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.
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.
This incredible war story shows us that, even though they display great bravery and valour in battle, the only thing young men who fight in wars accomplish is an early death. The novel talks about many soldiers dying. So many of these soldiers are dead, that in the trenches they can smell the stench of rotting flesh, as the dead men often do not get buried. Those young men lying out in No Man’s Land, unburied, all went to war for the same reason, to prove that they were brave, not cowardly, and to fight for their country. All they end up doing though is becoming another casualty, another statistic, dying in a war that had no real reason.
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.
In his final battle, Beowulf’s kin all turn on him except for one, Wiglaf. In the battle Beowulf is killed and Wiglaf survives and defeats the dragon. Beowulf announces that Wiglaf will be his successor and says this to him, “ You’re the last of all our far-flung family.” (835) Beowulf is telling Wiglaf he is the last of kin surviving that is a true hero. With Beowulf’s death, Wiglaf becomes the last man with true Anglo-Saxon morals of courage, determination, and heroism. The epic ends with Beowulf’s funeral, but Wiglaf’s lonely fate is never discussed.
He rules peacefully for fifty years, until there is a thief wakes the dragon who guards treasure up. It flies and flame Geats and Geatish in fire through the night. Beowulf decides to go fight against dragon with his old-aged strength. This time the honored kind doesn’t fight to get any fame, he got it enough in the past. The reason for him to fight is to protect his land and his people.
Beowulf’s strength continues into the battle with the dragon. He decided that he must retaliate for his people and fight the dragon. Beowulf is seriously wounded himself, yet he still manages to gather the strength, to deliver the final blow that slays the dragon (Beowulf 2701 – 2704). The fights of Beowulf can be translated into a story between the powers of good and evil. This is an example of Pagan traditions.
They say a hero can be found anywhere at any time than you know he’s true, for one person who knows that the honor to fight for the king because it is what they owe to him for helping their father. The beast is no more he has been defeated by a warrior with no sense of similarities to another warrior. I couldn’t help but notice that the king needed help because he was struggling with the beast Grendel; so I decided to offer my life to help defeat him. The beast was just continuing to bother the king Hrothgar and destroying the castle, he came upon me and I just knew I had to leave my homeland to go to his. So here’s the truth behind what happened.
The battle was over, Beowulf had been granted new glory: Grendel escaped, But wounded as he was could flee to his den, its miserable hole at the bottom of the marsh. Only to die, to wait for the end” (lines 498-503). Finally in Beowulf part two explains after the defeat of Grendel and his mother he became king because since Beowulf had so much honor in battle, that people learned from him and is looked up to (pg 43). These steps that Beowulf went through define what an archetypal hero perfectly and this is why Beowulf is an archetypal hero. So to the following conclusion Beowulf is an archetypal epic hero because he carries both traits of both an archetypal and epic hero.
Beowulf firsts shows this when he defeats Grendel in Herot, for the ring-giver Hrothgar in behalf of his king Higlac. Beowulf had killed Grendel with his bare hands in order to show his true strength. Beowulf exhibits his superhuman strength also when he kills Grendel’s mother with “A heavy sword/ Hammered by giants.” During this fight Beowulf also showed another superhuman quality of courage. Beowulf showed his superhuman courage when he