Society revolves around honesty, loyalty, bravery, code of traditions, and honor. Identity is the principal component of an individuals reputation and ancestral heritage. Codes of behavior are the ideals of christian concepts that promote spiritual moralities. Human temptations and values overcome traditional roles and reflect on powerful leaders in society.
Beowulf’s attitude towards his goal in life either could bring him down or build him up. Beowulf’s journey contributed to fame, honor and glory. His goal was to be remembered as an mighty but fearful warrior. “I’ve never known fear, as a youth, I fought In endless battles” (58). Beowulf boasts about his strength and how he’s defeated many monsters and how far his come by the grace of God or by his belief in fate. The Green Knight has a common trait with Beowulf and how they both are fearful characters with great strength and vaunt about themselves. The Green Knight appears before the King and his court to propose a game that is quite deadly. “You haven’t a man that could match me, your might is so feeble” (229). The Green Knight actions are similar to how Beowulf knows that no ordinary man can be compared to him. Both of these characters share a common trait of arrogance. They portray arrogance in making unwise decisions because of over-confidence in there strength. Beowulf and
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the Green Knight are strong in strength, ranked in nobility, warriors and leaders in their society. They both are men who are looked up to by others. Courage is the key of bravery, loyalty, and the definition of respect.
There is connection between these traits that are related to Sir Gawain and Wiglaf. Wiglaf’s actions reflect everything about his character. When Beowulf is in need of help and his warriors’ neglected him, Wiglaf kept by his side. “Our glorious King By almighty God, I’d rather burn myself than see flames swirling my Lord” (61). Wiglaf shows us that he is a respectable man because he acted on bravery and did a courageous deed. Sir Gawain also is considered a courageous and brave because he accepts the deathly challenge the Green Knight offers. “I beseech you, Sire”
he said, “Let this game be mine” (231). Sir Gawain shows his image as a man who is willing to risk his life for the King this was an act of chivalry. Chivalry is a medical knightly system with religious, moral and social code. Sir Gawain and Wiglaf share characteristics in being loyal, humble, and have a relation with the Kings. They also share how they are challenged with the test of their character and how it makes them grow to be a wiser individual. Beowulf in his quest for glory, gave him fame in honor for his asks of bravery. The Green Knight, a strange figure in King Arthur hall is a man who challenges leaders to prove their bravery. Wiglaf, a man of his word is honored as an epic hero and awarded for his loyalty. Sir Gawain, learns of his mistakes and grows as a man with a teaching of honesty. These four characters all have similar traits that make them different but still a comparison between them. They are leaders in their society and they are the definition of values, roles and the meaning of power.
Of the many characteristics of a hero, being better than the ordinary man is the trait most easily found when studying a character. Beowulf exhibits almost god-like strength throughout his quest. For example, “He twisted in pain, / And the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder/ Snapped, muscle and bone split and broke.” (Beowulf 815-818). His strength is once again demonstrated in his fight with Grendel’s mother. After he realizes hand-to-hand combat is futile, Beowulf swings a sword “so massive that no ordinary man could lift/ It’s carved and decorated length.” (Beowulf 1560-1561). Yet another example of Beowulf’s strength is his presentation of Grendel’s head to the Danes. After slicing off Grendel’s head in one blow, Beowulf orders his men to carry the head back to Herot. However, the head of the monster was “too heavy for fewer than four of them to handle” (Beowulf 1636-1637). After arriving in Herot, Beowulf “carried that terrible trophy by the hair,/ Brought it straight to where the Danes sat” (Beowulf 1647-1648). The second trait that demonstrates that Beowulf is better than the ordinary man is his incredible honor. When preparing for his fight with Grendel, Beowulf decides not to use ...
After fighting and winning many battles, Beowulf's life enters a new stage when he finally becomes king of his homeland, Geatland. Even in his old age, his code of honor still obligates him to fight against an evil, fiery dragon. For fifty years he has governed his kingdom well. While Beowulf is governing, the dragon "...kept watch over a hoard, a steep stone-barrow" (Norton 55). Under it lays a path concealed from the sight of men. Over centuries no one had disturbed the dragon’s kingdom until one day when a thief broke into the treasure, laid hand on a cup fretted with gold, which infuriated the dragon. "The fiery dragon had destroyed the people's stronghold, the land along the sea, the heart of the country" (Norton 57).
Wiglaf, in coming to Beowulf's aid in the fight against the dragon, typifies several important heroic virtues. The most obvious of these is the importance of the relationship between lord and thane. In trying to persuade the other thanes to assist Beowulf, Wiglaf says, "Now the day has come that our liege lord has need of the strength of good fighters. Let us go to him, help our war-chief while the grime terrible fire persists." (Chickering 61) In stating this, Wiglaf reminds the other thanes of the necessity of holding up their end of the bargain in the lord-thane relationship. Beowulf is a good lord, who protects his thanes and dispenses treasure to them, and it is their turn to support him in battle in his time of need.
The poet of Beowulf uses many literary devices to enhance respect and trust in the poem. The great heroic story of Beowulf gives many examples of the traits a great leader should have. At the end, those same traits were demonstrated by Wiglaf, who then became the king of the Geats. This proves that these traits were essential to the Anglo-Saxon culture; however, this also makes Beowulf contemporary. The poem has many themes that are still applicable today.
“In my youth I engaged in many wars”, Beowulf boasts to his warriors, which is certainly true. Throughout his life, he faces many deadly foes, all of which he handily defeats, save one. His story focuses on the most challenging, as well as morally significant of foes, Grendel and the dragon. These creatures reveal much about society as well as Christian virtue at the time. Even after Grendel and the dragon are defeated physically, the two monsters pose a new threat to the hero on a higher plane. Beowulf is not only at risk of losing his life, but his humanity, virtue, and even spirituality.
...ash between good and evil. Beowulf is a representation of a Godly figure, possibly Christ, whereas his enemies represent figures of darkness, possibly Satan. Due to his battle with Grendel, Beowulf realises the true abilities of Gods power and develops into a more Saint like character who is more concerned with giving help rather than Gaining fame. He seeks Gods guidance, but looks to pagan ideals when he deems so. Although he never completely takes complete advantage of Gods power, he does earn the fame and glory that he fought bravely for.
...in his willingness to lay down his life to fulfill the Green Knight’s request of King Arthur’s men. Beowulf is known among the people as a selfless hero in their times of need. Not only did Beowulf have immense physical strength, but he also had a burning desire for his people’s safety. It is for this selflessness and concern for others that Beowulf is the better hero.
Many people take the word honor very lightly and believe that it is incredibly easy to be defined as a person who shows their honor for the people around them, and that may be true for some people but not for others. Three people who easily fall into the group of being an honorable person includes, William Wallace from the Mel Gibson film Braveheart, Sir Gawain, and Beowulf. Honor may be mistaken for many different things, but the word honor easily falls into the category of being a hero. In order to be a hero someone has to be honorable, and being honorable includes the same characteristics of being considered a hero. There are specifically two different types of heroes including, an Anglo-Saxon Hero and Epic Hero. There are four very strict
An epic is a long narrative poem on a serious subject. It usually is about
The Anglo-Saxons were a group of warlike tribes who occupied England starting around A.D. In the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, by an unknown author, the titular character is shown to be a perfect example of what the Anglo-Saxons believed to be a hero. Beowulf is a glory seeking warrior who throughout the epic is encouraged by the pursuit of glory; he later achieves this glory by winning great battles and boasting of his accomplishments; these accomplishments are later recognized by others in Anglo-Saxon society, further forwarding his quest for the glory.
At the beginning of the novel, Beowulf represents a savage warrior, displaying mostly his strength and bravery by defeating Grendel and his mother. However, as Beowulf ages, he begins to change into a different kind of hero. After becoming King of the Geats, Beowulf matured and took on more of a leadership role in the community, as opposed to a warrior. Even though Beowulf was still a hero, he began to lead an army of geats and acted for the good of the people. In both cases however, Beowulf was respected by others for his admirable
During the English Period the epic Beowulf was written around 400 A.D, but not composed until about 1,000 A.D. The setting takes place during the Anglo Saxon time period. Beowulf perceives to be a super-human that out smarts and defeats many forms of evil during his life time. Beowulf reflects and is a perfect representation of Anglo Saxon history. The author portrays and gives Beowulf the characteristics of honor, valor, fate, fame, and loyalty through is heroic life.
The Anglo-Saxons were a group of people with high honor. They were depicted for being a bunch of bloodthirsty men. But it was a lot more than that to them, they based themselves off of honor, intelligence, and emotion.
Beowulf is a complex character that is cast as the ultimate hero and champion, whose greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. Though his obsession with power yield him courage and strength that allow him to defeat enemies most other warriors cannot bring themselves to fight, his unilateral quest for glory leaves his citizens and kingdom desolate and unprepared for the difficulties they face. Beowulf may be the greatest warrior of one of the greatest epics written, but as is said in the last words about him in the book, his most notable trait is not his greatness as a leader and king but that he is the “keenest to win fame”.
The exact opposite of the points mentioned thus far are made manifest within the character of Beowulf. Beowulf is easily able to defeat Grendel once Grendel has lost all hope of winning, ". . . remembered his final / Boast and, standing erect, stopped / The monster's flight. . ." (440-443). Beowulf is also, instead of insecure and under-confident, overly confident and a braggart.