Dreamer of The Rood.

Dreamer of The Rood

Throughout the course of history there have been many pieces of

literature that have contained characters that are portrayed as

heroic. Two great examples of this are "Beowulf" and "Dreamer of the

Rood". Both of these pieces of literary work had main characters that

were considered Anglo-Saxon heroes for their time. When reading the

two stories you can see many similar characteristics when it comes to

describing a hero. This is because the writer who wrote "Dreamer of

the Rood" copied some of the characteristics from the epic poem

"Beowulf".

The first quality that Beowulf had is extreme strength. The watchman

states this upon his arrival to Herot. " Nor have I seen a mightier

man -at-arms on this earth than the one standing here: unless I am

mistaken, he is truly noble"("Beowulf" 37). Just like Beowulf was

portrayed as a warrior Christ was also portrayed as a warrior. Beowulf

was a warrior who was fighting to save a kingdom whereas Christ was a

warrior fighting to save his people. The talking tree in "Dreamer of

the Rood" tells us how he had to stand strong for the young

hero/strong stout hearted" (Norton). Christ had a different kind of

strength than that of Beowulf. Christ had more of a spiritual

strength, whereas Beowulf had a strength that was more physical.

Humbleness is another characteristic that the two characters posses.

Both of the characters are willing to face their fate and were

extremely unselfish about their actions. . Beowulf was ready to die

facing Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. Beowulf did not fear

death. Christ did not fear death either. "He climbed on the high

gallows, bold and in the sight of many, when he would free mankind"

("Dreamer of The Rood" 27). Even though the similar they were

different because of the cause that they were fighting for. Each one

of these characters were heroes in their own right.

One would wonder why would the poet from "Dreamer of the Rood" take

the qualities of a hero from Beowulf and use it in a religious poem.