Beowulf Epic Hero Essay

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Raksha Karthikeyan
Mr. Lesh
Honors English 3
10/23/14
The epic poem of Beowulf revolves around three dominating battles. All these monsters that get defeated by Beowulf portrays the strength of Beowulf. It shows that even the epic hero is an example that shows bravery in Anglo-Saxon History. Clearly, everyone should interpret that Beowulf is an epic hero. He doesn’t keep a long relationship with his enemies, and he is a great leader of his men. Aside from his epic hero abilities, he also portrays some tragic flaws. Although Beowulf is a man of his word, he still shows flaws such as being egotistical, overconfident and selfish. Being egotistic is when your self-conscious decides to take over. At the same time, you are completely aware of yourself in the situation. In the battle with Grendel, Beowulf portrays ego when he decides to be naked when he fights that particular battle. His self-conscious probably takes over and says that Grendel has no armor, why should we? So, taking off his armor to prove that he is so full of himself is his option. Beowulf’s ego starts to resolve into place when his self-esteem or image is boosted during the battle. I say this because his men who had just woken up from their slumber, are there to help the strongest man of all as they say (364-374). Unfortunately, …show more content…

Beowulf has everything to his own advantage. His men, his followers and his fans are some examples. Selfishness doesn’t always lead people to be a better person in life, but in this case, Beowulf is still a hero to everyone around him. For one thing, Beowulf wants to fight his own battles seeking fame still (626). Fame is all he clearly wants and needs. Fame is reason that he was selfish enough to tell everybody that all the treasures of the Dragon was going to be his (646-647). Selfishness drives everybody to this sanity state. That’s why, it would make them an imperfect

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