring in his heart, no rewards/ no passion for women, no worldly possessions/nothing, only the oceans heave" (line 44-45). This reveals that nothing can provide satisfaction in his heart. Only the adventures at sea can fulfill that void. Not only is his emotions attached, his "soul roams wither the sea" (line 60). The sailor is now bound to the sea. It's an addiction to him. Every time, he sails back home, there is this eagerness to return back to his love (line 61). The sailor has developed a passion towards the sea. He hated it when he first started. The sea made him and his crew suffer for extended periods of …show more content…
It shows the women's passion for her lover and how she wants her man to come back to her life. She begins to tell about her feelings of the current situation. She says, "I may say that whatever hardship I lived through since I grew up---new griefs and old---in those days it was not than now" (Thiébaux). This was the day that she was lonely. The day that her husband has left her behind. She still had feelings for him. She then "left on a journey to seek and serve him" (Thiébaux). She becomes "a friendless wanderer" and was at the mercy of the world. The wife had her doubts at first. She thought that her man "began to plot with secret scheming to split" (Thiébaux) them apart. However, her passion for her husband immediately dismisses this idea. She continued on her journey, hoping for reunification. Her journey presents her with many challenges that threatens her relationship. First, she had left everyone that she has known behind. She is alone and vulnerable. That leaves her opened to other men. Eventually, her heart would fall in love again. She said "I found myself a most husbandry man, but a man with hard luck, brooding in his heart" (Thiébaux). Her new husband only has her attention temporarily. She realizes that he is not for her. Everyday, she must "suffer the feud of" her new, beloved man.

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    She is forced into feeling alienated. The man has made-up his mind, now its time for her to…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Her character is shown to have a lot of wisdom and knowledge on what love is supposed to be which is fueling the decision to stick with her husband. The traits that she loves is in her husband is also within her as well such as hard-working, reliability, responsible, and brave but these traits are responsible for the downfall of Sa life. She puts in a great amount of work into taking care of him because she believes that by doing so will negate the feelings she has throughs him now which are feelings of dread and frustration. When leaving her job she says “ When her shift ended at noon and she gathered her things to go home, she always did so with a sense of dread that shamed her. She made up for it … by preparing the house for emergencies with great energy, as if she could forestall the inevitable through hard work.(108)”.…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Joey Quinn Research Paper

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Yet again it came to mind again and he made connections the boat, living close to the sea, the leaving…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The sorrowful and depressive traits of The Woman are presented to us in a manner that is foreign to those who don’t know it, and intensely daunting to those who do. As well as this matter, the husband is presented to not understand what she is facing, thus highlighting the emotional isolation she felt on more of a personal level. The narrator states, “The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again. She told the husband these thoughts. He was attuned to her; he understood such things.…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marriage is a spiritual communion to which two people. By separating herself from here family she is going against the core of the institution of marriage. The story states “ONE winter evening she looked at them: the husband durable, receptive, gentle; the child a tender golden three. The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again. Her feeling of distance towards her husband caused her to be very distant from him.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beowulf: A True Hero

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Beowulf, I found myself idolizing over the strong and fearless hero. He was what I would call “the perfect hero”, because not only did he get the job done, but he did it so with honor and modesty. In some cases it reminded me of the movie Hercules, where Hercules tried to show off as much as possible and show that he was better than everyone else to gain fame. While Beowulf used his famous strength to help those in need not to just gain fame, but because he knew he was undoubtedly the only one who could help.…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I am now Beowulf’s best friend so of course I go with him on his journey to fight Grendel. I have never heard anything about him, but Beowulf has. I wasn't worried because i was sure that if there was something i needed to know about Grendel to prepare myself that Beowulf would tell me. I obviously didn't know my best friend that well.…

    • 162 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Beowulf the great fighter, and great hero was very special and dear to people in some people's heart they all have fought a high troll that scavenged the land on they have lived on for a great while, many of they people died so they called in the great hero beowulf! The anglo-saxon superhero was with swords and brones the guy you think would be great at fighting and everything you could think about but the modern day superhero is the guy you do not want to mess with they really do have superpowers, they can fly and everything you don't think that one could do .The anglo-saxon hero can die very very easily so yes the world can rid him of his life and vanquish him from existence but a modern day superhero will not die as easily they will rid…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Rough seas, sun kissed days, and the smell of the salted ocean was Liam's life. He stood tall as he observed the deep and endless sea from his ship, inhaling the mist of the waves as they caressed his skin; he was a captain after all. A very ruthless and respected captain that conquered all the known seven seas; his parents had taught him the treasures and secrets that hid the perfidious waters; he absorbed every skill his father taught him from fishing without many necessities to fighting with swords and even his bare hands. Liam was one enticing young man.…

    • 1750 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beowulf is really human (An analysis of Beowulf’s motives from Beowulf) Writers block sucks, it is like a psychological wall that has no door to go through; it cannot be scaled even by the most skilled climber. Just as writers get writers block, heroes from epic poems get staying alive block. This leads to the conclusion that there is an underlying, unspoken agreement that is understood by those that create and write epic poems.…

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beowulf As An Epic Hero

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Beowulf fits the criteria of an epic hero because he is glorified. In the book, there are several times he is looked up to after he goes through a battle or something. We speak of “heroes”, there aren’t many people that can classify themselves as one. There are things you need to do before you are classified as one. While we As we speak of “heroes”, not many people can classify themselves as on.…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Because she could not marry the man she truly loves, she settles for a lower-class man that has longed for her since the beginning of the story. Her marriage makes her…

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Farewell, farewell! But this I tell to thee, thou Wedding Guest!” (pg. 845, lines 610-611) This is what he has been suffering from. The Mariner will live with this curse because of the lack of respect he had given the albatross.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beowulf As An Epic Hero

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Beowulf is an action-packed Anglo-Saxon folk epic which focuses on a central character named Beowulf. In the past, this folk epic was recited as entertainment and passed down orally through numerous generations (just like other folk epics). As time passed and as the epic was retold by more people, it grew in length and included even more adventures and battles. In fact, two completely new parts were added on to Beowulf after Beowulf defeated Grendel. Just as a tragedy requires a tragic hero, an epic requires an epic hero.…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The mariner faces many days all alone with no one to share his pain and agony with. The mariner explains his ordeal. Alone, alone, all, all, alone, Alone on a wide wide sea!…

    • 1510 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays