Examples Of Heroism In Beowulf

Beowulf is a tremendous tale of heroism. It inspires its readers to live a heroic and joyful life without holding onto false hopes. No one single human being is strong enough to win against death itself, however, Beowulf has demonstrated how a human can transcend to fight the battle against the worst of human fears. As you continue to read this epic poem, Beowulf will show three famous traits every hero has: capability of deeds of great strength and courage, traveling vast settings, and facing supernatural foes.

As you begin reading Beowulf, he is called by Hrothgar to come help save his people from the horrible Grendel. The first thing that we see is Beowulf and his men have made camp in Herot, the mead hall, and lie in wait for Grendel to come. Once it became pitch black, Grendel appeared and grabbed the first Geat. He intended to tear his life from him. As

Beowulf travels all the way from Sweden. On page 36, in the italicised paragraph, the poet states “sail over the sea to the land of the Danes to offer help to Hrothgar...escorted by a Danish guard to Herot, where Wulfgar tells the king of their presence.” This shows that Beowulf was willing to travel great lengths just to help someone out. Beowulf then traveled down into Grendel’s mother’s lair. On page 47, line 452 the poet states “for hour he sank through the waves.”. By saying this, it shows that not only does Beowulf have superhuman powers, he also can withstand heat that is being generated by Grendel’s mother’s lair. Once Beowulf is an old man, he travels to where the dragon’s tower is located. On page 53 line 635-636, the poet states “ ...strode calmly, confidently toward the tower, under the rocky cliffs. No coward could have walked there!”. This shows that even though Beowulf is an old man in this battle scene, he will still travel great lengths to help other