Christian Bale once said, “It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me”. What a hero is perceived as is not finite, there are a plethora of different perceptions of what a hero actually is. In the poem Beowulf, The Monsters and the Critics by J.R.R Tolkien, and Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath's Tale, they all explicitly give insight on the varying characteristics and attributes of a hero. A hero is an individual who is selfless, courageous, and strong while assisting others by leading and protecting the general public in immeasurable ways, at the risk of their own lives. One crucial motive that defines a hero, is the willingness to sacrifice their life in order to protect the general public. An example of an individual who acts selflessly while protecting others is shown in the poem Beowulf. When Beowulf prepares to fight against Grendel’s
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Specifically, in the poem Beowulf, Beowulf is determined to rectify everything Grendel has done, “take revenge for every gross act Grendel had committed” (Beowulf 1578), and what Grendel did was, “come to slaughter the sleeping troops” (Beowulf 1580). In this case, Beowulf shows courage by stepping up and deciding to eliminate Grendel once in for all. Also, Beowulf is mortal which is shown, “if the hero falls before a dragon” (Tolkien 128), and it indicates that even though he has a major weakness, he is valiant enough to take down his supernatural abhorred enemies. Secondly, Wiglaf is inept in combat, “his first time to be tested as a fighter” (Beowulf 2637), however he did not flee cowardly and, “his spirit did not break … as they came together in the combat” (Beowulf 2628, 2630). It is evident based from this that even though Wiglaf had never fought before, he was not going to be a coward and leave Beowulf alone, but rather fight courageously against the dragon also demonstrating that a courage is an essential component of a
Specifically, in the poem Beowulf, Beowulf is determined to rectify everything Grendel has done, “take revenge for every gross act Grendel had committed” (Beowulf 1578), and what Grendel did was, “come to slaughter the sleeping troops” (Beowulf 1580). In this case, Beowulf shows courage by stepping up and deciding to eliminate Grendel once in for all. Also, Beowulf is mortal which is shown, “if the hero falls before a dragon” (Tolkien 128), and it indicates that even though he has a major weakness, he is valiant enough to take down his supernatural abhorred enemies. Secondly, Wiglaf is inept in combat, “his first time to be tested as a fighter” (Beowulf 2637), however he did not flee cowardly and, “his spirit did not break … as they came together in the combat” (Beowulf 2628, 2630). It is evident based from this that even though Wiglaf had never fought before, he was not going to be a coward and leave Beowulf alone, but rather fight courageously against the dragon also demonstrating that a courage is an essential component of a