Journey of Beowulf, the Epic Hero

 Beowulf is the perfect hero, and he shows almost all traits that any hero would have. The epic poem ?Beowulf comes from the Anglo-Saxon times and in this tale they put forth their idea of a hero. Beowulf shows the traits that most any hero shows, such as Beowulf made a name for himself through heroic deeds, he has courage when everyone else is desperate and infested with fear, and lastly his fearless behavior that leads to victory is all under Gods blessing. Beowulf also has charming abilities when it comes to speaking or influencing others, like how he woes the king when he first arrives to the land of the Danes. Considering all of Beowulfs traits and all other epic heroes traits, it can be safely said that Beowulf is a true epic hero.

Beowulf has a set in stone fate that his shown through his heroic deeds that he first explains to king Hrothgar when he arrives to the Land of the Danes. According to the text Beowulf enters the Herot and addresses the king, and he states such reasons for his visit to the Land of the Danes. Beowulf continues on speaking of the wise men in his village suggested he come because they have seen him come back from most difficult missions, like killing a family of giants or slaying water monsters.

Beowulf then makes a name for himself when he slays Grendel by ripping his arm from its socket and letting the monster bleed out off in the forest. These acts of great heroic deeds makes all around him see Beowulf as a hero and thereby name Beowulf the hero of this epic poem.

Upon further reading, I know that once Grendel is slain his mother comes to the great hall full of sorrowful, motherly rage. Grendels mother unleashes her wrath upon those sleeping in the great hall and Beowulf isnt there to save them. Once again, the Danes knew great sorrow and Grendels mother had escaped back to her lair under the frozen lake thats filled with sea monsters. However, Beowulf hears of the news and tracks Grendels mother to the lake. Along with him ride king Hrothgar and his men; once they fight a monster at the waters edge Hrothgar and his men go no further.

Beowulf then enters this underworld alone in pursuit of the lair (Episode 6-7). Only the true heroes will go into an unknown world of dangers alone to accomplish a victory for the greater good. For example, Orpheus enters the underworld to retrieve his love Eurydice, Theseus heads down to the Hades underworld to retrieve the hades wife, and lastly Hercules travels down to fight Cerberus. Even though Beowulf doesnt enter Hades form of the underworld, he does still travel to the ?underworld of Grendels mother.

Based on the text, the author tells us that though each of Beowulfs encounters with evil he had the blessing of God to help him in victory. Beowulf states himself when speaking to Hrothgar that when he fights Grendel he will let God decide who shall be taken by death (Episode 3). Now usually we see heroes that were born from a god and even though Beowulf was not he still has the blessing of God, like the heroes when see in other stories.

We also see gods blessing when Beowulf is battling Grendels mother and the sword she swings at him does not go through his armor the author states Holy God, who brought about war victory (Episode 7). Unfortunately, Beowulf does not make it through his fight with the Dragon; however the dragon is defeated. Through each battle Beowulf acknowledges God for his victories giving the inference that he has consent of the Gods to win against all hardships, like others that we acknowledge as heroes in other stories.

Beowulf is an epic poem from the Angelo-Saxon time period and shows hero characteristic that match with all other heros seen in stories throughout time. Beowulf holds the true hero traits of making a name for himself through task that are too much for a common man to handle, he has courage when all are sorrowful and infested with fear, he also acknowledges God for all his victories giving the influence that has accomplishes all with the blessing of God. In reading and understanding other heroic tales its hard to say that Beowulf himself is not a hero; depriving Beowulf the title of a hero means to deprive heroes all across literature with the hero title. More plainly put, if Beowulf is not a hero then its hard to say who actually is a hero because Beowulf set the stage for all heroes that come after him.  

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