Mayra Vargas Period 3 Can’t Be Replaced Monster’s that can’t be harmed by a mortal’s weapon, or a battle against a fire breathing dragon; can you handle this alone? With your bare hands? Beowulf in many words is the archetypal epic hero in 4 characteristics. Beowulf is one of the very lucky, not only by being prince of the Geats but his story is being told from generations. A hero in a quest to fight for glory and the greater good of society.
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.
If they had thought any less of Beowulf as a leader, they would have left and returned to wait in Herot. Also, Beowulf presents his virtue as leader when he will ride out to face the dragon even though he is far into old age. To drive the point home, the Geats that Beowulf ruled as king gave Beowulf the most spectacular funeral that they have ever given someone. They built him a tower and put all their good into that tower. One sees this in the book when it reads, “Then the Geats built the tower…the treasures they’d taken were left there too.” (63) If Beowulf had been an ordinary and un-epic man, the Geats would have buried him in a common manner and used the treasure for themselves.
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". Even though this trial appears easy, it still puts Gawain in a conflict and makes him fear his life with the Green Knight. After this, the Green Knight still is not the main enemy whom the hero must overcome in this story. Throughout his quest, Gawain is still challenged against this stereotype and does not always win, as he must face temptation and the qualities that do not live up to a typical hero’s standards. For Shrek, he fights just like a hero would when he approaches the castle with the fire breathing dragon.
Ender’s army quickly rises the ranks to be number one at battle school. Ender mercilessly destroys the other armies through his use of cunning and strategy. As I mentioned earlier, dragons in the Eastern Hemisphere can also symbolize change, and this aptly sums up what Ender’s army did to the battle games. Through Ender’s ingenious strategies and new ideas, he quickly gains fame and jealously, forcing him to become like the dragon himself; heartless and terrible, something that causes deep distress, particularly after he kills Bonzo. Ender also ponders his change when he purposely isolates his team member Bean, as a means to strengthen him later on.
The dragon he has Impressed happens to be a bronze dragon, the highest ranking dragon. Keevan's name is shortened to K'van, a sign of a dragonrider; the dragon reveals that his name is Heath; and now they will protect Pern from deadly spores called Thread together forever. In the story "The Smallest Dragonboy" by Anne McCaffrey, the lesson learned is never giving up can help you achieve goals that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. One thing that shows never giving up can take you a long way is that Keevan was teased for his size, but it never stopped him. Bertli always made fun of him for being small, but Keevan still believed that it is possible for him to become a dragonrider and he had as good as a chance as any of the other candidates.
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.
Although Beowulf was getting older, he would still try to subdue himself into violent battles. The invaders on his village were no match to the almighty strength Beowulf had. Tearing his enemies, limb from limb, thrashing his sword into the enemies’ hearts with passion for more, but there was no match that came close to the one he had to handle with against the dragon of the west. The black infernos of Mont. Ice held the gruesome, foul, cold hearted dragon Dave.
We can see that Beowulf shows courage when he is going to go fight Grendel. Beowulf gains leadership when he leads his men to victory over Grendle. He shows that he has power because he defeated a monster that nobody could defeat. Although Beowulf was undefeated, he came back one hundred years later to fight a dragon, but he failed and died. This can relate to many people in our society.
He is now adulterated by the glory and material wealth of earth that he has lost the strength of his purity, a power that can only come when he fights only with his bare hands and without the protection of metal. Beowulf fights two more battles after his first victory: a battle with Beowulf’s mother, then a battle with the dragon that terrorizes his own kingdom. The two other battles that follow later in Beowulf’s life becomes increasingly difficult, ultimately leading to his death; this process is an indication of Beowulf’s corruption as he indulges in the earthly goods along with the glory following his deeds. By the end of the poem, Beowulf