Beowulf Essay

Michael Hall

Period 4

9/6/14

Beowulf Essay

            What is a hero? It seems so simple but it’s much more when you actually get into it. “Beowulf” is considered one of the great heroic tales; it also gives a great opening into the society that forged it. While it is not known specifically who or where the epic was created, there are many theories that suggest that it was before 1000 AD in northern Europe. The main character, Beowulf, is a great warrior and skilled leader; he embodies the name hero perfectly for his time. Through this the reader is able to get a look into what qualities his society felt was most important. There is also a correlation between his qualities and those of other civilizations all across the world, there seem to be universal heroic traits that are in all epics, one being that they are excellent fighters and great leaders. His qualities have major distinctions from both literary and real heroes in today’s society.  Also there is a major distinction from a literary view of this piece; it was one of the first major heroic tales to be written in Old English.

            Heroes have always been created as the ideal person in a society; they hold the ideal qualities and traits. In “Beowulf” he has all the “normal” heroic traits such as: being an excellent warrior, a strong fighter, a great leader, and very loyal to his king. One interesting characteristic was his extreme confidence to the point that he fought one of the major monsters Grendel while being naked. The reason that people praise him for his extreme confidence is that he could back it up and people saw that. If he had boasted that he could defeat Grendel naked and had loss than all of his reputation would be lost. A distinction between him and some other heroes from epics is that he is not a flawed hero, such as some Greek heroes like Odysseus and Achilles. He eventfully falls to the dragon but still remains a great hero.

            Heroes are in all societies, in Anglo-Saxon cultures the skill with a sword trumped all skills, but as the world and people have developed the heroic qualities the Beowulf have remained in heroes. There are two types of heroes in today society, real heroes that affect our lives and heroes in our literature and media. Our real heroes are the people how defend us: military, police, firemen, ect. They are the ones who protect us, they posses heroic qualities that resemble Beowulf, one being that they put themselves in harm’s way to defend others. In literature we take these same qualities and extend them out into larger than life characters, these are super heroes. They take the heroic qualities of Beowulf but elevate them to the next level. Even after so many years the same heroic qualities that Beowulf has are seen in today’s society.       

There are many heroic tales and epics, lots are Greek and Roman tales such as Odysseus and Achilles. “Beowulf “was the first major English epic written by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon. It is considered one of the most important old English pieces of literature. It was written in the style of a poem just like the Greek heroic stories. Because it was written in old English it has and uses many words and phrases that have become obsolete in today’s English. Many people have taken the original version of the text and converted it to modern English. Even though it is still English it can be seen how the language has changed from that time to know.  

            “Beowulf” was one of the first major English pieces of literature it tells the story of the hero Beowulf and his journeys. Beowulf himself shows a look in to thy time and place that it was made showing that they saw strength and heroism as keys to life. His qualities are universal to most stories and cultures including today’s society. Altogether the poem shows a look at their society and a reflection about our own.