The Structure Of The Hero's Journey In Beowulf

Although people may not realize it, there is an underlying template for many stories that are popular today. This template, called the Hero’s Journey (or a monomyth), serves as the underlying structure for a wide range adventure stories. There are many steps in this story model, but the more important ones are the “Call to Adventure”, the “Hero’s Acceptance of the Challenge”, the “Road of Trials”, the “Gathering of Allies and Powers”, the “Initial Loss to Evil”, the “Dark Night of the Soul”, the “Leap of Faith”, the “Victory Over Evil when Confronted Again”, and then the “Student Becoming the Teacher”. Many critically acclaimed movies like Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and Star Wars are based off of this story template. . This plot structure may be showcased in many modern works, but it …show more content…
However, this ancient English tale certainly fulfills the Leap of Faith step in the Hero’s Journey template. After Beowulf slayed Grendel, Grendel’s mother sought to avenge her dead or soon to be dead son. After killing many men in a raid by night, and retrieving her son’s ripped off arm, Grendel’s mother quickly retreated to her lair, at the bottom of a mere. When Beowulf woke, he realized he had yet one more step to complete. It was Beowulf 's expedition to the bottom of this mere that is the Leap of Faith. Beowulf tracked the foul being through a forest, across many moors, and through a difficult to tread, mountainous terrain, only to find the lake that Grendel’s mother inhabited to be full of reptiles and sea monsters. After slaying many of the sea creatures, Beowulf took a literal “Leap of Faith” as he dove into the mere, with confidence in his ability to find Grendel’s mother in the dark, grim lake at the bottom of the