An epic hero is a brave and noble character in an epic poem, admired for great achievements or affected by grand events. In the epic poem of Beowulf, the main character exhibited many characteristics that would label him as an epic hero. Beowulf overwhelming strength, bravery, and skills gave him a huge advantage over his opponents. His power was unmatched by any of his opponents but his cockiness and tendency to head into battle alone ultimately led to his demised. Beowulf is a well known figure and his legacy continued to impact the world even after his death. On arrival to the mead hall, Beowulf was confronted by Unferth, a son of Ecglaf and began having a conversation with him about his sea battle with Becca. Unferth, who seemed to envy …show more content…
Beowulf overwhelming confident fueled his inner fire and he could not wait to begin the fight against the evil Grendel. Many warrior would go into battle with armors and weaponries but not in this case with Beowulf. This is the second sign that show Beowulf as an epic hero. With so much confident in his skills and his belief in the Divine Lord, Beowulf make a decision that could ultimately end his life. “No weapons, therefore, for either this night: unarmed he shall face me if face me he dares...And may the Divine Lord in His wisdom grant glory of victory to whichever side He sees fit.” ( L 683-687) Many would not dared to do what Beowulf is doing, but that’s why he is an epic hero. Beowulf then laid down and waited for the evil monster to come. Suddenly the demonic figure violently destroy the door and appeared in the mead hall. As many would have been scared, Beowulf overwhelming confidence and bravery left him unfazed by the monster presence. The battle between Beowulf and Grendel was intense but soon Beowulf would get the upper hand. Beowulf was in danger but made a comeback and armlock the evil begin in a powerful handgrip. “The captain of evil discovered himself in a handgrip harder than anything he had ever encountered in any man on the face of the Earth.” (L 749-752) Beowulf then used his mighty strength to break Grendel arm and dislodged it from his body. Grendel fled back to his …show more content…
He was brave, skillful, and exhibit overwhelming strength gave him an advantages over many of his opponent. Beowulf cockiness may have ended his life when he faced the dragon, but that feature of his personality allowed him to become such a great leader. He did not feared death and that is one of the sign of being a hero. He knew that death can be around the corner with every steps he take but always dive head first into challenges. Beowulf may have died that day with the dragon, but his legacy as an epic hero as well as a tremendous leader will be remember for generation to
An epic hero is character who is brave and noble, and that person is someone who carries good leadership traits and goes through an epic journey. Usually an epic hero is from an epic, and an example is Odysseus. Odysseus goes through a journey to return back to Ithaca, his homeland. In the modern era, there are epic heroes all around us. They can be in books, movies, or plays. One great example of a modern epic hero is Woody from Toy Story 3. He is confident, courageous,selfless, and humane. Woody is a toy cowboy and his owner, Andy is going off to college. Woody and his buddies get misplaced and get donated to a child day care center. There, they have to try to escape and return home, after realizing how bad the place
Beowulf fights till his last day living. That helps him achieve the cherry on top for his display of being an epic hero. He dies using all three characteristics of an epic hero: strength, bravery, and faithfulness. Till his dying day, he showed strength in his effort to kill the
Many individuals fail to correctly describe a hero. When young, they are taught that heroes have superpowers and are powerful. In the epic poem, Beowulf, Burton Raffel contradicts this belief. He translates the characteristics that make Beowulf an epic hero. Beowulf fits the definition of an epic hero because of his courageous deeds that reflect the values of his era, his character traits that reflect important ideals of his society, and his journey leaving his homeland to live with others.
Beowulf is “the strongest of the Geats -- greater / and stronger than anyone anywhere in this world” (ll.110-111). Even though he is famous for his massive strength, Beowulf has other attributes that are noticeable other than his strength. These attributes, arrogance, bravery, and a strong love for his people are what make Beowulf become such a powerful, epic hero. Beowulf is arrogant. He constantly brags about his supreme strength. The “strongest man alive” lets people know that he is the most powerful person around by saying, “no strength is a match for mine” (l.267). Beowulf does not think that he could ever be destroyed by anything. He obviously never questiones how his fighting ability would be when he was around seventy. Since Beowulf is convinced that God is watching over him, his ego makes him act as if he is invincible, because of the idea that he has a guardian angel. But, as Beowulf gets older, wiser, and fights in more battles he should realize that there was a possibility that he can die. Beowulf also boasts about his many battles, and is proud of himself for winning all of them. One of these triumphs is the battle in the water when he meets up with nine sea monsters which he killeds, and fights with a monster that is digging its jaws into Beowulf’s flesh. Beowulf proclaims that “ I fought that beast’s last battle, / left it floating in the sea” (ll.290-291). This epic tale reads that while Beowulf is in battle with Grendel’s mother, all he cares was about the fame he would get for defeating her. Unferth thinks that Beowulf was arrogant, by saying, “ You’re Beowulf, are you the same / Boastful fool who fought a swimming / Match with Brecca” (ll.239-241). Yes, Beowulf is a boastful fool that loves the attention that his strength gives him. A strong man and an arrogant one, Beowulf is also brave. Even after all of the horror stories that he hears about Grendel, he still fights the cursed beast without any hesitation. When he battles with Grendel, he does it without the things that everyone else would use--weapons. This shows that Beowulf is not scared of anything in the world. He also must be brave to fight a sea monster after swimming in the ocean for days. He went straight into battle exhausted, from the strenuous journey across the ocean.
Beowulf shows both wit and patience in his swift retort after Unferth challenges his skill. Later, after proving himself by dismembering Grendel, he accepts Unferth’s sword to face Grendel’s mother. This offering can be seen as an act of apology or forfeit on Unferth’s part and reveals another side of the hero: forgiveness. Beowulf did not deny Unferth his repentance, nor did he ridicule him upon his conceit.
Epic heroes are described as a brave and noble character in a story. Being a hero or villain is not easy, it takes many struggles along the way but in the end, they are admired for their noble births, supernatural abilities, quests, and valorous deeds. In many ways Ursula is a villain and Beowulf are their own epic hero through comparing and contrasting these characters.
Beowulf, a Geat, hears about Hrothgar's troubles, gathers fourteen of the bravest Geat warriors, and sets sail. The Geats are greeted by the members of Hrothgar's court, and Beowulf tells the king of his previous successes as a warrior. During the banquet Unferth, a Danish soldier, doubts Beowulf's past accomplishments, and Beowulf, accuses Unferth of being a brother-slayer. At this banquet Hrothgar promises Beowulf many riches and treasures if he can slay Grendel.
It is essential that his tasks must be large, impossible, and make Beowulf better than the person next to him. Unferth recognizes this and proves that Beowulf simply doesn’t care about others, “Boastful fool who fought a swimming with Brecca, both of you daring and young and proud, exploring the deepest seas, risking your lives for no reason but the danger? All older and wiser heads warned you not to, but no one could check such pride (240-245).” There was absolutely no reason in Beowulf’s action as it did not benefit anybody, and all based off of his arrogance and berates towards those who told him to stop. Beowulf is selfish because he went against those who raised him to stand for kinship, and instead he proved nothing but a bombastic boast towards people Beowulf thinks less
society. In Beowulf, Beowulf shows extraordinary courage and strength that gives him special status. This notion is shown, when Beowulf fights Grendel and Grendel’s mother, but it is especially noticeable when he fights the dragon. When Beowulf fought Grendel others had the courage to attempt to fight him. The same is true with Grendel’s mother. When Beowulf goes to fight the Dragon, the other warriors cower away into the woods. Beowulf shows his courage by fighting the Dragon. Even when Beowulf is fighting the Dragon and realizes that his sword can do no damage he continues to fight. After Beowulf is on the verge of death he shows a combination of courage and strength by delivering the death blow to the Dragon, and not just laying down to die. Beowulf’s strength is shown when he is able to actually do battle with the Dragon; any normal man would have fallen to the dragon immediately.
Definition: “An epic hero is the larger-than-life character in an epic--a long narrative poem about important events in the history or folklore of a culture. The epic hero demonstrates traits that are valued by society. The character’s traits can be communicated in narration as well as through dialogue.”
In every epic story, the center of attention will be on the epic hero. Usually all the epic heroes have some kind of special power, which keep them different from other characters. Later on, their epic journey these powers, help them to win the glory, which make them epic heroes. In Beowulf, Beowulf is truly an epic hero, because of his wisdom, strength and bravery.
Beowulf displayed great courage and honor throughout his journeys and battles; he was an epic hero. An epic hero is a person who is viewed as larger than life and possesses values of a certain society. From the time of Beowulf’s battle with Grendel to his brawl against the dragon, he has showed everyone what being an honorable hero looks like. His heroism is revealed through both youth as a young warrior and wisdom as a reliable king. He never backed down and didn’t give up when situations were tough. Beowulf had obligations to fulfill and went about every aspect of his life with courage and strength. He cared for his people and was willing to take on anyone that threatened them or his kingdom. He sincerely was the hero of his time.
He showed great courage, strength, leadership and intrepidness. Beowulf defeated a beast that swooped up an entire room of people and ate them. He took his men on a dangerous voyage to Grendal’s deep, dark lair. Beowulf also demonstrated strength that a normal man couldn’t when he lifted a sword crafted for giants. Although Beowulf was an Anglo-Saxon hero centuries removed, his heroic attributes still appeal to heroes today. Although Beowulf has super strength, he still shows courage, initiative, selflessness, and desire to make the world a better place just like heroes of
An epic hero is a main character who embodies the ideals of a certain culture. The character is named Beowulf and he represents the ideals of the Anglo-Saxon culture which were bravery, skillfulness, and generosity. Beowulf showed his braveness multiple times throughout the story. After he heard of a monster named Grendel who, for twelve years had been attacking King Hrothgar's mead hall Heorot, Beowulf traveled to the Danish islands to defeat him. Even though Beowulf didn't know anything about Grendel he went on a long voyage to reach the islands so that the Hrothgar's people need not live in fear. Then, after Beowulf Grendel, Grendel's mother came after the people of Heorot to avenge her son's death. To reach her, Beowulf had to dive into dark dangerous waters, facing unknown peril. He swam down through the shadowy lake by himself fighting off monsters the whole way. Once he did arrive at her lair a vicious fight ensued, but the courageous Beowulf came out victorious once again. Later in Beowulf's life, a dragon destroys his village and the large mead hall he had built for his men. Even though he knew he was no longer as agile and strong, Beowulf went straight to the dragon and gave a defiant shout of challenge.
Beowulf also contains an epic hero. The title of the poem has been named after our epic hero, Beowulf. In definition, an epic hero is someone that does larger than life deeds and is stronger and smarter than any normal man; and Beowulf fits this description as if the mold were made for him. He has the strength of thirty men and uses it as a major weapon against evil. This can be seen through Beowulf’s battles with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon.