Beowulf and King Arthur The Great Ones Reveled Numerous stories about numerous heroes have been told and then retold. All of these heroes do different things and all of them have a different set of qualities which make them heroes. Due to the fact that there are only so many heroic adventures and qualities, most are shared in part with at least one other hero. Such is the case between the great hero, Beowulf, from the epic poem Beowulf and King Arthur from the story of Morte dArthur. These great heroes have strong similarities and a great deal of differences. Once their similarities have been compared and then dismissed it is evident that Beowulf is the greater hero of the two. True heroes do good things for good people. Such is the case in Beowulf, Beowulf leaves his homeland to help the Danish people rid themselves of the human eating monster, Grendel. This heroic quality is also evident in Morte d'Arthur, as Arthur consciously rides into a battle in order to rid his people of an evil knight who would not allow others to pass. Both heroes are displaying their concern for others by risking themselves in battle for the greater good. In the same aspect they are also striving for love and respect from the people they protect. In order to obtain maximum respect per battle, both Beowulf and Arthur enter into battle somewhat alone. Beowulf specifically asks, That [he], alone and with the help of [his] men, / May purge all evil from [the] hall (Beowulf, line 165-166). His request is granted by Hrothgar, King of the Danes, so he and his man enter into the battle themselves and when Grendel is defeated, the glory, love and respect belong solely to Beowulf and his men. Arthur does the same, he met with his man and his horse, and so mounted up and dressed his shield and took his spear, and bade his chamberlain tarry there till he came again (Morte dArthur paragraph 20). Although Arthur begins his journey alone he does meet up with Merlin, the court magician and faithful companion, who accompanies him. Much like Beowulf, Arthur gains great respect and praise from all men of worship by fighting alone, even though it is not necessarily the smartest thing to do. The characteristic of being fearless when faced with death is often a trait of heroes because it is associated with courage and strength. King Arthur and Beowulf are not afraid to die, thus showing their courage to their adversaries and peers. When Arthur is faced with death he declares, welcome be it when it cometh, but to yield me unto thee as [cowardly] I had liefer die than to be so shamed. (Morte dArthur, paragraph 34). Simply put he would rather die than admit to defeat and being cowardly. Beowulf feels much the same way about death. He illustrates this by showing no fear for his own life but instead expressing concern for the honor of King Higlac by asking that, if death does take [him], send the hammered / Mail of [his] armor to Higlac (Beowulf, line 186-187). In sending his King his armor it recommits himself to his country and lets his King be reminded of his bravery every time he looks upon it. That is the extent to which Beowulf and King Arthur are similar. Beowulf has way more confidence in his fighting ability then Arthur has in his. This is evident in the fact that Beowulf fights Grendel unarmed, he says my hands / Alone shall fight for me, struggle for life (Beowulf, line 172-173). His reasoning behind this is that Grendels, scorn of men / Is so great that he needs no weapons and fears none [so] / Nor will [he] (Beowulf, line 167-169). By facing Grendel unarmed to shows that he is brave and more importantly unafraid to be equal to Grendel. Since Grendel is going to fight without the use of weapons, Beowulf creates equality and therefore more respect upon himself by doing the same. Were as the much less confident Arthur fights only with weapons and once his wounds were amended his first thought was, I have no sword (Morte dArthur, paragraph 41) followed by the task of finding him a sword. This demonstrates Arthurs weakness in his dependence of weapons and thus Beowulfs greatness in comparison. Beowulf is indeed the greater hero as the help he received from his men was useless, not by fault of his men but by the simple fact that Grendel, had bewitched all mens weapons, laid spells / That blunted every mortal mans blade (Beowulf, line 322-323). Since Beowulfs men could give him no help due to Grendels spell, he had to defeat the monster by himself with his bear hands. Arthur on the other hand lost his battle. First Arthur lost a jousting match then lost on the ground when the knight smote King Arthurs sword in two pieces (Morte dArthur, paragraph 32). Merlin had to come to his rescue at this point and by using his magic he put the knight to sleep for a period of three hours. So to recap Beowulf defeated a monster with no aid from his companions and Arthur could not even defeat a knight, he instead he had to rely on the aid of magic from Merlin. Even thought both King Arthur and Beowulf are great heroes, Beowulf emerges as the greater of the two. He does this through his successful feats only, not through his heroic qualities. For when comparing the heroic qualities of Arthur and Beowulf they come up pretty even. Both demonstrate a great love for others as they both try to do good things for commendable people. Their differences in heroism might be due to the fact that Arthur is a young hero in comparison to Beowulf who is an experienced hero. Either way they, like most heroes, have similarities and differences, this makes them who they are, commendable and memorable fantasy characters.
King Arthur and Beowulf are both Heroes that stories originated in the England area. They were written at different times, by a different era of people, but some of the core ethics are present in both stories. Both heroes were admired because they saved a whole group of people. King Arthur and Beowulf were also leaders, Beowulf was king of the Geats, and Arthur was the king of England. This is interesting because this means that they were both well known even before they had stories written about them, and they both possess qualities that can be found in leaders. While Arthur is a romance hero and Beowulf is an epic hero, the use of a magical weapon is seen in both stories which is generally a characteristic in the romance stories. "Then he saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy sword, hammered by the giants, strong and blessed with their magic, " 242-244 Beowulf. Arthur's magical weapon is Excalibur, which is pretty much well known to anyone that has heard of his story. I also felt that fate had a role in both of the stories. In Arthur's dream he had a premonition about what was going to happen to his people, "Below him, many fathoms deep, was a dark well, an in the water swam serpents, dragons, and wild beasts. Suddenly the scaffold tilted and Arthur was flung into the water, where all the creatures struggled towards and began tearing him from limb to limb." Malory 194. The beasts and dragons were the two armies and when someone drew their sword Arthur, who was connected to his people was thrown in.
The plot of the movie “Blade Runner” becomes unrevealed till the end of the movie. Many assumptions about the plot and the final of the movie appear in the spectator’s mind, but not one of these assumptions lasts long. Numerous deceptions in the plot grip the interest of the audience and contribute for the continuing interest to the movie eighteen years after its creation. The main character in the movie is Deckard- the Blade Runner. He is called for a special mission after his retirement, to “air up” four replicants who have shown flaws and have killed people. There are many arguments and deceptions in the plot that reveal the possibility Deckard to be a replicant. Roy is the other leading character of the movie. He appears to be the leader of the replicants- the strongest and the smartest. Roy kills his creator Tyrell. The effect of his actions fulfils the expectation of the spectator for a ruthless machine.
Beowulf is proud to be chosen by the Geats to represent them and fight for Herot’s safety. He is also proud of himself for all of his past achievements and how he is lord Higlac’s “brave warrior”. He “swam in the blackness of night, hunting monsters out of the ocean, and killing them one by one”(lines 15-16). Beowulf is extremely proud of himself and how much stronger he is than all men on Earth. Beowulf is also humble in a way. He does not brag about he is going to win the battle and destroy Grendel, he believes God will choose who deserves to win. “Let God in His wisdom extend his hand where he wills, reward whom he chooses!” (lines 81-83). Beowulf was humble enough to sacrifice himself for his people and the
The futuristic aspect of these films seems to be the main theme that connects the two films, but there are of course many other similar aspects that these films share, such as gender roles and the idea of masculinity v.s femininity, which we touch upon as class discussion when we’re talking about the film Blade Runner. ...
Another aspect of the movie “Bladerunner” is of those that broke away from the system. The “Nexus 6” were androids that developed emotions and escaped from slavery, because they wanted to live longer. Roy and Priss are good examples of androids showing that they have emotions. They were manipulative, passionate for what they wanted, and even had loving sides. Roy was the leader of the “Nexus 6” and Priss was his girlfriend
Blade Runner and New Brave World's Perspective's on Humanity Ridley Scott’s film “Blade Runner: Director’s Cut” and Aldous Huxley’s
Beowulf thought of himself as he is the most important man in the world. Beowulf killed many of the beasts within his path. Beowulf made it tremendously oblivious that he had been merely impossible to slay. Epic heroes were meant to denote their traits such as courage, strength, intelligence and loyalty. Beowulf contained a large amount of strength within his body.His body would struggle just to keep the power of his strength within his body. All of Beowulf’s energy had been deployed when Grendel had stepped within vision. Beowulf’s eyes would light up in determination to save his people. His speed was so agile, once he arrived at the weak spot of the beast the strength dominated the body. Within seconds Beowulf rapidly beat Grendel with his
This is not truly an issue for Beowulf, as he has the bravery and strength to defeat Grendel alone. This is different from Gilgamesh’s approach in the fact that Beowulf is completely alone; all he has to depend on is his Wyrd and his might, both of which could work against him. On the other hand, Beowulf is still quite similar to Gilgamesh in the aspect of his dedication. Beowulf is “grieved [...] sore / [t]hat the man beast himself [the Danes] may not see” (Gilgamesh lines 35-36). He is upset with himself because he was not able to display the fact he killed Grendel, and he remains dedicated to doing so. After fifty years, he defeats Grendel’s mother, permitting him “[to take] / [...] Grendel’s head” (Beowulf lines 586-587). This proves Beowulf’s devotion, and it is almost as extreme as that of Gilgamesh. Though it is ultimately for different reasons, the two characters are fueled by their ambitions and define nobleness. Gilgamesh and Beowulf are the true definitions of a hero, and this comes through in the similarities and differences in their
Like any other film based on a book Blade Runner takes several liberties with the original text Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Phillip K. Dick. Despite their differences however both book and film focus on the themes of humanity and morality. The main way this is done is by comparing and contrasting the different characters and how they portray a different argument about the theme. The main character of Richard Deckard as well as Rachel, Roy Batty, Pris Stratton, and Harry Bryant are found in the book and its adaptation. It is through each of these characters that we explore the ideas of humanity and morality.
...be, as the Tyrell Corporation advertises, “more human than human.” Ridley Scott uses eye imagery to juxtapose the tremendous emotion of the replicants with the soullessness of the future’s humans. By doing so, Scott demonstrates that our emotions and yearning for life are the characteristics that fundamentally make us human, and that in his vision of our dystopian future, we will lose these distinctly human characteristics. We are ultimately losing the emotion and will to live that makes us human, consequently making us the mechanistic, soulless creatures of Scott’s dystopia. Blade Runner’s eye motif helps us understand the loss of humanness that our society is heading towards. In addition, the motif represents Ridley Scott’s call to action for us to hold onto our fundamental human characteristics in order to prevent the emergence of the film’s dystopian future.
The most supporting quote from the epic poem Beowulf, is on page 48, lines 264-269. Beowulf says, “My lord Higlac might think less of me if I let my sword go where my feet were too afraid to, if I hid behind some broad linden shield: my hands alone shall fight for me, struggle for life against the monster.” It is in this moment that Beowulf shows that he doesn’t want Higlac’s respect for him to drop or be any less. He would rather fight by hand than to let someone, especially the lord think any less of him or lose any respect. To Beowulf, it seems that respect from not only highly respected people, but the common people as well, means a lot to him. He earned the respect that he has and to do something to make him seem like a weaker or lesser person is not an option for him. Although Beowulf uses armor and weapons to fight other monsters, this does not lower anyone’s thoughts for him. This is due to the fact that both Grendel’s mother and the dragon are stronger, more difficult battles to face and the people don’t want to see him fail. Simply by being able to defeat these monsters and keep the Dane’s safe earns their respect for him. Although Beowulf may not have known it, he was extremely respected, even in death. So much that they buried him with the silvers, jewels and treasures that were taken once he killed the dragon. It’s quite clear that Beowulf was respected throughout
The main character in a true epic possesses heroic or superhuman qualities. As the central character, Beowulf was a brave, powerful warrior. Beowulf believed that his fairness and bravery would help him to conquer the fiercest of opponents. He had the strength of ten men and was willing to go into any battle because he knew that he was stronger than any other being, man or beast. Before his battle with Grendel he claimed, "Grendel is no braver, no stronger than I am!" When Grendel and Beowulf met, he was true to his word and tore the beast's arm from the rest of its body and sent Grendel running cowardly toward its hellish home. While fighting Grendel's mother, Beowulf was able to slay the beast with a single swing from an immense sword, that was so massive, few men could even lift it. Prior to his confrontation with Grendel, he stated, "I could kill him with my sword; I shall not, Easy as it would be . . . I will meet him wit...
It examines the impact of the ever rising technology advances on human society. Replicants, who are genetically engineered human cyborgs who possess human like qualities obtaining greater intelligence and strength than humans. Blade runner defines what makes one human while providing a philosophical focus on the dilemma by a contemporary society which investigates a vital question confronting us on how we can maintain humanity in the face of overwhelming technologies that tend to dehumanise us. There were many symbols in the film representing various messages which may help viewers stay connected through the film.
mixing blacks and whites. The manager says that outside the ring a black man is
The lethargy in which people live is mainly due to the passivity of the crowded environment of the world. Society tend to conform by focusing their lives on material things and elements that make lose sensitivity to the issues that surround today's society. In the movie Blade Runner by Ridley Scott, it exists beneath the superficiality of the city a society totally alienated due to technology. The film represents an overcrowded society and individually isolated. This is one of the paradoxes of modern life. Meanwhile people are more depended on technology; at the same time, they are dehumanized; that is, people devalue the circumstances and chances that make them feel alive, free and true. These circumstances are represente...