Through these battles, Beowulf’s strength, humbleness and courageousness is revealed. These are characteristics that are crucial in defining an epic hero. However, every epic hero has a tragic flaw. Beowulf’s tragic flaw is his pride. His tragic flaw is evident throughout the novel thinking he can win them all.
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.
The three heroes discussed here, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and King Arthur, are heroes for different reasons. Beowulf, our earliest hero, is brave but his motivation is different than then other two. To Sir Gawain personal honor and valor is what is important. King Arthur, Sir Gawain's uncle, is naturally the quintessential king of the medieval period. Though all men to a certain extent share the same qualities, some are more pronounced than in the others.
This epic poem illustrates the journey and hardship of one Anglo-Saxon warrior named Beowulf, who because of his journey became known as one of the respected heroes of the Anglo-Saxon times. Throughout his journey, Beowulf stumbled upon endless battles with ferocious monster trying to terrorize his king and kingdom. Beowulf was one to never give up on anything or anyone no matter the circumstances. Beowulf is an authentic hero according to the code of Anglo-Saxon times because he is courageous, loyal, and determined.
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
Noel Mendez Mendez 1 Mrs. Hinton English 3Period 2 August 31, 2012 Epic Hero Beowulf achieved many quest of tremendous value to himself and society. In the Epic From Beowulf translated by Burton Raffel, Beowulf did something that many people aren’t capable of doing. Beowulf proves to be a man of courage, leadership, and power and he can fit the image of an Epic hero in many ways. Beowulf was considered courageous during his lifetime because of everything he accomplished. Beowulf shows bravery in line 158 “… Death was errand.” He states that he will fight to his death.
World Literature 26/10/2013 The Not So Obvious Hero Throughout History we see man that stand out and are called heros who are admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, and noble qualities. Odysseus the great greek Warrior is one of the most famous heroes of history. His intelligence and charisma made him well known even into the 21st century. But what about other ancient characters? Abraham the father of the nation of Israel has lived such a different live than Odysseus the emblem of heroism but even though throughout Abrahams live he proves over and over again that he is also worthy of being called an Epic Hero.
After meeting both Cody and Daisy, Gatsby dedicates himself to becoming wealthy. Gatsby has all more of a reason to strive to become prominent. Daisy has become the only thing that matters to Gatsby, and it takes a truly great man to be capable of that kind of love. Gatsby deserves to be called great simply because he is a war hero. The war was crucial to Gatsby’s development as a man.
The song tells us that "he had prospered from that before, the protector of warriors." He exemplifies physical strength when he tears off Grendel's arm, fights sea monsters all through Norway, and carries thirty suits of armor, swimming. Lastly courage correlates with strength but not enough that it can't be its own heroic quality. Beowulf shows his courage in a multitude of ways, whether it be from giving Wiglaf his armor or fighting Grendel. Although those are virtually the same, you can go deeper into the tasks and detail his courage.
As a hero, the Anglo-Saxons made Beowulf have certain hero characteristics. Today we still have heroes that have the same characteristics because authors took the image of Beowulf and created other super-natural heroes. Beowulf was a warrior and a king that showed great courage and he was admired by his own people and King Hrothgar. Epic heroes are social icons and they are imposing in stature, physically and socially. Their style is grand, yet simple, and they have super-human strength and they also face super-natural forces.