Beowulf’s quest for glory and honor leaves his name with one title, an Epic hero. Beowulf shows many of the characteristics of an Epic hero, by showing courage, and inhuman-like skill. He battles and slays evil itself, and portrays good, in a human form. He travels to great lengths to protect his king and his people. Beowulf has a duty to save the kingdom.
This poem begins with Grendel the symbol of all evil attacking the mead hall, killing and eating all of the kings thanes, Beowulf a brave warrior from Higlac’s kingdom, heard Grendel’s name beckon in his land, he traveled to Herot. “They have seen my strength for themselves/ Have watched me rise from the darkness of war/dripping with my enemies blood. I drove/five great giants into chains. chased/all that race from the earth. I swam/ in the blackest of night, hunting monsters/out of the ocean, and killing them one/by one; death was the errand and fate they had earned”(lines 246-254) Beowulf is convincing Hrothgar that he is in fact the fastest, strongest, mightiest warrior in the world and that he himself may slay Grendel on his own. This gives Beowulf an Epic hero quality, he has slayed monsters with his bare hands, he was willing to go to extents that no average human being would go to, to conquer evil, he is larger than life.
The first battle in Herot Beowulf fights is when once again Grendel attacks the mead hall, Beowulf awakes and with his bare hand defeats Grendel, “Hell’s captive caught in the arms/of him who all the men on earth/ was the strongest” (lines 363-365) Beowulf doesn’t need armor, or a sword to defeat a monster, he can use is own hands. This proves the second requirement to be an epic hero, he’s fighting against a force that threatens the world.
In Beowulf, the strong warrior Beowulf becomes king, after slaying his share of evil monsters. In his last battle against the dragon, the narrator says “I feel no shame, with shield and sword/ and armor, against this monster; when he comes to me/ I mean to stand not run from his shooting/ flames, stand till fate decides, which of us wins. My heart is firm/my hands calm: I need no hot words”(lines635-640) Beowulf has a duty as king to protect his kingdom and his men, regardless of his old age.
In conclusion, it is evident that Beowulf meets all the requirements to be classified as an epic hero. He’s larger than life; he has inhuman-like skill, he’s confident and brave, he can do things normal human beings would think impossible. He fights evil itself, evil that no other man could hope to beat; evil that threatens the world, and wins. He had a duty to his people to save them and risk his own life to do so. In the course of fulfilling his duties, he gained glory, and fame, his name will forever be remembered as the great Beowulf.
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