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How is beowulf like a modern dAY HERO
How is beowulf like a modern dAY HERO
Beowulf contemporary comparison
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In Joseph Campbell’s, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” the “hero” is faced with many situations that are problematic for him. Most of Campbell’s task he wrote for the hero to encounter we’re similar to the mythical character Beowulf. None of which we’re the exact same situation, but in thought, they both brought the hero a similar problem and a similar way to defeat them. Beowulf completing each task made him easily compared to the hero in Joseph Campbell´s series.
Beowulf is a hero, he defeated many terrors, he swam across oceans, everything that describes a hero , Beowulf does. Joseph Campbell´s series of stories we´re about a hero and the things he went through to be known and to become a hero. Mostly all Campbell´s situations he wrote
An Analysis of the Ten Stages of the Hero’s Journey in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces
This essay is the comparison between Beowulf and a modern day hero. I consider any American soldier to be my modern day hero. In this essay I will explain in three paragraphs of how my modern day hero is like Beowulf. With in these three paragraphs I will go over how they are both fighting for a good cause, how they are both rewarded for what they do, and how they are both treated with much respect.
In the poem Beowulf, the protagonist is portrayed as a heroic figure who strives to spread his name and glory out across the land in order to be remembered. Although his acts may not entirely be for the right reasons, Beowulf does express his heroic qualities of bravery, arrogance, and brute force.
Beowulf, the great Geatish warrior, lives a very adventurous life filled with many voyages, battles, and victories. Through all of these events, he meets various people who are considered to be heroes like himself. These heroes, however, are unable to have the same abilities and characteristics of Beowulf. His great achievements cannot be matched by anything that they have done in their lives. Beowulf is a superior hero to Hrothgar, Unferth, and Wiglaf in the epic of Beowulf because he kills every monster that he fights, becomes a widely feared warrior and king, and dies in battle completing his final heroic act.
Through his many heroic accomplishments, whether it is fighting Grendel, Grendel’s mother, or the dragon, in Beowulf’s defense of the needy and his enthusiasm to sacrifice his life to benefit others, Beowulf has earned the right to be given the name “hero.” Beowulf can be looked at as a man who demonstrates the knightly morality of his medieval counterparts. Beowulf is not only a hero, but also a model to all warriors of that they should aim to be.
Although Gawain and Beowulf share many similarities, their characters are almost complete opposites. Both aim for some sort of fame, one more than the other; differing in the way they attempt to achieve this success. Gawain remains true and looks to humility to guide him, whereas Beowulf is very prideful and selfish, loving nothing more than boasting about his virtues. Regardless, both go through tremendous changes throughout their quests, dealing with repercussions, and many challenging obstacles along the way.
Most of us have heard of modern day heroes such as Spiderman, Superman, and the Hulk. Each is a hero to many children. Heroes are introduced to people early on in life usually as fictional characters, but as children grow older their perceptions of heroes alter. The characteristics of a hero are usually based around the ideas of a society or culture. In the epic Beowulf, the main character is thought of as a hero. Beowulf, a pagan warrior and the main character of the epic, shows certain characteristics such as bravery, loyalty, and generosity, which portray him as a hero. It is interesting how modern day heroes show the much of the same qualities as Beowulf.
Throughout the years, certain writers were able to set off a deep sympathetic resonance within readers by their usage of archetypal patterns. One of those patterns is known as the hero's journey, which Joseph Campbell gave an understandable idea of in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. According to his book, while comparing world's mythology, he found that no matter how far cultures are from each other, they will still have the same structure of hero's journey in their legends (Voytilla vii).
A hero is someone who is admired for their courage and bravery, as well as their noble accomplishments. They are respected by almost everyone, due to their kindness and charitable mindset, that drives them to fight for the good of others. Beowulf is the perfect representation of a hero, based on multiple characteristics that he displays throughout the novel. Along with his characteristics, Beowulf also takes on many “hero like” challenges and tasks. In the novel, Beowulf is praised and admired throughout the kingdom for his bravery, humility, and selflessness.
Epic battles, terrifying monsters, extraordinary strength, and great leadership; these characteristics and encounters are what make up the epic hero that is Beowulf. The heroism exemplified by Beowulf is defined by many different qualities. Beowulf is truly a hero because he is willing to put himself at great risk for the greater good.
While the author of Beowulf is still a mystery, the greatness of the character that he or she created will live on forever. Beowulf is the model of what a hero was supposed to be in the middle ages. He was fearless in the face of death, nearly undefeatable, and cunning. Even as a king, Beowulf was generous and helped his people however he could.
Every culture has many stories and poems to represent what they believe in, and what they look for in a hero. The heroes written in these stories and myths are brave, and are leaders. However, every hero comes with a flaw or two. The epic poem Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, has an extraordinary hero named Beowulf. Beowulf was a hero to the Anglo-Saxons which were fierce warriors who fought a lot. Beowulf fights many brutal monsters and threats in his days, but the most barbaric of them all is the inside threat within him. Beowulf had a big ego, and focused more on creating a name for himself than thinking about the real risks ahead. Two of his major battles that he faced along with his internal peril was against the dragon, and the beast Grendel.
After Campbell studied a lot of the great myths and realized this pattern, he published his findings in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Ever since then, authors have used “The Hero’s Journey” as an outline to tell their stories. “It is important to note that not all of these individual steps are present in every hero’s tale, nor is it important that they be in this exact order” (Vogler 20). The Hero with a Thousand Faces gives a sense of significance as it looks into the inner mind and soul. The author, Joseph Campbell, performs two extraordinary accomplishments: compelling his readers that myth and dream, those are the most effective and everlasting forces in life and a unification of mythology and psychoanalysis with a gripping narrative.
Beowulf is considered one of the greatest epic hero poems of world literature. Although it is considered an ‘epic poem’ there are more characteristics of anglo-saxon hero criteria than epic hero criteria. To be an anglo-saxon hero there must be traces of loyalty/honesty, bravery/courage, generosity, and friendship. Beowulf meets all of the characteristics previously listed throughout the story, making him more of an anglo-saxon hero rather than an epic hero. E. Talbot Donaldson makes a remark on Beowulf saying “Courage is the instrument by which the hero realizes himself.” Beowulf is not necessarily a stereotypical hero, but his loyalty and courage make him stand out from the others in the reading.
In countless ways Beowulf and the Harry Potter series can correlate through specific themes, events, etc. In ways they contradict each other, and in some, they concur thoroughly. Throughout both the book and the series they have roughly the same central idea which is to vanquish the evil that remains in a fixed world and bring it into safety again. Each character has his individual weaknesses and powers, which are used to their advantage during the course of the story.