What Does Beowulf Learn From A Hero's Life

The Lessons from a Hero's Life A great hero is not built up by his victories,but by his characteristic. That doesn't mean heroes don't need victories to be famous; but if they won in a battle and then go around with his supercilious, they would lose people's respect. Therefore, the different between a hero and a great one is that their behaviors. In addition, a hero must do good things, defeat enemies and still helping others with a humble soul. That's also what we can say about the hero in one of the most famous Anglo Saxon poem Beowulf . Through his life, we can learn how to have good manners as he does as an undefeated hero and a glory King. The poem can be divided into 3 parts, the beginning, the middle and the end. Each of them tell …show more content…
Although Beowulf was like the only hope to kill Grendel, he went to Hrothgar's hall, Herot, with a respectful behavior, "Hail, Hrothgar!" (Canto 6, 116), he said. As a hero, Beowulf didn't wait for others to make friend, he was friendly and positively making friend with Hrothgar, through gave him a hand to overcome his crisis. Then, a good friend always come when his friend ask him to do a favor. Beowulf at that time became "Our only help" (Canto 19, 357) to Hrothgar and his people. And yes, a hero never leave his friend in a bad position, although he knew that he has to face the monsters who "mightier than any man." (Canto 19, 333). Both of the time, Beowulf came as a friendly savior and left as a loyalty warriors. After drafted the dangerous monsters, which a king likes Hrothgar couldn't, Beowulf was owning the belief of people, he could easily turn aside and took the crown. However, a good person understands good manners can't be measured by treasures or political power, they must be respected by others people. Same to Beowulf, after be given "gifts of armor, horses, and weapon" (Canto 14-18), he left to continue his epic hero journey. Then, Beowulf beat the "female creature" (Canto , 331), and to prove his loyalty, he brought "the jeweled hilt" (Cantoto 23, last paragraph) to the king. In short, loyalty always goes with a good person, who help other people overcomes their …show more content…
Beowulf tried to bring peace to people by sacrifice himself to kill monster. However, life is sometimes like war, surrendering tried tackled the hero down in order to stop his work. Furthermore, the most dangerous enemy is not the strongest one, but the one who surprisingly attack. Such as in the poem, "Grendel came, hoping to kill" (Canto 11, 153) and "He moved quickly through the cloudy night" (Canto 11, 155). However, a champion had trained himself in both physical and spiritual. Beowulf firstly need a valid body, which made "claws bent back as Beowulf lean up on one arm" (Canto 11, 189-190). In ancient time, usually who was stronger, faster and more skilled in using weapons would be the winner of the fight. In contrast, what if the fighter have to face an enemy, who has the same strength or even stronger than him. Who was "Hidden evil before hidden evil" (Canto19, 338) and "no sword could click her evil skin" (Canto 19, 395-396) or who could "Pouring out fire and smoke, hurrying to its fate" (Canto 35, 542-543). That's when a hero got to know that beside a muscular body, he need a solid mind to keep saving his life and then fight back. After all the physical and mind training, brave is most necessary for a hero to find his new glory. And in the poem, Beowulf showed that he was not only brave, but also confident while fighting with