Compare And Contrast Beowulf And Achilles

An epic hero is admired for their monumental achievements. In all ways of there lives they live to be an epic hero . Each possess the same characteristics which allow them to be considered an epic hero. Both Characters possess a otherworldly amount of courage, bravery and an overwhelming drive to defeat the supernatural beings in their life, in Achilles case it was his avenging his brother's death and for Beowulf it was protecting the villagers of Heorot from the evil Grendel.

Beowulf is an epic hero from one of the oldest poems ever written. Achilles is a hero from the Iliad, a story written by a man named Homer about Greek mythology. Achilles’ parents basically baptized him in the river stix when he was just born except for his heel, making him almost completely invincible and giving him a literal “Achilles Heel” . Even though both of their stories are different, they contain the same qualities as each other.

Beowulf and Achilles were both confident in their missions. For twelve years, Grendel was an unstoppable

This supernatural being was “forged from slime by demons cast out of heaven”. During the battle, Grendel cast a spell on the weapons of Beowulf’s men so their weapons could not hurt him at all. “A path for his evil soul, but their points could not hurt him, the sharpest and hardest iron could not scratch at his skin, for that sin-stained demon had bewitched all men’s weapons.” It didn’t matter to Beowulf that they couldn’t have weapons because he was fighting Grendel weaponless. Achilles was a demigod that was nearly invincible. He had superhuman strength that gave him the power to kill Hector, a mortal man. All the gods were on Achilles’ side and helped him defeat Hector. “Then he gave a great shout to Deiphobus to ask for a long spear. But there was no one near him, not a soul.” The goddess, Athena, had tricked Hector into fighting Achilles because she had known his fate was to