Female Heroism In Beowulf

Since biblical times, the concept of heroism has consistently been male-dominated; however, just recently, female heroism has begun its progression into stories and real-life. The characteristics of a hero within stories have been centered around courage, honesty, perseverance, attractiveness, and above all, strength. Due to strength being a common attribute of a hero, it is understandable that a man would be chosen as the hero for fairytales or action stories. Masculinity exudes strength and power while femininity conveys weakness. For example, in the comic, Thor, Thor Odinson is evidently muscular, indicating his strength. When Thor, Goddess of Thunder, appeared later in the comic, her strength is misconstrued due to her …show more content…
Today, it is preferable that a hero remains humble regarding their good deeds. Similarly, Beowulf was well-renowned by Hrothgar, amongst others, for his heroic contribution to protect the people of Denmark. Compared to today, someone could be regarded as a hero one day and then their reputation could be destroyed by the media the following day. However, the aspect of moving from male-dominated heroes to interchanging a hero’s gender has yet to occur which could hint at the presence of limited …show more content…
The creation of female heroes, such as Thor, Goddess of Thunder, and Batwoman, have garnered both positive and negative reactions in and out of the story. Upon their introductions, feminists were content as it appeared that women were one step closer to equality with men. No longer would women only be the protagonists in romantic comedies while men were the protagonists in action stories. However, those who were satisfied with tradition became frustrated when a hero’s gender became interchangeable, especially when the character of Thor shifted from a man to a woman. Likewise, the reactions within the text reflected those of the traditionalists. For instance, the frost giants continued the tradition by calling Thor, Goddess of Thunder, names that include “scrawny little girl, little firefly, and tiny wench.” It should be noted that in each name, the frost giants made sure to include a descriptor that indicated her small stature, a descriptor that they do not use when describing Thor. Also, before fighting her, the frost giants stated that it was mockery and overall humiliating to even bother attacking a woman. In Batwoman: Elegy, Batwoman was originally stabbed in the heart by one of Alice’s servants. Such a wound should be fatal no matter the gender, especially for a woman since they are generally known to be weaker than men. However, it was soon realized that the injury did not kill