Beowulf And Batman Comparison

Stories about heroes have perplexed the human race for centuries. The first story regarding a larger than life hero was none other than Beowulf. History’s oldest epic poem, Beowulf, displays a fearless, brave, and confident hero who is adored across the globe. He is seen countless of times in various works of media; from novels, to hit feature films, even comic books. Beowulf is a boastful, strong, and cunning man who duels the malevolent beast, Grendel, who has terrorized the Danes for years. Authors of heroic stories have referenced Beowulf for years upon years, for this reason it is clear that similarities and differences will occur between the world of Beowulf and the world of another hero. For example, there is a modern hero who is popular in the DC Comics universe;

The two characters are left parentless at a young age. In the epic poem, Beowulf says, “ My father was a famous soldier… His name was Edgetho. His life lasted many winters…” (Raffel, Line 261). Beowulf describes his father, but he describes him in the past tense. The same goes for Batman, which can be found in the book, Batman The War years 1939-1945. From N0. 33 of the Detective Comics. The young character, Bruce Wayne, who later becomes Batman shouts with a voice full of despair, “Father...Mother!...Dead! They’re D...Dead” (Thomas 20); after his parents were just murdered in cold blood in the alley. The parents of Beowulf and Batman were stolen from them at a young age, a similarity that cannot be ignored. The death of his parents is the driving force why Beowulf went to pay his father’s debt to the king of Denmark; similarly, the death of Batman’s parents is why he dedicated his entire life to avenge his parents by stopping crime. Their parent’s death is reason they fight through any and all obstacles in their way, and it effectively creates the heroic characters that the world has idolized for years. Not only have the characters lives been set