Bravery In Beowulf
Valor is often seen as an upside to someone’s personality, but when very brave, it mistakenly leads to being brave in situations where the dispute is unfavorable. Excessive bravery leads to careless or unneeded acts, times when doing something is insane. Having too much courage results in recklessness. Courage takes over rationality, the outcome being unwise choices, which leads to consequences. In both passages the qualities of bravery leads to unnecessary risks.
In Beowulf’s first of the three brawls, Beowulf is certain he is stronger than his terrible adversary, Grendel, without weapons and armor. “Of force in fight no feebler I count me, in grim war-deeds, than Grendel deems him. Not with the sword, then, to sleep of death his life will …show more content…
Gawain disregarding that the stranger is a random, mysterious, and mighty looking, accepts it to prove to others his courage. Gawain didn’t question the strange incident at all. His courageousness spurred him into accepting a challenge without caution, and be oblivious to why this stranger has a mysterious glow or why he comes demanding an acceptance to his challenge. “I am the weakest, I know, and of wit feeblest, And my life would be the least loss, to speak the sooth. For only because you are my uncle am I to be praised; No goodness but your blood I in my body know, And since this business is so foolish, it does not befit you, And I have begged it of you first, inflict it on me; And if I speak not courteously, let all this court rich Me blame" (The Pearl Poet 193). Gawain with the ax strikes The Green Knight’s neck, decapitating him, yet The Green Knight remains alive. If Gawain had known that The Green Knight would survive, then he wouldn’t have accepted the challenge, but since he felt confident about the outcome, he accepted the challenge which resulted in the unpredictable. The arrangement was if Gawain did not execute The Green Knight with a single strike, then Gawain would receive a strike in a year. Gawain's certainty drove him to accept a challenge resulting in having to receive a blow to the neck. Gawain was sure about the outcome, yet things
In Beowulf’s first of the three brawls, Beowulf is certain he is stronger than his terrible adversary, Grendel, without weapons and armor. “Of force in fight no feebler I count me, in grim war-deeds, than Grendel deems him. Not with the sword, then, to sleep of death his life will …show more content…
Gawain disregarding that the stranger is a random, mysterious, and mighty looking, accepts it to prove to others his courage. Gawain didn’t question the strange incident at all. His courageousness spurred him into accepting a challenge without caution, and be oblivious to why this stranger has a mysterious glow or why he comes demanding an acceptance to his challenge. “I am the weakest, I know, and of wit feeblest, And my life would be the least loss, to speak the sooth. For only because you are my uncle am I to be praised; No goodness but your blood I in my body know, And since this business is so foolish, it does not befit you, And I have begged it of you first, inflict it on me; And if I speak not courteously, let all this court rich Me blame" (The Pearl Poet 193). Gawain with the ax strikes The Green Knight’s neck, decapitating him, yet The Green Knight remains alive. If Gawain had known that The Green Knight would survive, then he wouldn’t have accepted the challenge, but since he felt confident about the outcome, he accepted the challenge which resulted in the unpredictable. The arrangement was if Gawain did not execute The Green Knight with a single strike, then Gawain would receive a strike in a year. Gawain's certainty drove him to accept a challenge resulting in having to receive a blow to the neck. Gawain was sure about the outcome, yet things