An epic hero is someone who has to preform heroic deeds. The King of Geatland at the beginning of the poem was Hrothgar, Beowulf is just a Geatish Warrior, once Beowulf finds out about Grendel attacking he steps in to help the tribe. Beowulf kills Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon in this poem. The battles Beowulf fought were beyond human strength and capabilities. Beowulf’s first battle was with Grendel, whose arm was ripped off with a pair of bare hands, becoming his first heroic achievement. Beowulf’s next heroic achievement was when he entered “The Monsters’ Lair” (51) and killed Grendel’s mother, who was killed by a larger than life sword. Beowulf’s last and final heroic achievement was battling and killing a dragon who he later found out was Grendel’s brother, Beowulf then later dies from the poison in his blood from the dragon’s teeth.
Therefore, during the first battle fought, a monster named Grendel whose body covered in green scale, comes and attacks Geatland “hoping to kill anyone he could trap on this trip to high Herot” (40). The king of Geatland Hrothgar, The King of Danes, built a great wall known as Herot Hall. Grendel attacked Herot and most of his tribe, Beowulf ordered his warriors to draw their swords. The blades upon those swords could
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The dragon is the third monster Beowulf has become encountered with. A slave awoken and angered the dragon by stealing the jeweled cup from the lair where Grendel died and Grendel’s mother was killed. It just so happens Beowulf found out the dragon was Grendel’s brother which made Beowulf angrier than what he already was. The dragon burns the Geats homes and the land they sat on. Beowulf decided to the monster personally, “I used no sword, no weapon, if this beast could be killed without it, crushed to death like Grendel” (57). From the dragon bite Beowulf received he later dies, the dragon has poisons in his teeth causing the
The epic Beowulf is one of the oldest poems written in English. According to the Norton Anthology, "the poem was composed more the twelve hundred years ago, in the first half of the eight century. Its author may have been a native of what was Mercia, the Midlands of England today, although the late tenth-century manuscript , which alone preserves the poem, originated in the south in the kingdom of the West Saxons" (Norton 21). Although the poem is of English origin, it speaks of tribes (the Danes and the Geats) that are from the "Danish island of Zealand and southern Sweden respectively" (Norton 22). The main character, Beowulf, demonstrates that he is a warrior who places heroism and bravery over his own well-being and life. Beowulf is a hero and an example of a great warrior. His actions give us a good example of the pagan warrior mentality. The pagan society is a warrior society, in which courage and bravery are extremely prevalent. Beowulf fights against monsters and dragons, and he would rather die in battle, then anywhere else. Beowulf is called upon to help defeat Grendel, who is a monster that has taken over the hall of Heorot. He is greeted with great hospitality. Hrothgar, the King of Denmark, is relived to see Beowulf. There is some skepticism by Unferth, who recalls a fight in which Beowulf lost in Battle. Unferth is wrong, and Beowulf says this great line: "fate often saves an undoomed man when his courage is good." Beowulf defeats Grendel with great ease and the people of the hall are gracious to Beowulf.
Then the Danes decide to go back to Herot and while they are sleeping, Grendel’s mother comes to attack them in order to even the score for the killing of her son. Then she leaves, taking the body parts of her son and Esher (which is one of Hrothgar's close friends) with her. Beowulf attempts to save him by entering the monster-filled lake, although the sword that he uses is useless against the skin of Grendel’s mother. As he continues to fight, he grows tired, but then notices that there is a huge sword on the wall of the battle hall where he was dragged to. The sword just so happened to be a magical one that was blessed by the giants that made it.
"p" sound is line 160, "From my prince, no permission from my people for your
There are many traits that are possessed by those who seek heroism. Whether it is in real life or in fiction, every hero desires these character traits in the past, present, and future. IN my opinion, the two traits that are most prominent in the poem Beowulf are bravery and goodness.
An epic is a long narrative poem on a serious subject. It usually is about
In the beginning of the novel, Beowulf takes interest in the plight of Hrothgar, King of Denmark, and wants to help him fight Grendel. Grendel is a large monster that has been harassing members in the mead-hall of the Heorot. Beowulf owes Hrothgar a favor, due to the fact that Hrothgar saved his father in years past. Hrothgar is honored to have Beowulf attempt to fight the swamp monster, and decides to hold a feast in his name. When Grendel shows up to the feast, Beowulf illustrates his bravery by fighting Grendel without any armor. When Beowulf wins the battle by ripping Grendel’s arm off, everyone in the mead-hall praises Beowulf for his acts of courage. In this scene, Beowulf proves that he is a hero by fighting off a monster that everyone else was afraid of. This made him look
The first thing that makes Beowulf an epic hero is his wisdom. In this epic poem Beowulf fight with many characters, that are bigger and stronger than him, but Beowulf wins all these battles through his wisdom. Most of the time Beowulf fights for glory, so he always looks for a battle to fight. That’s how he came to the fight with Grendel, who frightened the whole kingdom of Hrothgar. Many warriors tried to defeat Grendel, but they all failed and eaten my Grendel. When Grendel came to the Heorot to kill the warrior’s, Beowulf tricked and attacked him with his bare hands, knowing that the swords does not work on him (Beowulf 51). First Beowulf learned Grendel’s attacking style and with that he counter attacked Grendel. Beowulf uses his wisdom wisely in every situation he encounters. When Beowulf fights Grendel's mother, first he looked around his surrounding and “he sights a famous old sword of the giants, which he seizes and thrusts at Grendel’s mother, who falls in helpless death throes” (Foster 1). In every battle, Beowulf is overpowered with wisdom, which makes him an epic hero.
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.
"That night, Beowulf and his men stay inside Herot. While his men sleep, Beowulf lies awake, eager to meet with Grendel" (Raffel Burton- 48). In the epic, Beowulf establishes himself as a highly profitable warrior, on a mission to serve and protect. Immediately, Beowulf is presumed to be a good force, taking on Grendel who is perceived to be a descendant of Cain, who personifies evil. A valiant warrior, Beowulf protests that he shall take on the monster, stripped of weapons and armor. When the evil monster Grendel attacked the people of Herot, Beowulf chose to fight Grendel and diminish the evil that he represents. While he and his men sleep, Grendel arrives to wreak havoc on the mead-hall.
direction is like trying to hit a cloud with a bow and arrow. A hero is also
Beowulf, written between the 8th and 10th centuries, is an epic poem set in southern Sweden. The poem illustrates the Anglo-Saxon’s strong belief in the heroic code. The loyalty between the warrior and his king bound the culture together. The warrior was the ultimate hero who represented strength and courage. Beowulf, the hero in the poem, illustrates the Germanic principles of the heroic code. Through the battles and character interactions, Beowulf converges loyalty, strength, courage and forgiveness into the hero archetype.
Beowulf is called upon again to defeat this monster. Beowulf puts on his armour and takes the sword Hrunting and descends into the monster’s lair. Grendel’s mother quickly grabs Beowulf and takes him to the battle arena. Once there, Beowulf fights and finds his sword cannot pierce the monster’s hide. So once again, Beowulf throws his sword aside and fights hand-to-hand. Yet, he could not defeat her with his hands alone. Then Beowulf sees, “hanging on the wall, a heavy, Sword, hammered by giants, strong And blessed with their magic, the best of all weapons.” Taking the sword and holding it high above his head he strikes the monster in the neck cutting deep into the skin, breaking bones and all. Thus ending his second heroic battle with a mythical beast and proving that he is indeed worthy of praise. Yet, this is not the greatest of his deeds.
The usual epic hero is most of the time on a mission. Beowulf was on a mission to help his people by getting rid of Grendel. He is determined to free the Danes from Grendel.The third characteristic of Beowulf is courage. There’s no way Beowulf would have accomplished anything without courage. “The Spear-Danes in days gone by and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness. We have heard of those princes' heroic campaigns.” Beowulf stated here that he’s known for courage, “The man whose name was known for courage, the Geat leader, resolute in his helmet,answered in return: "We are retainers
Beowulf possesses several distinct traits that allow him to be defined as an ideal epic hero and Anglo-Saxon hero. He is courageous, loyal, wise, and physically powerful. Beowulf puts himself through difficult situations just to keep his people safe from evil. He battles Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon for his people, though he does it for honor as well. Beowulf shows honor in all of his acts, but he is constantly seeking fame and glory through all of his accomplishments. Beowulf has the perfect qualities and characteristics it takes to be an epic
Beowulf’s first accomplishment as an epic hero was his battle with Grendel. Grendel was a huge beast, a descendent of Cain, who ruthlessly murdered innocent Danes because he felt pity for himself. Upon hearing of the Dane’s problem, Beowulf set off to help the Danish without having been called upon. Even though Beowulf had men backing him, He drew battle with Grendel alone and without armor or weapons. Yet, Beowulf emerged victorious with the arm of Grendel as his trophy. Beowulf then went on to kill Grendel’s vengeful mother and a huge fire-breathing dragon who thought it had been done wrong by the Geats. Alas, the killing of the dragon would be Beowulf’s last great battle for the dragon took Beowulf’s life in the struggle for his own.