Comparing Beowulf And A Clockwork Orange

In all works of literature, the role of the protagonist is the most important role for the reader because the protagonist is the one who is to define the perspective in which the story is told to the reader. More importantly the protagonist's actions and qualities are what set aside the protagonist from all of the other characters in a poem or novel. In A Clockwork Orange the protagonist, Alex is portrayed as a violent fifteen-year-old boy who deals with the inability to express his violent nature due to a treatment that forces him to feel pain every time he thinks about a violent thought. On the other hand, Beowulf, from the epic poem Beowulf, is a revered warrior who fights to protect the people of Denmark from the feared and vicious monster,
When Alex first tells the reader about his meeting with P.R. Deltoid, Alex is informed about how he had a good family and a good background. However, P.R. Deltoid is confused about how he became the criminal that he is (Burgess 39). The answer to the dilemma is simple: Alex is innately evil and "is firmly committed to evil," (Rabinovitz 15). Alex even discusses his wild fantasies of wanting to be the one who nail Jesus Christ to the cross (Burgess 79). His evilness expresses itself in his actions when he decides to go to the record store to buy some music, but instead, brings two ten year old girls home to rape. The reader can see the evilness in his character by the viciousness of his crime, and more importantly by his willingness to not change after his meetings with P.R. Deltoid. After Alex is exposed to Ludovico's Treatment in jail, he feels frustrated because he feels pain every time he thinks of something violent, but more importantly, because he can't be fully evil: "I found it very hard not to be very ill, but my gulliver [head] was aching shocking and my rot [mouth] was so dry that I had to take a skorry [fast] swig from the mil-bottle on the table…Then I tried to be all reasonable and smiling for my health's sake…" (Burgess 135-136). This quote is from after Alex returns to his home from his imprisonment and finds his family renouncing him. Although he wants to be angry and
Since Beowulf's only goal in the poem is to help the people, Beowulf is the prime example of a good-doer. Through constant battles with the monsters that ruined the lives of the people in Denmark and Geatland, Beowulf shows that his main purpose is to help the people and to do good. He risks his own life to save the lives of people who he has never known. Even though Beowulf knows that he is going to fight dangerous monsters that have taken the lives of hundreds already, he accomplishes the task as more of a favor to the King than a job. Beowulf, throughout the entire poem, never asks for money for the services that he is to provide. In fact, in the original Beowulf, "the common Old English word for it, feoh [money], is used by itself three times…" (Shippey 40). This in itself is significant for the poem because Beowulf does not wish to get any monetary reward for his brave and courageous gestures for the people of Heorot. His sole purpose in Heorot is to fight off the evil monsters and to spread goodness in the town, not to gain a lavish monetary reward. Also, when Beowulf goes to fight Grendel and then later on when he goes to fight Grendel's mother, "his [King Hrothgar's] last words before leaving the hero…are a promise of a lavish reward," (Shippey 40). The King would like to reward Beowulf with something because he would like to repay him for his great deeds. Beowulf proves to