A Hero Journey: Beowulf: A Heroes Journey

Beowulf: A Heroes Journey In today’s society when asked about heroes many would name contemporary heroes such as Spiderman, Superman, Batman, and many others, but early heroes are often overlooked. Early heroes are written about in many different societies including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and Anglo-Saxon England. One early epic poem delineated by the Anglo-Saxon’s in the eighth century is Beowulf. Beowulf is the tragic hero of the story, and a temerarious Geatish warrior, who fights three battles. As can be seen through his fights with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon, Beowulf’s fights become progressively more difficult throughout the epic. After arriving in Denmark, Beowulf fights his first and easiest battle against Grendel. Beowulf

Clearly this poses an obstacle for Beowulf because he has to kill Grendel with his bare hands. Although Beowulf does not have any weapons, he has no problem defeating Grendel with his bare hands. Beowulf tears Grendel’s arm off his body, which mortally injures him, “fatally wounded,/Grendel was obliged to make for the marshes,/head for his joyless lair,” (727-730). Beowulf won the battle since Grendel flees, and will likely bleed out from his wound. Beowulf does not have any difficulties in battling Grendel other than using no weapons which is not true of Beowulf’s next two battles: Grendel’s mother and the dragon. After his battle with Grendel, Beowulf has to battle the more arduous Grendel’s mother. Grendel’s mother comes out of her swamp to avenge her son, and kills one of Hrothgar’s most trusted advisors. As a result, Beowulf and other soldiers travel to the lake to fight Grendel’s mother, which makes the battle against Grendel 's mother more difficult. This is because Beowulf is not on his own turf, and does not have the element of surprise that he had during his fight with Grendel. Before the fight, Beowulf dresses in