Beowulf As A Hero Essay

He was strongest man of them all and undoubtedly he had the most courage. How does one man defeat such a gruesome monstrosity that was Grendel? With his bare hands of course. Beowulf, a legendary hero, and a man descended of a great warrior, he is the main character followed in the epic that is Beowulf. He was so overly confident that he could defeat Grendel that he decided to fight him with just his bare hands and if nothing else the champion was left up to fate. Beowulf did succeed in the first of his battles we witness throughout the epic; he achieved this by tearing off Grendel’s claw and with it the entire limb. Brute force and raw power are how Beowulf achieved his first win, but not every battle can be won this way and that’s a lesson

In his old age, Beowulf reflects upon the fact that he has yet to slay a dragon in his career and decides he will do just that in the sense of “one last hurrah!” This time (perhaps it was the old age speaking), but Beowulf gathers a shield and sword to bring with him into battle against this dragon. It’s not long after the fight begins that the dragon melts Beowulf’s shield by breathing fire upon it; not to mention, his sword is not doing a whole lot of damage, his scales mostly blunt it until it proceeds to shatter. In this moment Beowulf starts to feel helpless, he’s always fought his battles solo and has yet to lose to a beast. Beowulf’s men aren’t that helpful either, they’ve never had to fight and honestly, they do not have the same courage as Beowulf to just step up to a dragon and fight him. Except for Wiglaf, the only one of Beowulf’s men that comes to his aid, in armor that was passed down through generation Wiglaf steps up to make a statement about loyalty and he assists Beowulf in slaying the dragon. It is at the end of this battle that Beowulf dies, but not without receiving his last request, which was to receive his trophy: the treasure the dragon guarded so