The Epic Of Beowulf: A Tragic Hero

Beowulf is a well-known classic tale of triumph fearing the good over the evil. It’s by far the longest epic poem ever written in the old English times. The protagonist of the famous poem, Beowulf, is a Geatish hero who fights a number of evil powers: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a fire–breathing monster. Beowulf relates the exploits of his heroic deeds, successive battles with a monster named Grendel, Grendel’s revengeful mother, and with a dragon that was guarding a hoard of treasure. During the epic poem, Beowulf exploits his heroic figure in several different ways. A hero is defined by his ability to help his community by performing brave acts and distribute out heroic sums of treasure. Beowulf’s youthful heroism as an unfettered warrior and his mature heroism as a reliable king, shows two phases throughout his life, of which are separated by several years, but corresponds to two different models of virtue. During the time of Beowulf’s youth as a great warrior, he was characterized predominantly by his strength and courage, including his swimming match against Breca, “ Are you the Beowulf who took on Breca …show more content…
As Beowulf come upon his last battle that he will ever encounter, he begins to realize his death “in spite of his wounds, mortal wounds, he still spoke for he well knew is days in the world had been lived out to the end – his allotted time was drawing to a close, death was very near” (2724-28). Even though Beowulf was dying he still showed leadership when he was battling the dragon. Through his many heroic deeds whether they are fighting Grendel, his mother or the dragon, in his defense of leadership and his willingness to sacrifice his life to benefit others; Beowulf has defiantly earned the right to be called a hero in fact, he can also be looked at as a man who embodied the knightly virtues of his many medieval