Examples Of Courage In Beowulf

In life, human’s oftentimes struggle with the concept of courage. Struck with fear, they do not understand how certain people like Beowulf are able to stand up to and conquer the many monsters they face. Readers of Beowulf and cheer for him, almost in a state of joy that he is fighting the mighty monster Grendel while they are safe in the warmth of their homes. Many are not even sure what courage is or how to gain it. If they ever did gain it, what would it look like in today’s world? How would it look from a biblical worldview? Would it look the same as a worldview or completely different?

The definition of courage as seen by the world is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, without fear. Many

people today have trouble facing difficulties of everyday life. Most people have fear, or face pain in their life. Then there are some people who do face difficult times in life and do not fear. They feel like they can accomplish any obstacles in life. They love to boast about their actions and courage. Every act of courage they make is for themselves and their own ego. Their attitude is much different than that of believers.
An obvious form of courage is in the heat of battle or war. There are many men who can claim to avoid colloquialisms and calm in the middle of war; but when the bullets start flying there are just a few who actually stay calm and get the job done. One modern day example of this is Marcus Luttrell. The famous Navy Seal tells his incredible true story in the book Lone Survivor. Marcus and three other Navy Seal team members go on a scouting mission to locate a terrorist leader. Their mission gets compromised, and they are faced with the decision to kill an old sheep farmer or let him live. They let him live, and he tells the army about the Navy Seals. Within a few hours they have hundreds of terrorists coming after them. They all fight courageously, yet three of them lose their lives that day. Marcus Luttrell breaks his back and army-crawls for four days until finally being rescued by a friendly native before being brought to an American camp. These four men all demonstrated a great deal of courage and strength with no fear. These men were a lot like Beowulf, except with one major difference.
Beowulf shows a great amount of courage in the book Beowulf.

There are times in the story when Beowulf is not sure if he will live but he still goes and fights the monster. Lines 883-685 say “And may the divine Lord in his wisdom grant the glory of victory to whichever side he sees fit.” Beowulf is the prime example of a man of courage. He is brave, has no fear, and kills monsters on a regular basis. One thing that separates him from the four Navy Seals mentioned earlier is that he boasts of his actions. The four Seals saw their killing as a duty, a job that needed to get done. Beowulf, on the other hand after he defeats Grendel and boasts about it, he is incredibly overjoyed while being showered with gifts. Beowulf portrays this courage until his death against the dragon. As he is dying, he has the warrior Wiglaf bring him some gold to comfort him. He also makes sure that a big barrow is built in his name so people always remember his

courage.
The other side of courage is seen through the biblical worldview. Hebrews 13:6 says, “So we say with confidence the Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (New International Version). This shows that believers should have courage, because with the Lord nobody can conquer them. In II Samuel 10:12 it says, “Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight” (New International Version). This indicates that believers have courage all for the glory of God. Every courageous act they commit is to be place in God’s hand so. He can do further good with it. This differs from Beowulf and the Navy Seals who either commit acts of courage for themselves or as part of their job. Glorifying God is not their primary goal. A believer’s courage can be defined as doing acts for God with no fear knowing that he is with that person.
Arguably some of the most courageous figures in history are the martyrs of the Bible.

These courageous men stared death right in the face and still had no fear. They had a confidence that their God had a better place for them in the afterlife. One example would be the first recorded martyr in the Bible, Stephen. He was a great man of God who was persecuted for sharing his faith in public. Eventually he was sentenced to be stoned to death. While being stoned he managed to ask God to forgive the men who were stoning him! God gave him the courage to face this difficult time in life without fear and with a forgiving heart. One man whose point of view on courage was opposite that of than believers was

Beowulf.
Throughout the epic poem Beowulf shows courage; and towards the end of the story, he even shows some humility. At the same time, he saw courage as a trait possessed by few men and because he was courageous, he saw himself as a better man and warrior. He was right in saying these things but what makes him different than a courageous believer was who he is the one whom he was being courageous. Beowulf was doing all of these acts of courage to build up his self-esteem along with some other ulterior motives. On the other hand, believers act courageously to build up the kingdom of God.
Though courage is difficult to comprehend everyone should strive to obtain such a noble quality. Such courage can even be for the simple purpose of facing ones daily fears in a healthy way. Without courageous people this world would go nowhere fast. The question is, how many can build up courage like the mythical monster fighting Beowulf, all while giving the glory to God?