Drake Propson English 11 Mr. Hoffman 9/15/14 Beowulf: an Epic Hero Throughout the story you can see that Beowulf is an epic hero when he fights Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. These fights show how Beowulf is an epic hero. Beowulf is an epic hero because he has superhuman strength, intelligence, and courage, and performs brave deeds, and risks death for the greater good of society. In the fight against Grendel, Beowulf’s superhuman strength allows him to beat and mortally wound Grendel, and his courage shows when he beats Grendel by using only his bare hands. The characteristics of superhuman strength and courage are seen throughout the story of Beowulf and define why he is an epic hero.
Wait for me close by, my friends“ (2530). Because of the intensity of this fight, he is lacking in the confidence category and uses actual weapons. Shockingly enough Beowulf doesn’t endure this fight alone, he chooses Wiglaf to defeat the dragon with him. Beowulf is seriously injured during this fight and ends up dying which concludes in his title as an epic hero. All in all, Beowulf’s transition starts as if a baby starts the stages of walking.
Beowulf’s first fight with Grendel was a heroic moment. This happened when the monster within him started to evolve into a different him. He killed Grendel with his own bare-hands. This made him feel like a strong, and powerful man who could defeat everyone else. Yes, he did kill a beast that avenged a whole town, but that is no reason to cut an arm off as a trophy.
However, that doesn’t represent a hero so Beowulf knowing he might not make it back, knows he must fight and he “feels no shame, with shield and sword” (101, 2517-2520). This shows he isn’t even fighting for glory; he is fighting because he knows he must end this dragon’s life before his is ended. He fights for his people, for what is right, and nothing else. Beowulf is an epic hero because he represents himself with the characteristics of supernatural strength, courage and the will to fight for what’s right. There is no possible way Beowulf will be forgotten and his legacy will carry on throughout time and his tale will live on
The community around him has welcomed him and it is not his duty to protect them, Beowulf and the civilization he was protecting knew he was capable of being king, but Beowulf seemed to be searching for validation of his morality, validity that he was doing right. I feel the main part of the text is his failure with the sword, “, the shining blade refused to bite. It spared her and the man in his need.” (105, line 1523), he now is in some sense cornered as to what to do. Being the warrior and the man that he is “he never lost heart.” (107, line 1530), and something bigger than himself came to help the warrior, Beowulf then knew something above him was on his side. It was as if then at this point he was secure in what he was doing and comfortable to move forward, not only in the battle but in his soon ruling the land.
Beowulf: The Values of a Real Hero Beowulf conveys the best example of an Epic Hero because of the strength, leadership, and courage he demonstrates when he risks his life for the benefit of society. First of all, Beowulf shows his strength defeating the monsters. He slays Grendel and the mother of Grendel bravely. He shows how strong he is by ripping the hand of Grendel. “To feud with Almighty God: Grendel Saw that his strength was deserting him, his claws Bound fast, Higlac’s brave follower tearing at His hands.” “Grendel finishes eating his first victim and as he reaches for another person Beowulf grabs him and they begin to wrestle.
In the epic, Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel, the main character Beowulf goes on a quest to fight the monsters that are terrorizing Denmark. In the Anglo-Saxon culture, a hero is someone who is considered to have extraordinary qualities. During the journey, Beowulf embodies the characteristics of a hero through his bravery, courage, determination, and strength. Beowulf proves that he has bravery and courage by choosing to go fight Grendel for the sole purpose of helping the Danes. When Beowulf is explaining to Hrothgar how he is going to attempt to kill Grendel, he says, “My hands alone shall fight for me, struggle for life against the monster” (25).
No one can compare to him or his strength. Which hero you know that can rip a monster, named Grendel, arm off with their bare hands. Kill the monsters’ mother by cutting her head off. And that’s not even all. They were underwater at that when he cut her head off with a sword made by giants.
Beowulf went off to fight this dragon all my his self with just a sword and a shield. In the end he defeated the dragon but also lost his life. The defeat shows the great strength that Beowulf has even as an old man. This also goes back to the quality of being brave. He shows braveness in this fight because he tells everyone that this is his fight and no one else should help him, which no one did.
Even though he was the king he still went to go fight the dragon. Even though he could have just sent his men to kill the dragon he went to do it himself and dies from a bite from the dragon and the regrets not having a son because he devoted his life to others. Beowulf is a hero who as saved countless lives fighting many monsters such as Grendel, Grendel’s mom, and the dragon. He saved many lives and died doing it. The amount of lives he saved made him a great hero.