...The epic story of “Beowulf” is a story about Beowulf, the man who is the true definition of bravery and heroism. This story recaptures Beowulf's quest as he destroys monsters that terrorize the kingdom of Herot and the people who subside within it. Throughout the story vivid imagery and detailed monologue help upholds the story to an epic quality. But, for for it to truly to be an epic it must have a few needed elements such as references to god and battles between good and evil. A moment in Beowulf that truly captures this epic mentality can be found near the end of the story. Beowulf is out of his youth and is living in his old age as king. He along with some of his geats are set up outside the cave, where a diabolical dragon awaits to destroy anyone in sight. Beowulf stands up and begins his great final speech to his geats, unweary what there future holds.(2510-2510) This moment adds so much momentum to the story and so the way it embodies Beowulf as a story and a character. This moment shines above the rest and fully demonstrates the elements of bravery, self-sacrifice, and overall heroism. Of all the things Beowulf is, Beowulf is the true definition of bravery. He demonstrates this in many different ways through the text but it is the most apparent in his...
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...An epic hero is defined as a brave and noble character that is admired for great achievements and known for being a warrior (dictionary.com). There have been plenty of heroes over the course of time, but many believe the most popular Anglo- Saxon hero, Beowulf, most perfectly fits into this category and truly defines what it means. At all times, Beowulf is never afraid to put his life on the line for the sake and protection of his people, which helped him gain approval from the people of his area. Throughout the course of the adventure and journey, Beowulf exemplifies what it means to be an epic hero showing loyalty, courage, intelligence, and selflessness in his efforts to save his people and achieve immortality. Beowulf proves that he is a great Anglo-Saxon epic hero through his loyalty. Loyalty was held paramount by...
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...Strength, Power, Heroism, and Courage. These are among the central themes that encompass the epic of Beowulf and allow the reader to take an intimate look at Anglo-Saxon society. Beowulf, the hero of this story, is the focal point, demonstrating his phenomenal super human abilities throughout the epic as he conquers and kills anything dangerous or beastly in his path. Although Beowulf is viewed as a superhero, Hrothgar, does not hesitate to present Beowulf with the best advice that he can muster. Hrothgar’s guidance is essential in outlining the basic and most vital themes of the epic. He warns Beowulf about overweening, resenting tradition, and dishonoring customs, among many other points. As seen in this passage, the themes of wyrd, paganism, and heroism are clearly distinct in Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf through the harrowing adventures retold. The concept of wyrd, or a sense of inevitable doom, is a central theme in Beowulf, demonstrated by the constant reminder that the destruction of events or people will most definitely occur. When Hrothgar bestows his advice upon Beowulf, it is stated that “ancestral possessions/ and the goods he hoarded are inherited by another/ who lets them go with a liberal hand”, which clearly exemplifies a belief in ultimate ruin (ll 1756-7). Despite the honor that one must earn in order to receive such goods, once one dies it no longer has any meaning, showing how gloomy the Anglo-Saxon society was in it’s outlook about death. Additionally,...
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...The key character in the poem Beowulf, is a heroic and a legendary character whose actions are embodied to the Anglo-Saxon culture. As a hero he has the accepted and the most ideal characteristics that are accepted in the Anglo-Saxon culture. The tale revolves around these characteristics to make up an epic tale. Beowulf is moulded to possess the virtues, traits and beliefs that were highly respected and requires in the Anglo-Saxon culture. Therefore, is displayed to have these virtues in his own actions and words during different circumstances in the tale. Reading Beowulf brings out lots of similarities with many pieces of literature from the Ancient Greek and the Modern literature. The Beowulf carries is similar to many Greek dramas that focused on a protagonist who was turned out to be a tragic hero. There was an element of belief in the gods who had super- human powers and had unique and ultimate special skills of their own, and overcame unsurmountable problems. However, in Beowulf, there is no Greek or Roman gods, but there are other supernatural beings defined as monsters that exist and are difficult to win over. Beowulf is extra-ordinarily strong, agile, and super intelligent. He is portrayed as one who overcomes many obstacles and was able to kill Grendel and his mother and the others in the sea. In addition, the wide character list and meaningful names is similar to those of other types of literature of the early eras. The story of Paradise lost opens in hell. Satan...
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...In Beowulf there are many symbols and elements. The symbols of Herot hall and Grendel represented all that was good, and all that was evil in the story. There are also many Christian elements in this pagan story. These aspects of the poem are important, but not relevant to today's society. In the poem Beowulf, Beowulf is an epic hero. The poem gives the idea of what a hero really is. Many of these ideas have been carried into modern society, and one person fallows these traits of Beowulf. That is the modern hero of Michael Jordan. Beowulf and Michael Jordan had a surprisingly similar journey. The similarities between Beowulf and Michael start with their fathers. Beowulf's father was a great warrior who had earned a reputation as being strong and courageous; however, Beowulf's father was killed and never saw his son do great things. All of these traits of Beowulf's father are similar to that of Michael's dad. Michael's father, James Jordan, was a great professional baseball player who had earned a reputation as a hustle player and a good lead off man. James was killed later in life, and was never able to see his son do great things. Just like Beowulf's father. It is know that both Beowulf and Michael earned reputations when they were young. Beowulf earned his reputation by killing nine sea monsters, all while competing in a swimming race. Beowulf did go on to lose the race, but earned a great deal of respect in his homeland when his people heard the story. Michael earned his...
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...Beowulf dates back to the 8th and early 11th century, being the oldest surviving epic poem in Angelo-Saxton literature. The existence of this poem has made a big impression for quite some time now. In the poem Beowulf showed qualities of heroism, pride, strength and boastfulness, when fighting the monsters and running his great kingdom of the Danes. Did Beowulf have the characteristics and qualities of a true epic hero? Beowulfs character traits did in fact represent what a true epic hero really is. One Beowulf’s qualities he did best were brag, he would brag to people about great accomplishments he made on his scary and dangerous journeys. People of his time thought that bragging was a trait that showed his true heroism. Beowulf would boast to Unferth about his great swimming competition with Breca, where they swam out to see and stayed there for five nights. He would brag about the nine, one-eyed, sea monsters that he slayed. When Beowulf killed Grendal and his mother he would boast to king Hygelac and the people of the Danes about how he did it and how challenging it was. When Beowulf was king he would brag about how no other kingdom or man would ever try and kill him or fight him. It was normal in Anglo- Saxton time for great hero’s to brag about their accomplishments, it showed a great amount of pride and success. Beowulf showed no sign of fear even when he was about to do something that was extremely dangerous. Beowulf was always the bravest man since he thought that...
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...Beowulf: The Mother Poem Beowulf is an important work of the Anglo-Saxon culture. In the poem it depicts Beowulf as a famous hero, full of endless courage and infinite strength. Through his vigorous journeys, he encounters many treacherous obstacles and monsters, but never feels distress. As leader of the Geats, he shows superb leadership skills, taking pride in both his and his peoples’ name. Nonetheless, he boasts about his achievements and heroic battles that he has encountered. The author’s style differs from that of any other due to the unique kennings being used throughout the poem. The tone interchanges throughout the entire work; gives countless numbers of kennings, and has graphic imagery. Beowulf, the “mother poem” of England, explains the import values of diction, tone, imagery, and style, it also informs us about the Geat culture and characteristics of honor, kinship, and courage....
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...Beowulf is one of the epic poems portraying a heroic concept. The Anglo-Saxon time frame used Old English to come forth a generation of literature, which included heroic poetry. Beowulf consists of many characters contributing to the plot of the poem. There are both basic and complex archetypes shown in the poem. The epic poem includes many archetypes but the most dominant ones including the hero, the shadow, and the herald. In the epic poem, Beowulf, the author uses archetypes to develop the plot. The main character Beowulf, displays a superior archetype in the epic poem by being the hero within the story. A hero is defined as one who gets praised for brave acts and Beowulf does exactly that. Beowulf displays this archetype in various ways...
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...Beowulf is actually one of my favorite poems. He exercises strength, skills and some help from the Gods and Goddesses to prevail a number of events of deadly and evil adversaries. Beowulf‘s righteousness, bravery and fearlessness in combat distinguishes him as a great epic hero. By Beowulf battling with his antagonist, he deliberately positions the field of battle and supplied Grendel with an honest shot of triumphing. Being relentless and bold is a challenging task to be burdened with. Bravery is indispensible to any hero, whether it is an epic hero or modern day hero. Beowulf is able to establish no shortage of this; this is seemingly apparent with the fighting of him and Grendel with no weapon is one of many occurrences to show his bravery. This is where the similarities and comparison of the heroes of the Iliad’s and Aeneid comes in, they all share the same characteristics of being courageous and brave. His bravery and heroism is demonstrated in this quote, “Indifferent to death, does death not lie and the root of all fear? Do we not shrink from darkness, from poison, from gunfire, because we fear death.” Beowulf goes into battle fearlessness, with the utmost self assurance in him. An important aspect of every epic hero is the competence to overcome and carry on, bravery, courageousness, self-sacrificing, relentless and boldness in war or battle. These are the bona fide qualities that a hero must maintain. The story of Beowulf is a great one indeed. Beowulf, like other epic...
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...Lakiethian Colbert Comparison and Contrast: Hero’s Eng 106 Professor Nikki Moorman History has proven that literature will always find a hero. In any culture and any time period there will be Epic Hero’s that will exemplify strength, courage, chivalry and family. These heroes portray a number of comparable attributes as well as a number of notable differences. Beowulf is a pillar in old English literature. He can be compared to the hero Achilles from the Iliad based on warrior strength and compared to Aeneas he went on a journey. Although many years separated these heroes and their journeys, there proved to be a comparison between them all that shows how the earlier hero inspired the later. The glories of a hero is something that is shown when comparing Beowolf an Achilles. Beowulf’s society held fame and glory at a high standard. He knew he would receive praise from the kingdom he went to help, but this shows how he also cares about others. Achilles does not like the Greeks. He went to war for the fame and glory, more than the cause. Achilles was a little more vain than Beowulf, but both of them enjoyed the glories of fighting. Beowulf and Achilles both have enemies that they face off against. Beowulf has numerous epic battles with creatures. The story revolves around his epic battle with Grendel. He then goes on to fight with Grendel’s mother. The ending is rounded off with at battle of him and a dragon. Achilles has to fight with Hector and the Trojan army. It seems...
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...afraid to stand on their own. In the epics, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf, the heroes are Sir Gawain and Beowulf. Sir Gawain and Beowulf show these qualities in many ways, even though there are some ways in which they differ, when talking about heroic acts they are very similar. Beowulf and Sir Gawain are strong warriors. In Beowulf, Beowulf was known for fighting monsters and anything that would try to harm his people. He shows his strength and courage when Beowulf went to fight Grendel. For example, “Fastened those claws in his...
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...one who does not fear death. Beowulf, set in the Anglo-Saxon time period, was an epic that told the story of a legendary hero, who seized all obstacles as if he were immortal. Up until the end of Beowulf's life, he constantly wanted to be the hero. However, his mortality was exposed by his death. Beowulf in many ways exhibited all the qualities and characteristics needed to be a true hero. Heroes, whether from the Anglo-Saxon time period or present day, all share the characteristic of their willingness to die, in an effort to accomplish a true act of heroism. Several critics argue that through Beowulf’s superhuman strength, generosity, loyalty, bravery, and...
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...Beowulf is by far the most epic hero of all times. This is obvious when his super-human strength, loyalty, courage, generosity and reputation are taken into account. Throughout the epic poem, “Beowulf”, he comes upon hideous monsters and the largest of all beasts yet he never shows fear. He uses his immense courage and unshakable strength to put his people ahead of himself. His boast by far triumphs over all others and he uses his experience to lead others. Beowulf repeatedly risks his existence to achieve immortal glory and to build for the good of his people. He embodies all the ideals of his society and is the quintessential Anglo-Saxon man. Beowulf continually puts the welfare of his people ahead of his own. His goal throughout “Beowulf”...
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...Pamela Katrina G. Lim July 21, 2014 9-Patriotism ENGLISH “Life Learnings from Beowulf” Our greatest strength comes within ourselves not from other means. It’s not from using harmful weapons. Thus, bravery is more than facing danger, it’s about knowing your strength and using it wisely for your advantage. These are just one of the values executed and shown in the folk epic “Beowulf”. This folk epic is marked by the true definition of bravery and heroism. Each character possesses different personalities that will also leave a lesson unto us. Qualities that will serve as life-lesson to the reader. Firstly, Beowulf exemplifies the true traits of being a hero. A hero is someone who is completely unselfish, who will willingly help someone in need, who doesn’t aim for popularity or any recognitions, rather for the safety of the people in his kingdom or place. It is more than wielding a sword, it is using your brain together with your heart. Beowulf’s action is considered as a true act of heroism. Grendel’s heart on the other hand is full of hatred and anger. He is considered weak. In the real world, those people who live with jealousy and hatred to others are considered weak as well for they can’t appreciate life’s true beauty thus, they don’t treat themselves as special. Considering all of these, they are the ones who are not contented. We must appreciate ourselves for we are unique and that’s what makes us special. Grendel’s mother shows her unconditional...
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...indication of an epic hero was found in the literary piece “Beowulf”. An epic hero is defined as a larger - than - life figure, who pits his courage, skill, and virtue against opposing, often evil forces. Beowulf is clearly the epic hero in “Beowulf” because he displays bravery and strength, as well as demonstrates that he is a smart Anglo-Saxon leader. The first trait that Beowulf showcases that makes him an epic hero is bravery. Driven by honor, Beowulf confronts Hrothgar with a proposition to fight the monster...
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