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Compare and Contrast: Beowulf

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Compare and Contrast: Beowulf
Compare and contrast essay
Billy Englehart
What makes Beowulf so dishonest? To start with Beowulf was sent to the land to kill Hrothgar’s evil son Grendel. But Beowulf was so caught up in trying to be “heroic”, he started lying to Hrothgar’s soldiers and how he slayed 39 sea monsters! Batman never lied to the people on his conquers, but Batman never backs down from the bad guys. Heroes can be brave, courageous, and bold, but true heroism is best defined with bravery, courage, strength, and also with a little bit of risk taking.
Beowulf shows many behaviors that are heroic. For example, Beowulf had enough courage to come to the land and say to King Hrothgar that “I Beowulf will kill Grendel with my bare hands”. One example where Beowulf shows strength was when he was hanging onto Grendel, Grendel started to jump around and tried to fling Beowulf off, Grendel failed to get Beowulf off so it ended up Beowulf killing the monster by ripping his arm off. This makes Beowulf so strong and also courageous because he defeated a monster that no one else could. Another example of bravery that Beowulf showed was when he went to go slay the dragon. Despite his bravery and strength Beowulf is not a true hero because he lies about his feats, and exaggerates about how he battles.
On the contrary, a hero such as Batman shows true heroism because he made a choice that would be understandable if we were in his situation: it would be turn to loss and defeat of his parents dying, or make the world a better place by stopping muggers, like the ones that killed his parents. One example was at the end of the most recent Batman movie Batman had the strength to overcome sadness when his parents were killed right in from of his face. But in trying to save Gotham, Batman’s consequences were the police arresting him.
In conclusion, Beowulf is not a true hero because he lies about the monsters he’s killed, and along with the sword that he said he “left in the evil mother’s stomach”, and the dragon cup he let her have. It was mostly all lies. These are the differences between a hero, and a dishonest man.

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