Beowulf - Hero Or Phony?

677 Words3 Pages
Ben Parker, a character on Spiderman, once said, “With great powers, comes great responsibilities.” As a leader, Beowulf has a lot of expectations to live up and fulfill. However, he fails as one because he does many stupid things. He puts himself at risk many times when it is completely unnecessary. When the scholar Renoir said: “…the ideal union of wisdom and action which is a necessary component of leadership,” he concludes that Beowulf commits every action wisely. However, I truly disagree with Renoir because, in my opinion, Beowulf is merely an egocentric loser. Everything he does is fueled by greed for fame and power. Therefore, I would not consider Beowulf a genuinely qualified leader because he lacks the qualities of being sensible, humble, and selfless. Generally, as a leader, he/she has the responsibility to stay live in order to look after his/her followers. He/she should also make reasonable decisions that are safe and beneficial to his/her group. However, Beowulf fails to do so, because, in his big head, he thinks that he is invincible. At one point, Beowulf says, “… [his] hands /alone shall fight for [him]” (Lines 267/268), insisting that his bare strength alone is equivalent, if not superior, to Grendal’s monstrous abilities. Beowulf exhibits this insensible trait again when he claimed that he would “use no sword, no weapon…” (630) when he approaches Grendal’s malicious mother. By acting so irrationally, Beowulf not only puts himself at risk, but also his entourage in danger. If Beowulf was a true leader, he would make the decisions that are safe, not the ones that will help him shine the brightest. Incidentally mentioned before, Beowulf makes the decisions that will make him most popular and heroic simply because he is self-centered. When he approached the king, before fighting Grendal’s mother, saying, “My famous sword stay in your hands,”
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