All of his men leave in fear, except for Wigclaf, and he is left to fight the dragon alone. He then dies when the dragon bites his neck and the venom kills him. He still killed the dragon though, and Wigclaf keeps his heroic story alive. King Arthur in King Arthur also has all the traits of a legendary hero. He had an obscure birth due to the fact that Merlin gave him to another family even though he was the son of a king.
This truly exemplary feat is pictured to us when the book says, “[Beowulf] stopped those claws/ In his fists till they cracked, clutched Grendel/ Closer.”(50) In addition Beowulf also swims for hours to find, battle, and kill his enemy that was Grendel’s mother. Here, the hero had to lift a Giant-made-sword off the wall to kill the beast. Any lesser man would surely have been defeated and never seen again. Swinging the sword, Beowulf beheaded both Grendel and his mother, ending them forever. Finally, Beowulf even manages to find courage greater than other men when he faces down a full-blown dragon in his old age in order to save his kingdom.
Not only will he be given gold when he wins the battle but ancient treasures well be in his possession. After defeating Grendel’s mother Beowulf chopped off the head of Grendel and took it back to king Hrothgar. After fifty winters, Beowulf now an old man fought the dragon alone. He did not want his men to risk their lives. That was the final battle for Beowulf and the last of him too.
Malouf’s novel Ransom highlights the ways in which people can transformed by grief. Discuss In David Malouf’s text “Ransom” it portrays how main characters Achilles, Somax and Priam are transformed when experiencing grief. Achilles turns into a beast when his best friend, Patroclus was killed by his greatest enemy, Hector. Whereas, Somax who has lost his wife and all his children and only left with his daughter-in-law and granddaughter grieves in silence but has anger issues. Priam mourns only for his eldest son, Hector which makes him set on a journey not as a King but as a father and to “ransom” his son’s body.
Beowulf, his story so great and prominent that it seems to proceed him. He defeats the first two monsters with little resistance. When Beowulf comes up against the last opponent, a huge dragon. He is left to fight, almost alone when his men run away in fear. He comes to his ultimate demise in the final slay of the dragon.
Ice held the gruesome, foul, cold hearted dragon Dave. He terrorized the villagers every year on the day of the full moons. Once the light of the moon filled the dark sky with light, the dragon would come and seek out the battle he always wanted. If he didn’t receive his wish, he would take a innocent person into his cave of the mountain. Villagers tried everything they could to resolve the needless acts of brutality; Prayer, offerings, bribes, and even land didn’t subdue the dragon’s
Odysseus and his crew went into the cave and waited for the giant, hoping the giant would treat them well. But the Cyclops named Polyphemus was evil and he ate two of Odysseus crew. Then the giant fell asleep. Odysseus and his crew then started planning to kill Polyphemus. Odysseus was more thoughtful than others.
The reason for him to fight is to protect his land and his people. “Then to Beowulf the disaster was told soon made plain, for his own home was burned, finest buildings, the hall in fire-waves, gift-throne of Geats. To the good king it was great anguish, pain deep in mind” (2324 – 2328). Unfortunately, he died in the battle, but he also defeated the dragon that burned his city. The examples above showed that there are different things motivated Beowulf to fight, depends on his maturity and the situation.
The end of his life was growing near, and he grew ill. He attempted suicide, but his servants kept the poisons and blades away from him. He hired a barbarian man to murder him, yet he failed to follow through. So Hadrian decided to retire and soon ended up dying afterwards. Hadrian died being one of the greatest Roman Emperors in ancient history.
They seek glory on the battlefield, to die a hero, to be honored in death by their people yet they were depicted as very different men who had come to a time in their lives where their ultimate reasons for the war were very different. Achilles was considered the warrior-champion of the Achaeans and came to live his life by violence, defending his people and defeating and or attacking his enemies. He was not a family man instead he is portrayed as a man fighting for his own self-satisfaction. When Agamemnon, also a warrior chieftain, shamed Achilles by claiming Briseis, Achilles war prize he is humiliated and his anger brews and he tells Agamemnon “Far better to head home with my curved ships than stay here, unhonored myself and piling up a fortune for you.” (111) and with that he leaves to back to Phthia. He had decided to kill Agamemnon but Athena came to him, sent by Hera, and told him to get his anger under control.