Violence In Beowulf

Malcolm X has always preached violence in cases of defending one’s self. “Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the Gun down,” and “If someone puts their hands on you make sure they never put their hands on anybody else again,” are two of his quotes that express his opinion towards violence (Goodreads, 1). Violence is a type of aggression that results from many different circumstances where individuals are to either fight or give in to their opponents. This concept of violence is illustrated in “Beowulf” by Burton Raffel, “The Whale Rider” by Witi Ihimaera, and “Thank you Ma'am” by Langston Hughes where all characters are faced with situations where they have to use violence in order to save themselves and others. Violence is an innate characteristic of human nature because we use it as a defense mechanism without thinking of the consequences.
Violence in Beowulf is portrayed as a glorified act that even heroes have to use. When evil Grendel decides to haunt Hrothgar’s men and keeps killing them, Beowulf the protagonist is forced to take action. He has to save the men from being attacked …show more content…
It usually ends with the death of either one of the fighters, but that was not the case in the Whale Rider. When Paikea defends herself from the attack of her friend using their sacred weapon, the taiaha, she is stopped before she causes any hurt to him. Although Paikea is seen as the innocent little girl in the movie, but when she is attacked for speaking her mind, she fights back instantly without thinking of the consequences. Although girls are not meant to fight, but Paikea breaks that mentality by fighting back when her abilities are challenged. When the kids are being taught by Koro how to fight, they develop the knowledge of when it is necessary to fight back. This is why Paikea does not hesitate to challenge her friend when he tries to get her to conform to his ideas and not rebel against