Beowulf And Aeneas Character Analysis

With a great hero, comes a personal background that is significant to their roles in their stories. In this case, the two great heroes are Beowulf and Aeneas. Beowulf is in the tribe Geats, which is basically a group of warriors living in what we now call Sweden. He fights many enemies, some being, two demons, Grendel, and Grendel’s mom (the last two being the most significant), defeating them all. The reason behind the fights was just a man trying to make a name for himself and defending his people. Then in the Aenead the main character is Aeneas, who is a mythical hero of Troy and Rome (“Aeneas” 1). He was a important warrior in many battles. One of the most significant and memorable battles was the Trojan War in which he defended his city. His city of Troy got destroyed but he wasn’t done. His mother, Venus, is the goddess of

It is very clear in the Aenead in multiple cases. Some examples are Aeneas with Venus or Juno when both gods help him on separate occasions, some in his quests, and others in the underworld, whether it was messages or different symbols that represented meaning. The messages weren’t the only things he received from the gods, when he received plenty of weapons and armor later on from the gods directly. The same is true with Beowulf, mostly the fact that he notices when the gods are helping him. This is represented when Beowulf says, “Day in the east grew, God’s bright beacon, and the billows sank so that I could see the headlands,” (Beowulf, 22-23). That passage basically is saying that if it weren’t for God bringing the sunlight he never would have been able to make it or, “see the headlands.” Another example of the gods intervening with Beowulf is when they gave him his sword, which eventually ended up saving his life. Both stories show that the gods do show up and help directly and