Comparing The Hero's Journey And Beowulf

If you were to watch the movie “Spider-man” and then read the poem “Beowulf”, which was written forever ago in the Anglo-Saxon time period you would be surprised if i told you that the heroes in both of these stories took very similar journeys. Well, according to Reg Harris and Susan Thompson, all hero’s journeys follow the same path. The journey has the same three stages, the only difference is the scenery. The poem “Beowulf” was written somewhere between 410 and 1066 by an unknown author. The poem is about a hero, Beowulf, that goes to King Hrothgar’s Hall to save him and his men from the terrorizing monster, Grendel. The movie “Spider-man”, which was directed and produced by Sam Raimi in 2002, is about a boy that is transformed into a human

They might also say that Spider Man lives in 2002 and Beowulf could have lived in the 400’s. These are all really good arguments on why they are different but when you look deeper into the journey of the heroes you can leave out these details.

In “The Hero's Journey”, Harris and Thompson say the first step is the separation, where he or she leaves the known world and crosses into the unknown. This is broken down into two parts, The Call and The Threshold. “The Call is what invites the hero into the adventure”(Harris and Thompson), for Beowulf his Call was that King Hrothgar onced helped his father by keeping his country from going to war, so therefore Beowulf owed KIng Hrothgar. Spider-man’s Call was that a robber killed his uncle to steal his car and he goes on his quest to stop criminals like that

It is kind of the sink or swim portion of the journey (Harris and Thompson). For Beowulf, his “Into The Abyss” moment was when he battles Grendel’s Mother, this is his “Into The Abyss” moment because at one point in the battle he almost is defeated but he uses his strength and Intelligence to use the giant’s sword to kill her. Spiderman’s final and hardest battle was when he had to fight the Green Goblin, who was terrorizing the city. This was his “Into The Abyss” moment because he too, just like Beowulf, was almost defeated. But at the end of the fight he used his agility to dodge the weapon that was aimed at his back, which then struck the Green