Are Achilles and Beowulf Heroes?

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Achilles and Beowulf are not heroes. Just because you have super-human strength and undying will does not mean you’re a good guy. Sure, they’re great warriors, and Achilles is blessed by the Gods, but jerks never get far in life. Beowulf chopped of Grendel’s head for no other reason but for trophy. Achilles tied someone to the back of a chariot and drove him through town, parading him like it was a really big deer at the end of a hunting match like some kind of prize. I know my moral compass doesn’t always point due north, but there’s definitely something wrong with tying someone to the back of a chariot and cutting off heads and tearing off arms for trophies. And that’s why I don’t hunt. Beowulf’s character differs from section to section. In the beginning, I think he came off as selfish and self-promoting. He boasts to Hrothgar about the many things he killed in battle and how he had super-strength. He also wants a whole tower devoted to him. Talk about selfish. None of the Presidents asked for their statues in Washington, or to build them monuments. We did it out of respect for what they did for our country. Abe Lincoln didn’t say “build me a statue when I die.” Actually, he might have… I’m not sure. But anyway, Beowulf fought the dragon because he wanted to die. He didn’t have to go provoke the dragon to fight. I’m sure there were plenty of wars in Anglo-Saxon Germany to be fought. The dragon was just there minding his business when all of a sudden someone comes into his house and pokes him with a sharp metal object. Unfair, much? Achilles is just a jerk throughout the Illiad. Someone killed your best friend? I hear a chorus of people bawling their eyes out with the world’s smallest violin. How many best friends have you killed, Achilles? Think about that. You’re in a war. People will be killed, that’s the whole point of a war. And over a woman. I find that
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