Beowulf And Aeneas Character Analysis

With a great hero, comes a personal background that is significant to their roles in their stories. In this case, the two great heroes are Beowulf and Aeneas. Beowulf is in the tribe Geats, which is basically a group of warriors living in what we now call Sweden. He fights many enemies, some being, two demons, Grendel, and Grendel’s mom (the last two being the most significant), defeating them all. The reason behind the fights was just a man trying to make a name for himself and defending his people. Then in the Aenead the main character is Aeneas, who is a mythical hero of Troy and Rome (“Aeneas” 1). He was a important warrior in many battles. One of the most significant and memorable battles was the Trojan War in which he defended his city. His city of Troy got destroyed but he wasn’t done. His mother, Venus, is the goddess of

connections which really helped Aeneas along the way, because he had to meet plenty of people in his journeys, so she made sure he meet the right people.
In each story, the main characters, Beowulf and Aeneas are faced with plenty of challenges that they must overcome. After defeating their foes, whether its Beowulf taking on Grendel or the numerous angry citizens of Italy, both Beowulf and Aeneas realize they didn’t do everything on their own. What I mean is that they had help from someone or something else. An example with Beowulf is represented in his speech after he killed Grendel. He said, “Not easily did I survive the fight under water; I performed this deed not without a struggle. Our strife had ended at its very beginning if god had not saved me,” (Beowulf, 60). This passage really indicates that Beowulf accepts God and whatever fate God may have in store for him, while being grateful for everything God has done so far. Its almost the same thing in the Aenead, when Aeneas takes command over all his journeys but in all he accepts his fate that he must lead his people to Italy. Exemplifying that both Beowulf and Aeneas trust God and his fate despite being in different scenarios.
On top of both Beowulf and Aeneas accepting their fate, they have help from the gods in their travels and battles throughout the stories.

It is very clear in the Aenead in multiple cases. Some examples are Aeneas with Venus or Juno when both gods help him on separate occasions, some in his quests, and others in the underworld, whether it was messages or different symbols that represented meaning. The messages weren’t the only things he received from the gods, when he received plenty of weapons and armor later on from the gods directly. The same is true with Beowulf, mostly the fact that he notices when the gods are helping him. This is represented when Beowulf says, “Day in the east grew, God’s bright beacon, and the billows sank so that I could see the headlands,” (Beowulf, 22-23). That passage basically is saying that if it weren’t for God bringing the sunlight he never would have been able to make it or, “see the headlands.” Another example of the gods intervening with Beowulf is when they gave him his sword, which eventually ended up saving his life. Both stories show that the gods do show up and help directly and

indirectly.
The last big point that compares the two great journeys in Beowulf and The Aenead are