Beowulf was seen as a great warrior, who fought until his death. In his first battle Beowulf triumphs over a monster, Grendal who has been terrorizing the people of King Hrothgar. In the second battle, Beowulf faces off with Grendal’s mother, coming out the victor once again. In the final battle, we see Beowulf meet his end, when he fights to the death with the dragon. Each battle is a representation of good vs. evil.
Thus, leaving him with no protection. Also, during the battle, Beowulf’s sword was broken, this left Beowulf with no weapon. Though, thanks to one of Beowulf’s warriors, Wiglaf. The two were then able to slay The Dragon. Another similarity in the 3 battles is that Beowulf retrieved a prize from each
Anne Wandungu Mr. Beson English IV, Period 6 October 7th 2011. A True Epic Hero The old English poem Beowulf follows the main character Beowulf and his heroic deeds. Beowulf saves the Danes from a monster named Grendel. He then has to battle Grendel’s mother who seeks revenge for her son. Beowulf eventually becomes king and dies defending his people from a fire dragon.
However, a fire breathing dragon that was guarding the treasure for hundreds of years was disturbed. The dragon began to terrorize Beowolf’s Kingdom. The elderly Beowolf needed to be there for his people. The exhausting fight against the dragon, made him realize that he wasn’t as strong as he used to be. The dragon melted sword.
Textual Analysis: Beowulf Attacks the Dragon “I risked my life often when I was young. Now I am old, but as king of the people I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning, if the evil one will only abandon his earth-fort and face me in the open.” Beowulf was a great king and an even better man. He led when no other could, and he fought when no other would. He had displayed an unmatchable courage as he fought and defeated Grendel as well as Grendel’s mother. Along with these defeats as well as being king for now fifty years, there was not much more notoriety and respect that Beowulf could gain.
Twins snuff out the Angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death. Giants' bane stands gold and pale, Won through pain from a woven jail. The seven demigods, Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Leo, Hazel, and Frank finally set sail for the greatest adventure yet, after Leo, the Super-Duper-Mechanics-Maniac completes his proudest invention, the Argo II. Their quest is to sail all the way to the most dangerous lands a demigod could ever imagine, and find and close both of the doors of death with the help of Nico Di Angelo, who is imprisoned in a huge jar by the twin giants, Ephialtes and Otis, with barely six days left to live. Along their journey to the Ancient lands, the brave demigods find out that these twin giants plan on using Nico’s death as an “opening ceremony” which will lead to the destruction of Rome.
Fifty years ahead and now King Beowulf faced a task of killing a dragon. He would “[fight] with fate against him” (724) seeing as his “the ancient blade broke” (727) while striking the dragon’s side. The beloved king would eventually die with “None of his comrades\Came to help him” (745-746) and his “Followers… ran for their lives…” (745-748). King Arthur’s story is also an epic poem which speaks about an honorable leader who will do anything to defend his people. Arthur went off to battle, with his comrades at his side the whole time and is able to defeat his foe, but doing so left him fatally injured, until he is eventually killed.
Throughout the entire poem Beowulf sustains these qualities with every monstrous encounter he faces. From the very beginning he triumphs over Grendel using merely his bare hands, then chops off the head of Grendel’s revenged seeking mother, and lastly battles the lethal dragon in his elder days, ultimately resulting in his death. On his way out to face the dragon Beowulf says to another soldier, “This fight is not yours, nor is it up to any man except me… I shall win the gold by my courage, or else mortal combat, doom of battle, will bear your lord away” (“Beowulf,” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. I, 8th ed. Ed.
Beowulf satisfies the idea in which Ambrose Redmoon recognizes, “Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear”. Sitting awake in uncertainty, Beowulf decides to fight the hideous creature, Grendle, in order to aid the terrorized Danes. Prior to the battle with Grendel, Beowulf declares, “I mean to stand, not run from his shooting/Flames, stand till fate decides/Which of us wins” (l. 637-639). Beowulf faced the dragon bravely even though “[He] did not know when he challenged the dragon how his end would come” (Ogilvy and Baker 70). The poem recurrently gives evidence to Beowulf‘s extraordinary strength.
Thus, in the Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling, Harry Potter embodies a true epic hero because of his long and arduous journey, his demonstration of supernatural being, his final triumph over Voldemort and his leadership over the people. Within the Harry Potter Series, Harry partakes in a prolonged and grueling journey, which renders his image as an epic hero. At the end of each year during his seven-year journey at Hogwarts, Voldemort awaits Harry, seeking more attempts to kill him for he fails to do so when killing Harry’s parents. Literary critic Andrew Stuttaford understands this perfectly as he states, “The books (there will eventually be one for each of the seven years Harry is due to spend at Hogwarts) detail his adventures at the school and the intensifying struggle with the forces of the wicked Voldemort” (1). The encounters between Harry and Voldemort at the end of each novel act as diminutive abysses, which add to the multitude of challenges he faces throughout his journey.