We can see this as a characteristic of an epic hero because now Beowulf is the king of his people and is very old. The fact that he is super old says that he is truly risking death. Now Beowulf takes himself and eleven other men with him to the dragon tower. He goes in all by himself to fight this dragon. He finds the dragons treasure and then wham the battle is off.
This arrogance leads him to becoming slightly obsessed with retaining his pride and not letting anyone slight his bravado. To uphold his name and pride, he mauls his opponents without remorse, heroically takes on the river Xanthus, and even sacrifices twelve Trojan men at Patrocius’ funeral (Cook, 57). Though finally in the final chapter, Achilles shows his remorseful side when he’s reminded of his father when Priam asks for Hector’s defiled body back (Cook, 48). Achilles encompasses many traits immanent in the culture of his time period, mostly of honor and glory for his name, but he also relinquishes those traits with a forgiving side of remorse and grief, even though it usually ends in intense anguish. On the contrary, Hamlet embraces several of these characteristics in the form of a very different character.
‘Hurt and humbled, brave Richard reigns again.’ Ben Macintyre, The Australian, February 6, 2013, p.8. Adapted for the purposes of this exam paper. The king had an ‘unusually slender, almost feminine build’ but he fought manfully to the end; his body was hacked and abused as he was dragged from the battlefield by his triumphant enemies, and then England’s last Plantagenet monarch was tossed into an unmarked grave to lie there unnoticed for five hundred years. Richard III’s bones – which were confirmed as his on Monday night following their discovery in Leicester, England – cannot tell us whether he was a good king, or the evil monarch of legend and Shakespeare’s imagination. However, they have revealed an astonishing amount about
Youth and age play a vital role in this epic, with the first half dedicated to Beowulf’s youth and the second half dedicated to the end of Beowulf’s life. In his youth, Beowulf is a great warrior, characterized predominantly by his feats of strength and courage. He does extraordinary things that no other man can do, such as driving “Five great giants into chains” swimming “In the blackness of night, hunting monsters/ Out of the ocean, and killing them one/ By one” (Lines 420, 422-424). Also, as Beowulf prepares to fight Grendel, he states, “ ‘I could kill him with my sword; I shall not,/ Easy as it would be’ ” (Lines678-679). Because of his confidence and knowledge of personal strength, Beowulf fights the most evil monster with his bare hands and comes out victorious.
In Homer’s appealing epic The Odyssey, voyager Odysseus journeys on a struggling battle to return home on Poseidon’s struggling seas. As Poseidon makes it more difficult for Odysseus to sail back to his homeland, the adventuring salesman Edward Bloom from Daniel Wallace’s Big Fish is remembered for the journeys he takes that keep him at an emotionally distant relationship from his family. To make up for lost times, during every moment he can, Edward presents wild, imaginative stories to his son. Although these two stories seem exceptionally different, the explorations these men experience shape who they are. Odysseus’ pride and curiosity molds his character.
Throughout the epic Beowulf, the main character transitions from an adolescent into an adult. He does this through becoming an epic hero. Every part of the book is a step towards him becoming a true epic hero. Beowulf transitions from an adolescent to an epic hero by fighting Grendel, killing Grendel’s mother, and fighting the dragon. Beowulf’s battle against Grendel is the first step toward the transition from adolescent to an epic hero.
Beowulf cut off his arm so he could kill the dragon and also showed him ripping the dragon’s heart out. He died when he fell off the cliff with the dragon. His friend was the one who inherited the throne. It looks like the curse was passed to his friend who inherited the throne. It will be pass again and
It represents a great man's journey through life with all its victories and heartbreaks. Because Odysseus is far from Ithaca and the only way home is by way of the sea, he shows lack of judgment when he incurs the wrath of the sea god, Poseidon, by blinding the god's son Polyphemus. The sea god answers the Cyclops' prayer by making Odysseus' struggle long and hard, assuring that he returns home alone and finds formidable problems in his household. Part of the appeal of The Odyssey is this universal journey that we all undertake, in ways great or
The quote explains the condition of Beowulf before he is about to die in order for a new hero to arrive. “Then he saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy sword, hammered by giants, strong And blessed with their magic, the best of all weapons.” (Beo 513-515) This quote is an example of the archetype Magic Weapon, since Beowulf is the only person in the world able to use this weapon to kill Grendel’s
Alyssa Arballo Period 7 English 12 H 10/18/2013 Beowulf, Epic Hero In the epic poem, Beowulf, the famous warrior, strives for greatness by winning many battles against evil. The very first battle was against the monstrous, demon like, Grendal and how Beowulf triumphed. After the death of Grendal, the wicked witch, Grendal’s mother, raging mad, went after Beowulf. Without a doubt Beowulf overturned an almost certain defeat into a victory. Towards the end of the poem, Beowulf meets his match, battling the furious dragon where he meets his ultimate death.