What it means to be good in the world of Beowulf, the relationship between individual prowess or ability and ethical value, the meaning of being a member of the community, the role of the monster in defining virtue and community and the role of language are the importance of individual virtue and its relationship to community are all the many characteristics that can be read in the story of Beowulf. Beowulf was all about being a hero. Everyone saw him as a courageous, super-strong epic hero. What did it mean to be good in the world of Beowulf? Beowulf was strong, intelligent, humble, and kind and in the eyes of society this was their view of being good.
In the novel, Beowulf, the main character is the epitome of an epic hero. He has great strength, he is morally sound, and, for the most part, he thinks of others before he thinks of himself. Beowulf comes to the Geats’ aid when an evil monster named Grendel terrorizes their mead hall. He courageously defeats the monster and defeats the monster’s vengeful mother. Through these battles, Beowulf’s strength, humbleness and courageousness is revealed.
For example, he only fought the monster, Grendel, because the monster was killing all the men. MLK fought because he refused to let segregation go on any longer. Segregation was when the black and whites were separated in their daily lives. The differences between Beowulf and MLK were that Beowulf fought physically and MLK fought verbally. Beowulf ripped a monster’s arm of with his bare hands.
Unlike the difficulties Gawain faced, Shrek has managed gaining his house back and fighting for the woman he falls for. All in all, as a hero, Gawain’s greatest challenge is himself as he fears death; this goes hand and hand with Shrek’s greatest challenge, as he believes that his love will never want him. Traditionally, heroes are portrayed as courageous and even perfect human beings. First as a hero, Gawain is faced with the challenge of the Green Knight. As the Green Knight comes to King Arthur’s court, he causes a scene, which then invites everyone to "give a blow and take a blow".
A true hero is courageous, honorable, moral, brave, fearless, honest, good, truthful, fair, strong, cunning, caring, etc. Beowulf is heroic, he shows bravery and excellence through his actions. Fighting against evil monsters that are trying to harm the people of his town. Showing care and keeping his word to honor his people. II.
Loyalty Through the noble deeds performed in Anglo-Saxon originated epic, the ideal of loyalty is portrayed through the main character, Beowulf. Since he is the ideal thane, the failure of other knights to be as extraordinary as Beowulf makes him seem even more faithful and noble. Beowulf was loyal to all of his kin, kingdom, king, country, and his subjects. With this and courage he was a model thane, as well as king, for he was portrayed through the epic as the perfect warrior, and the most idealistic knight of his time. As described in the story, Beowulf is fiercely loyal; he has allegiance with all that are not enemies.
Antigone was very heroic and brave at first, Creon now punishes her, and she does not fight back, but she simply badmouths her father. “O Oedipus, father and brother your marriage strikes from the grave to murder mine (7.40-41) says a coward Antigone. Creon, on the other hand who is supposed to be the strong king of the land, does not manage to control his anger, and fights his own son in an argument. This can be considered a sense of pride, since Creon did not want to change his opinion. Part of being a tragic hero is having a destruction.
This creates conflict between the monster and Victor as the monster soon begins to hate him for abandoning him. Furthermore, in chapter 16 we see conflict between the creator and the created again: “you belong to my enemy—to him I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim”. The monster’s anger towards his creator is channelled into revenge as he kills his brother. Shelley uses the language device direct address to depict this. The pronoun “you” is repeated, this makes the reader
Good Versus Evil in Beowulf An anonymous Anglo-Saxon author composed Beowulf, an epic poem, in which good triumphs against evil. A variety of despicable monsters constantly threaten the people of Denmark providing a need for a noble warrior, Beowulf. The repetitive struggle to save humanity demonstrates the forces of good versus evil through The Battle with Grendel, The Battle with Grendel’s Mother, and The Battle with the Dragon. The initial battle, The Battle with Grendel, begin the fight of good versus evil. Grendel, a savege beast, continually devoured the people of Denmark, bloodthirsty, “ He moved quickly through the cloudy night […] Towards that shinning hall”(289-291).
Beowulf’s goodness is described in his battle against evil, symbolized by Grendel, one of the monsters defeated by him. The epic shows conflict between good and evil. In the beginning of the epic poem Grendel, who represents evil, is introduced. He is a giant man eating demonic monster. Grendel lives in the darkness and appears from the shadowy marshes in the darkness every night to kill.