An epic is a long narrative poem that celebrates a hero’s deed. An epic hero is best describe as brave, strong, human, and not invincible, and takes quests to defeat evil. Beowulf, from the Anglo-Saxon epic, is an epic hero. Beowulf is a classic example of an epic hero because he has all of these traits.
Beowulf is an example of an epic hero because he is brave. Beowulf is described as brave because he agreed to fight Grendel with no weapons or shield. Beowulf tells the king “...the monster’s scorn of men/...nor will I” (168-169). Only a brave hero would face a deadly monster without any help like a weapon. Also, Beowulf is even when he is old. Beowulf decides to kill the dragon that is threatening his people. He announces “...I am old, now/ But I will fight again, seek fame still,/If the dragon hiding in his tower dares to face me” (609-611).
Although epic heroes are brave, Beowulf is stronger than the regular people. Beowulf express strength when he grabs Grendel’s arm. Grendel “...twisted in pain/And the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder/Snapped, muscle and bones split/And broke”(337-340). In addition, Beowulf lifts up a sword made by the giants. Beowulf “...saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy/Sword, hammered by giants, strong/And blessed with their magic, the best of all weapons/But so massive that no ordinary man could lift/Its carved and decorated length”(513-517). Beowulf drew the sword”...from its scabbard, broke the chain on its hilt” (518) with his extraordinary strength and kills Grendel’s Mother.
All epic heroes takes quests quest to defeat evil, and Beowulf takes many quests to defeat evil. First quest; Beowulf travels across the sea to the land of the Danes to kill Grendel. Beowulf “...would sail across the sea to Hrothgar,/Now when help was needed” (115-116). Second quest; Beowulf goes underwater to fight against Grendel’s Mother. Beowulf “...leaped into the lake.../...for hours he sank through the waves;/At last he saw the bottom/And all at once saw the greedy she-wolf”(450-453) Grendel’s Mother. Last quest; Beowulf is old and travels to kill the dragon that threaten his people. Beowulf “Strode calmly, confidently, toward the tower, under/The rocky cliffs; no coward could have walked there” (635-636).
Even though Beowulf is all strong, brave, and takes quests, Beowulf is first and foremost human and not invincible. In one battle, Grendel’s Mother has Beowulf trap and for a second Beowulf can not get out.
Beowulf is told to be, “as strong as thirty men”. He has slayed numerous water monsters. When faced with Grendal, he kicked Grendal’s behind. Grendal had never felt such fear for his life. After he beat up Grendal, he kept his arm as a trophy to display in the hall. Hrothgar was forever grateful to Beowulf; he gave Beowulf a sword, a coat of mail, horses, ensign, etc. Weatheow, Hrothgar’s wife, gave Beowulf Hygelac’s old collar of gold. Beowulf was then faced with the vengeful mother of Grendal. Of course he defeated this foe and in reward he took with him Grendal’s head and a giant’s sword. Beowulf is a strong fighter in the manuscript Beowulf.
Once Beowulf arrives to the cave that Grendel lives, he comes face to face with Grendel’s mother. Grendel’s mom is already upset about her son coming home with only an arm and being beaten up. She feels a great deal of anguish when she sees this and takes her anger off on someone else other than Beowulf. Beowulf decides to face her. The speaker states, “They wrestled, she ripped/ and tore and clawed at him, bit holes in his helmet,/ and that too failed him” (498-500). At first Beowulf is losing this battle. He does not give up, but continues on the fight. Anger becomes a source that helps strengthen him. The orator states, “Anger/ doubled his strength, he threw her to the floor” (510-511). He manages to weaken Grendel’s mother and slams her to the floor. She does not stay on the floor for long and instantly she is back up on her feet and fighting. A commentator states, “Although she proves an even stronger foe than her son, Beowulf manages to defeat and slay her” (Mazzeno). Beowulf manages to kill her despite her strength. He proves that he is able to defeat those who possesses greater strength then
To start off, throughout the story Beowulf is set to complete a task or quest. His story starts off when Beowulf catches word that a fierce monster named Grendel has been terrorizing and killing King Hrothgar’s men in the town of Herot. Beowulf quickly sets boats to
Beowulf is showing a lot of faith in this action. While his strength is often talked about, so is Grendel’s. We are told of Grendel’s war-strength. Beowulf would have known these stories and still choose to trust in God’s spiritual help instead of man’s physical help.
An epic hero is admired for their monumental achievements. In all ways of there lives they live to be an epic hero . Each possess the same characteristics which allow them to be considered an epic hero. Both Characters possess a otherworldly amount of courage, bravery and an overwhelming drive to defeat the supernatural beings in their life, in Achilles case it was his avenging his brother's death and for Beowulf it was protecting the villagers of Heorot from the evil Grendel.
Beowulf is a perfect example of an epic since within the story we can clearly recognize some of the typical characteristics of the genre: it is lengthy, the main character is characterized for having a superhuman strength and for emboding the nation´s values.
While I was reading the epic poem of Beowulf, I found that Beowulf himself seemed to be the hero archetype, which is most likely why the epic poem is named the way it is titled. Throughout the prose poem, Beowulf charms the reader with his alluring character and presents a variety of pleasant traits, such as honor, wisdom, superhuman strength, loyalty, and the courage to risk his life unselfishly in order to save the helpless people. Beowulf exemplifies an epic hero because of his good hearted nature and through his epic, heroic deeds he does to protect the people around him from danger, regardless of who they are. He is also a fair man, even to his worst enemies. He never lets anyone in battle have the upper hand, not even himself, which makes
Beowulf is truly an epic hero, because of his wisdom, strength and bravery. These characteristics keep him set apart from all other character. He would take any risk to defeat his enemy and to gain glory. Even when he dies, he defeated his opponent and gained more glory to his name. In Beowulf, there are series of battles centered around the heroic figure Beowulf, who is an epic hero.
Beowulf, King of the Geats and the slayer of demons has not only earned the title of bravest warrior in all of the mythological Kingdom of Hrothgar, but he has also gained the title of an Epic hero in today 's literary world. To be an epic hero, a character must first fill some intensive quotas such as, wielding ancient weapons and harnessing super-human like power, or just being the embodiment of a culture and completing ‘heroic’ tasks among the commonwealth. In the epic, Beowulf is first introduced to us as he and a band of warriors set off to slay Grendel, a mythological beast that has been terrorizing and causing grief within the Kingdom of Hrothgar. At this point, we do not yet view Beowulf as epic hero, but rather a great warrior because
When thinking about epic heroes people mostly have different type of images. Some might think of achieving small tasks is being a hero. Others might think of heroes that are powerful. Similar to what some people think today the Anglo-Saxon also beloved in heroes that are strong, famous and successful. For them it was Beowulf that they admired and thought of him as a hero. Equivalent to Beowulf The 13th Warriors were also known to be epic heroes. One of the significant illustration that both Beowulf and The 13th Warriors show is the importance of strength in battles.
Many individuals fail to correctly describe a hero. When young, they are taught that heroes have superpowers and are powerful. In the epic poem, Beowulf, Burton Raffel contradicts this belief. He translates the characteristics that make Beowulf an epic hero. Beowulf fits the definition of an epic hero because of his courageous deeds that reflect the values of his era, his character traits that reflect important ideals of his society, and his journey leaving his homeland to live with others.
society. In Beowulf, Beowulf shows extraordinary courage and strength that gives him special status. This notion is shown, when Beowulf fights Grendel and Grendel’s mother, but it is especially noticeable when he fights the dragon. When Beowulf fought Grendel others had the courage to attempt to fight him. The same is true with Grendel’s mother. When Beowulf goes to fight the Dragon, the other warriors cower away into the woods. Beowulf shows his courage by fighting the Dragon. Even when Beowulf is fighting the Dragon and realizes that his sword can do no damage he continues to fight. After Beowulf is on the verge of death he shows a combination of courage and strength by delivering the death blow to the Dragon, and not just laying down to die. Beowulf’s strength is shown when he is able to actually do battle with the Dragon; any normal man would have fallen to the dragon immediately.
Beowulf easily fits the profile of an epic hero. From all his strength and courage, he has sought immorality through these characteristics. A mighty warrior who was known for his many heroic deeds in Geitland from singlehandedly slaying beasts with his bare hands. Edgetho, his father had a good relationship with Hrothgar which he recalls when Beowulf meets him in Denmark when he arrives to take the head of Grendel. Beowulf bravely sails from Geitland to Denmark to kill Grendel in the name of glory.
An epic hero is a main character who embodies the ideals of a certain culture. The character is named Beowulf and he represents the ideals of the Anglo-Saxon culture which were bravery, skillfulness, and generosity. Beowulf showed his braveness multiple times throughout the story. After he heard of a monster named Grendel who, for twelve years had been attacking King Hrothgar's mead hall Heorot, Beowulf traveled to the Danish islands to defeat him. Even though Beowulf didn't know anything about Grendel he went on a long voyage to reach the islands so that the Hrothgar's people need not live in fear. Then, after Beowulf Grendel, Grendel's mother came after the people of Heorot to avenge her son's death. To reach her, Beowulf had to dive into dark dangerous waters, facing unknown peril. He swam down through the shadowy lake by himself fighting off monsters the whole way. Once he did arrive at her lair a vicious fight ensued, but the courageous Beowulf came out victorious once again. Later in Beowulf's life, a dragon destroys his village and the large mead hall he had built for his men. Even though he knew he was no longer as agile and strong, Beowulf went straight to the dragon and gave a defiant shout of challenge.
Beowulf also contains an epic hero. The title of the poem has been named after our epic hero, Beowulf. In definition, an epic hero is someone that does larger than life deeds and is stronger and smarter than any normal man; and Beowulf fits this description as if the mold were made for him. He has the strength of thirty men and uses it as a major weapon against evil. This can be seen through Beowulf’s battles with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon.