Hero Worship: From Washington to Superman

From past to today, every period, people always like heroes. When wars started, or disasters happened, people always hope that a hero can stand out and help them escape danger. Washington is one of the war heroes, who helped American win the war of independence, and became the first president of America. He was fully respected in his life time, and also be popular even now. When people are living in peace, when the world does not need a hero, they would write poems and stories to create a hero as their wish. Greek mythology was created between seventh and eighth century, which was a peaceful time in Europe. Although people did not need a hero to save them, Greek still wrote the mythology to show their fantasy of heroes, such as Prometheus. Even nowadays, people are still imagining heroes in their lives. Superman is one of the heroes people created recently. In his story, he can do almost

However, what makes someone a hero? Some people can also be kind and courageous but only some get credit for it. This makes it hard to identify what a true hero is. True heroism is when someone is courageous, charitable and loyal of others. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats from an old English epic poem, shows all these qualities in his story. An epic hero has to perform heroic deeds. Beowulf kills Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon, all of which are heroic deeds that no one else was able or willing to take on. The foes that Beowulf fought were all beyond human strength and capabilities and required superhuman abilities to bring down. Some of Beowulf ’s most important traits as an epic hero include bravery, superhuman physical strength, and the willingness to risk his life for the greater good. An epic hero is not perfect or immortal, but he is a sort of super human. He is larger-than-life in the sense that his qualities exceed those of regular