“… No better king had ever lived, no prince so mild, no man so open to his people, so deserving of praise” (l. 867 -869). In the epic entitled Beowulf, Beowulf illustrates the behavior of an Anglo-Saxon hero. Beowulf exhibits heroic qualities throughout the epic by showing bravery, confidence, and courage both in leading his people and in his battles with the monsters. Beowulf shows bravery by battling the monsters even “If death does take” (l. 281) him and by leading his men to fight the dragon in order to save the people of his country. “And for the first time in his life that famous prince fought with fate against him, with glory denied him.
When he set his mind on something he wanted, he always went through with it. An example of this is when Beowulf heard of Grendel terrorizing the people of Denmark. Beowulf organized a crew of men to fight Grendel along side him. However, in the end he defeated him on his own, ripping his arm off in the process. Beowulf was of noble birth but he was also a noble person.
Beowulf’s extraordinary strength and abilities make him an epic hero. Beowulf is a larger-that-life hero and embodies the values of the Anglo-Saxons. Beowulf is great leader because he is loyal. He protected Danes from Grendal by killing the monster and killed Grendal’s mother for attacking Herot. He fights when he is called up on to.
He is brave, and he has confidence bordering on absurdity. He chooses to fight Grendel disarmed and without any armor. Lines 339-340 quoted, “He twisted in pain/ and the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder/ snapped, muscle and bone split.” Beowulf used his powerful grip to defeat the invincible Grendel! Not only is Beowulf strong, he is also very honorable. Lines 115-116 quotes “Would sail across the sea to Hrothgar/ now when help was needed.” This explains thoroughly how Beowulf is daring and noble.
My lord Higlac might think less of me if I let my sword go where my feet were afraid to, if I hid behind some broad linden shield: My hands alone shall fight for me, struggle for life against the monster.” In this quote Beowulf is trying to convince the King of the Danes to let him defeat the monster Grendel. He tells him how he has defeated many other monsters and how he could
It is here where Gawain stands up to the challenge in order to protect his Uncle, King Arthur, from danger. He does this to get respect from the other knights. Gawain even goes as far as making himself sound like he is worth nothing compared to King Arthur as a way to make himself feel like he is going to do something amazing. “I am weakest of your warriors and feeblest of wit; / loss of my life would be grieved at least” (354-355). Because of this, the poem describes Gawain as this brave and heroic knight for going up against the Green Knight’s challenge, but in reality, Gawain is making a big scene to seem like he is a brave knight.
By defeating Grendel, he shows that man, without armor and weapons, can defeat evil in any form including that of his enemy Grendel. Beowulf claims he is ‘as dangerous any day as Grendel” (577). In the biblical sense, this may represent how Jesus could heal anything with merely his hands. This is meant to show that Beowulf represents ‘good’. Beowulf also shows he represents goodness by volunteering to fight evil; protect his people, and doing it selflessly.
When Odysseus and his men are clearly safe away from the island Odysseus brags about his successful feat. Polythemus hears this and launches giant boulders in the direction of the ship. Some came very close to sinking the ship, yet that was not enough for Odysseus. Blinded by his pride he unwisely revealed his identity to Polythemus. With that Polythemus called upon his father, Poseidon, to seek revenge on the man who had harmed him.
"(Beowulf line 464-466) Beowulf’s unusual and courageous method of killing Grendel demonstrates his bravery and physical strength. Before, Unferth had taunted Beowulf about his foolish bravery, but when he and all the rest of the Geats saw that Beowulf’s strength and power were worth boasting about, they were humbled. To prove Beowulf was powerful, he hung Grendel’s arm, claw, and
He decided to almost immediately give it another go. After they had a very successful run in The Flemish Cap, their freezer dies and must return home. Despite numerous warnings by a fellow captain of one of the most powerful storm nature has created, they believed they could get through the beast. All is well until a tidal wave flips the boat, sinking and taking the lives of all aboard. The crew in The Perfect Storm and the shipwrecked four of The Open Boat were up against the same challenge, but went about getting by it in different ways.