The Hero’s Journey
The definition of “hero” is someone who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. A journey motif gives the writer an outline of how their story should begin and end, but it still gives them the creativity to write about what they chose for the middle. Both stories listed below have one man, the hero, using chivalrous attitude to help their town’s people for the better. Although created from two different time periods, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’s journey motif can be easily compared to Beowulf’s, as well as contrasted.
From Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the hero of the story, Sir Gawain, represents a lot of the characteristics of a chivalric knight/hero, among them: modesty for himself, …show more content…
evil, and useful tools, are shown throughout both stories. In both, the reader meets a central heroic figure who has the intelligence and athleticism that will aid him for the task of confronting different variables that are challenging his authority and the people in his charge, which would help the reader come up with the themes of heroism and the epic journey, as well as the theme of the constant battle between a good and an evil. Also, they both collected a magical weapon along their journey, Sir Gawain was given a “…green silk, with gold overwrought” by the host lady on his last day in the host’s castle, its powers were “if he bore it on his body… he could not be killed by any craft on earth” (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 1833, 1852-1854). For Beowulf, he wasn’t really given his magical weapon, he took “a sword in [Grendel’s mother’s] armory, an ancient heirloom” that only he was able to hold and use because it was from “the days of the giants”, but it did the job and helped him complete the task of defeating Grendel’s mother (Beowulf 1558-1562). Beowulf and Sir Gawain are presented by their respective authors as ideal character types to describe a hero’s journey …show more content…
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the reader meets a heroic character who presents the definition of a chivalrous knight. In Beowulf the hero-king would be more described as a warrior looking out for his people. But, both Beowulf and Sir Gawain would described as friendly, brave, smart, and trying to do what’s morally right. At the same time, though, they both are trying to protect their reputation, which could end negatively in the long run for either one of them. Sir Gawain has a final battle which should have caused him his life. But oppositely, Beowulf did not know when to stop, even when he was older, causing his life to be lost. Beowulf was just trying to fight against the evil forces, but he had no clue how long that would last. Also, Sir Gawain is not really in any physical danger, besides the axe from the Green Giant, he is more in danger by himself, his morals could soon get him in trouble. Beowulf’s danger however was all physical, from the three beasts he had to face along his hero’s
The definition of “hero” is someone who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. A journey motif gives the writer an outline of how their story should begin and end, but it still gives them the creativity to write about what they chose for the middle. Both stories listed below have one man, the hero, using chivalrous attitude to help their town’s people for the better. Although created from two different time periods, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’s journey motif can be easily compared to Beowulf’s, as well as contrasted.
From Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the hero of the story, Sir Gawain, represents a lot of the characteristics of a chivalric knight/hero, among them: modesty for himself, …show more content…
evil, and useful tools, are shown throughout both stories. In both, the reader meets a central heroic figure who has the intelligence and athleticism that will aid him for the task of confronting different variables that are challenging his authority and the people in his charge, which would help the reader come up with the themes of heroism and the epic journey, as well as the theme of the constant battle between a good and an evil. Also, they both collected a magical weapon along their journey, Sir Gawain was given a “…green silk, with gold overwrought” by the host lady on his last day in the host’s castle, its powers were “if he bore it on his body… he could not be killed by any craft on earth” (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 1833, 1852-1854). For Beowulf, he wasn’t really given his magical weapon, he took “a sword in [Grendel’s mother’s] armory, an ancient heirloom” that only he was able to hold and use because it was from “the days of the giants”, but it did the job and helped him complete the task of defeating Grendel’s mother (Beowulf 1558-1562). Beowulf and Sir Gawain are presented by their respective authors as ideal character types to describe a hero’s journey …show more content…
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the reader meets a heroic character who presents the definition of a chivalrous knight. In Beowulf the hero-king would be more described as a warrior looking out for his people. But, both Beowulf and Sir Gawain would described as friendly, brave, smart, and trying to do what’s morally right. At the same time, though, they both are trying to protect their reputation, which could end negatively in the long run for either one of them. Sir Gawain has a final battle which should have caused him his life. But oppositely, Beowulf did not know when to stop, even when he was older, causing his life to be lost. Beowulf was just trying to fight against the evil forces, but he had no clue how long that would last. Also, Sir Gawain is not really in any physical danger, besides the axe from the Green Giant, he is more in danger by himself, his morals could soon get him in trouble. Beowulf’s danger however was all physical, from the three beasts he had to face along his hero’s