Beowulf: The Importance Of Courage And Loyalty

The Importance of Courage, Loyalty, and Reputation

In BeoWulf, the heroic code is mentioned and expressed many times throughout the poem. The heroic code contains three elements, which are courage, loyalty, and reputation. Although all of these elements are important, I believe some are more important than others. In my opinion, Courage is the least important element. It is not something needed in life, and it is exaggerated in stories. The second element, loyalty, is a very important piece in life and in novels or poems. It can define a whole relationship between a group of people. However, the most important element is reputation. Without a reputation, no one knows who you are. A reason reputation is the most important element is because

However, while these acts may be courageous, I would define courage as both a physical and mental way of fighting in life. In my opinion, courage is an element we rarely rely on in life. The few times we really do need it the most, it can fail us. When I was younger, I would get bullied by kids in my elementary school. Every time I wanted to stand up for myself, I would feel as if I wasn’t strong enough to handle my situation. I’d go home and talk to my parents, and they would talk to me about how I should stand up for myself. I was told that bullies were always weak, and they only picked on others to make themselves feel better. I thought I could go back to school and face my bullies head-on. However, the moment they started verbally harassing me, I lost all my confidence and courage. I thought I would be cowardly and hopeless for the rest of my life. The next day, everything was fine. I eventually realized that life is hard sometimes, and unfortunately, being bullied is a normal part of your life. I realized that no matter what happened, courage is never going to be a deciding factor in my life. In any

Loyalty defines how trustworthy you are, or how long you stick around in certain situations, no matter how hard it gets. When people realize that you stick by their side for anything, it can really improve your life in many ways. When I was in elementary school, my friends would always have fights with each other because they were not loyal to each other. The one thing little kids hate the most is having to argue with their friends.. In the end, they might end up telling each other that they don’t want to be friends anymore. However, the next day, all is forgiven. Although this is just a silly argument that all kids have sometime throughout their early life, it can really mean something in the future. As you eventually grow up and mature, no one wants a friend who will turn on them in an instant, or change their group of friends because of a little fight. In BeoWulf, Hrothgar is immediately trusting of Beowulf due to history between their families. In return, Beowulf is extremely loyal to Hrothgar and his kingdom, as he helps kill Grendel and Grendel’s mother. Beowulf is then repaid with treasure and riches, and the bond between Hrothgar and Beowulf is strengthened. If there was no trust between them, things would not have turned out the way they did. Beowulf would not have been accepted into the kingdom with open arms. These examples show that loyalty goes a long way in