Beowulf and Achilles

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Beowulf and Achilles

Beowulf is a story about a man named Beowulf who desired fame and fortune in life. The Iliad had a character named Achilles who is similar to Beowulf because he also desired glory. But they are two completely different stories written at different times and different places by different people. Both stories have unique qualities such as dragons in one and multi-gods in the other and that is what makes fictitious stories like these classics. Since achieving fame is a goal of these two characters, and since these are great works of literature, people can relate to wanting to be famous in life. So this essay is about Beowulf and Achilles and what they went through to be famous and also what they went through to keep their fame.

The Iliad, written by Homer, is about a few weeks of a ten-year war between the Trojans and the Acheans. Achilles is one of the main characters of The Iliad and he is a great man. All he wants is blood. His friend Patroclus was killed and he fights to avenge his friend and earn glory in the process. He would not have achieved glory if his friend hadn’t died though because Achilles knew that when he fought he would die. His friend’s death is what led Achilles to the fame and glory he received even though he couldn’t really enjoy it since Achilles died in the war.

Achilles’ key to fame was not only in killing hordes of Trojans but also killing one of their beloved icons – Hector. “...Brilliant Achilles drove his spear and the point went stabbing clean through the tender neck...” He killed Hector as revenge for Hector killing Patroclus. Hector was the first Trojan icon to go down in The Iliad although the next ones went down later on in the war, perhaps not in The...

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...pt one) fled his side, he bravely fought the dragon. He did not survive the battle against the dragon, however, but Beowulf did manage to slay him. And death in battle also attributes to the glory he earned and will leave him to be a very famous man throughout history (in the story. The man might have really existed).

Sad to say though that both characters Achilles and Beowulf died in the end; however, we are all going to die someday and both of them died when it was important – in battle earning honor. Many of us in the real world will not get that kind of death and that is why people like to read and listen to these kinds of stories, so they can fantasize about being heroes and warriors in their own minds.

Bibliography:

The Norton Anthology, World Masterpieces, Vol 1. Beowulf: BEOWULF, translated by Burton Raffel. Copyright 1963 by Burton Raffel.

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