Examples Of Courage In Beowulf

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” (Nelson Mandela) This quote says that courage is not a natural occurrence but a man must work and overcome fear to obtain it. The Bible tells believers that their courage should derive from the protection and guidance of the Lord. Courage comes from faith in God and trust that He is with believers wherever they go. Beowulf, in Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, has courage based on strength and ability to overcome any obstacle he faces; whereas Christians know their courage comes from the love of God.

Deuteronomy 31:6-8 states, “‘be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.’ Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, ‘Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The Lord himself goes before you

The narrator explains that God does ultimately chose everyone’s fate. Still, the narrator also implies that one can get around that in lines 572-573, "Often, for undaunted courage, fate spares the man it has not already marked." Though if courage is not as large as they believed a warrior’s courage should be, a warrior will be put to shame, like Unferth on lines 590-594, "The fact is, Unferth, if you were truly as keen and courageous as you claim to be Grendel would never have got away with such unchecked atrocity, attacks on your king, havoc in Heorot and horrors everywhere”. This was said by Beowulf as he boasted about his courageous acts and what he planned to do to