Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

The Epic Hero

Satisfactory Essays
586 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Epic Hero
Rachela Lawrence
August 23, 2013
2nd Block
The Epic Hero

An epic hero is a man of extraordinary strength, distinguished courage, and talent admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. I believe heroes should hold many qualities upon themselves such as sacrifice, focus, bravery, courage, determination, and loyalty. A hero, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act, and is regarded as a model or ideal. Beowulf is a character of a legendary epic hero. He becomes a leader of his people, which is destined to face the source of danger.he is willing to risk his life for the greater good, his people. He is also willing to face his fears, and meet them head on. Beowulf makes difficult/ hard decisions, even when the outcome is bad. And Beowulf demonstrates in many ways all the characteristics and qualities of being a true hero. Beowulf arrived in Herot to help his people purge all the evil from this hall, and t help the people against Grendel. By Beowulf having a strong believe in fate, he volunteers himself to fight against Grendel, and when Grendel’s mom seeks revenge he goes to the lake and takes on the challenge. Beowulf believes if he dies in battle it’s because it is his destiny to do so. “Fate will unwind as it must!” Beowulf displays the qualities of strength and power , and battles all his enemies with pride. Beowulf tears Grendel’s arm from its socket, and the mortally wounded monster crawls to his liar. Beowulf tried to hit Grendel’s mother with a sword, but it fails to pierce her skin. He threw the sword away and decided to attack her with his bare hands. Grendel’s mother tries to kill Beowulf with a dagger, but Beowulf’s armor defends him. Beowulf accomplished to throw her off of him, and sees a sword of a massive size, that he instantaneously grabs. He uses the massive sword to kill Grendel’s mother by hitting her from above, therefore breaking her collar cones and slicing her into two halves.

Beowulf preforms strength, courage, and fearlessness by taking on the dragon that has become a threat to the Geats. When it becomes time to fight the dragon Wiglaf sticks around with Beowulf, and fights off the dragon, never fearing the threat of death. Beowulf approaches the creature’s cave and challenges it to combat. The dragon charges and fixes its tusks in Beowulf’s throat for the third time. Then Wiglaf thrusts at the dragon from below. Beowulf plunges his dagger into the creature’s coils, cutting it in two. Together, the warriors put an end to the monster. After the wound in Beowulf’s neck begins to throb and swell, Beowulf realizes he is dying. The battle was over, Beowulf ended the grief, the sorrow, and the suffering forced on Hrothgar’s helpless people.

In conclusion, Beowulf, a true hero does not fear death, but prefer to risk all that he has become for what he believes is moral, right, and just. Beowulf held many qualities upon himself such as sacrifice, focus, bravery, courage, determination, and loyalty. Although, his fellows may be great warriors (like Achilles and Beowulf, he may have a commitatus, or group of noble followers with whom he grew up), he undertakes a task that no one else dare to attempt. Beowulf presented the characteristic of his willingness to die for his people, and qualities of being a true, legendary hero.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Every generation and culture of mankind seeks a hero to emulate and look to for guidance. Heroes provide hope, determination, and safety to all who are affected by their actions. Epic heroes are smarter and stronger than the average human, and they are on a quest for something important to their people. They also have strong ethics and values. In the epic poem, Beowulf, Many would argue that Beowulf is an epic hero and can do no wrong, however his ethics and motives are incorrect.…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is said that Zeus, the Lord of the Sky, once stated that a true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength but by the strength of his heart. A person who claims to be a hero can boast about his strength and how many monsters he’s defeated, but he can’t be a true hero if in the end he’s defeating all these monsters to show off. A true and epic hero is the man or woman who has the intent on helping people in spite of overwhelming obstacles. Beowulf, because of his selflessness, valor, and honor, is the epitome of an epic hero.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Being a hero means you have amazing achievements, people look up to you, you are brave. Beowulf is a good example of an epic hero. One of my favorite similar epic hero is Spiderman because they resemble each other in different ways. Beowulf and Spiderman are two heroic figures that show Courage and Bravery, Selflessness, and they both care in some kind of way.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself" -Joseph Campbell. The story I'm writing about is the Epic poem call Beowulf, which was translated by Burton Raftel. Beowulf is a hero who defeated many monster that are killing innocent people. In his life, as a hero, Beowulf shows that he is bossy, independent, and fearless; which are all the qualities of a real Epic hero.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beowulf Epic Hero

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Grendel’s mother gets angry when she knows about Grendel’s death. She wants to kill Beowulf. Beowulf has difficulties killing the most powerful monster grendel’s Mother. “Then she carried him, armor and sword and all, to her home; he struggled to free his weapons, and faild” (582-584). This quote shows Beowulf has difficult to killing Grendel’s Mother. Grendel’s mother caught Beowulf very tight and brings him to the battle hall. He is tried to free from her weapons, but he can’t free from her weapon. After so many problems finally he was able to kill Grendel’s Mother. “Caught her neck and cut it through, Broke bones and all. Her body fell to the floor, lifeless, the sword was wet with her blood, and Beowulf rejoiced at the sight” (642-645). Beowulf fights with Grendel’s mother for long time. Finally he able to kill Grendel’s Mother. He use magic sword to kill Grendel’s Mother.Her body fell down the floor. Her blood is all over the floor. Finally Beowulf won the battle. This is the high point of the story. Beowulf fights and defeats the most powerful…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beowulf As An Epic Hero

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Beowulf is such a unique and distinctive character. He shows people the true definition of an epic hero. He is the type of hero that people would look up to. He is a confident leader for many, and that is what makes him who he is. Beowulf’s main characteristics are loyalty, bravery, and strength.…

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Beowulf Vs Superman

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the epic poem Beowulf, the main character named Beowulf is portrayed as an epic hero. An epic hero is a person who has an outstanding quality and a specialty to him,…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story Beowulf, is about a epic hero. The protagonist of this story is Beowulf. He is the main character, and kills monsters to portray the persona of the perfect hero. This story will introduce you to the characteristics of an epic hero, and what it requires to be one.…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Compare Batman to Beauwulf

    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Riveting tales of fortune, valor, and heroism he kind of tale where this larger then life characters go off on epic adventures in search of honor and treasure and also fight some amazing foes along the way. These tales can come in many different styles, themes, and ways they are told, but one thing all of these stories have in common is an epic hero. But what is a hero? To me a hero is a person the stands up for the ones that cant help themselves, a person that no matter the challenge will persevere, and a person that will sacrifice it all for the people he or she loves. That brings me to my heroes Beowulf and Batman these two characters are perfect example of these traits they show this though their selfless deeds and displays that they have performed over the years. And starting it off we will talk about the amazing feats of Beowulf and his heroic traits in his epic poem.…

    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ethics and Beowulf

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “ Beowulf is an epic that came out of a warrior culture and was used not solely to entertain but also to teach the moral thinking of this culture” (Chickering 86). Beowulf himself embodies all of the qualities of a typical epic hero, and there are clear examples throughout the text. He is easily the best warrior in the country, which he demonstrates by killing Grendel.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nobility and Beowulf

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Epics have been written and told orally for hundreds of years. A typical epic usually contains challenges, journeys, adventures and most importantly, a hero. An epic hero has several characteristics that make him unique. First of all, he or she usually comes from a noble family, which means, a noble birth. Also, they tend to have superhuman strength and accomplish beyond human deeds. A must in all Epic stories is that this hero must go on a quest in search of something. This quest, also known as a journey, holds several challenges and unexpected turns that the hero must overcome. Beowulf, an epic hero, is a fantastic example and fits the standards perfectly of an epic hero. He is noble, brave, and has superhuman strength, not only in his body but also in his heart. This strength is one that makes him thing of himself as immortal and invincible. What Beowulf lacks despite of this is a sense of self-knowledge, something learned about oneself through experiences, but he gains this characteristic through his epic quest in which he will realize that in fact, he is not immortal. Beowulf does not simply gain self-knowledge; in fact there are a series of events which lead up to his inner realization.…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mead Hall In Beowulf

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages

    An epic hero beholds the traits of courageous, good, amazing, and noble. A character in this story that contains all these traits is Beowulf himself. He is definitely an ideal epic hero, because he shows all these characteristics at some point in the story.…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Delivery Man Vs Beowulf

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A hero can be defined as a person who is admired or idealized and can often resolves issues. Beowulf is an epic hero; he has a great amount of strength and knowledge to defeat a monster. In contrast, the average delivery man can fight through traffic and dodge speeding tickets in order to fulfill our hunger. Despite the fact that Beowulf and a delivery man face different battles, they are both hero’s.…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is a hero?The true definition of a hero is ‘a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities’. Heroes can be somebody from Superman all the way to just helping an old lady across the street. It just depends on how you look at a person. In the story of Italics, Beowulf is perceived as being a strong hero with superhuman abilities. Beowulf is an excellent example of an Anglo Saxon epic hero in the following three ways, he is on a quest, has superhuman strength, and risking death for glory.…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both Beowulf and Odysseus have the traits of an epic hero: bravery, courage, leadership, strength, craving for fame and glory, among other things. Beowulf exemplifies bravery, courage and strength when he goes off to fight the monster Grendel so that he can no longer terrorized of people of Danesland. He feels a certain responsibility to protect people, which is common characteristic of an epic hero. When he defeats Grendel he is hailed as a hero, he receives fame throughout the kingdom for his deed. Beowulf seeks fame and glory even in his old age when he goes…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics