Beowulf Hero Characteristics

A hero is adequately defined as a larger than life hero who embodies the values of a particular society. Commonly, these heroes have superior strength, have strong love for their people and are fearless of death. The epic poem, Beowulf describes a hero who upholds the ethics of their society through heroic journeys to fight off the faces of evil. The Anglo-Saxons admired these epic poems and is known to be the most favored within their time. Beowulf prevails over insurmountable odds, shows strength, loyalty, and bravery that ultimately surpassed the qualities of being an Anglo-Saxon hero. While, a modern hero is labeled as a person in which who puts aside their personal welfare for the goods of others. This person portrays leadership, fearlessness, and courage. Beowulf is a strong example of an Anglo-Saxon hero, but does not fit into a more modern definition of a hero.
For many reasons, Beowulf is considered to behave in a way that would not qualify him as a heroic character. Although, he still possess key traits of courage and leadership that may consider him to be a modern hero. On his quest to find this evil beast; Grendel, the son of Cain, Beowulf shows leadership by forming a group of the strongest men within his homeland. …show more content…
He performed many brave deeds, that helped the greater good and was very glorified by all people. Moreover, through all of his grand quests he did nothing to prove that his traits of bravery, loyalty, and strength were truly qualified as what we define as a hero today. He rather demonstrated greed, selfishness and fame that no modern hero today would consider to be heroic. “No man but me could hope to defeat this monster, no one could even try.” Does this sound like a hero to you? A person who is so witty and caught up of only his ability to prosecute an action instead of having concern of the people’s morality. Would you feel safe, or would you endow in fear rather than