Beowulf: A Selfish Warrior

Beowulf is no doubt a heroic character. He has beaten villains time and time again to save his people, and he deserves great praise for that. However, I believe Beowulf is a selfish warrior, and was driven to do justice purely for the fame and glory that he would gain from it. The definition of selfishness is; seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others. Selfishness is not a bad thing however, and because of his selfishness he was able to achieve many great things from it, like acquiring fame, riches, and ridding himself of his enemies. The desire to be famous is one that many individuals have. They will go to great lengths to do it, and Beowulf is no different. Beowulf often claims things about himself and wants to do things his own way. His selfishness is shown the most when he battled Grendel’s mother. it specifically says on lines 502 and 503 that “Beowulf longed only for fame.” He wanted to receive all the credit for defeating Grendel’s mother so bad that he did not even use the great sword “Hrunting”, and instead chose to try and attempt it on his own. On line 507, there is a great quote about selfishness that says, “So fame comes to the men who mean to win it, and care about nothing else!” Selfishness is often portrayed as a poor and demeaning quality in individuals, and it sometimes is an accurate representation. However, in Beowulf it also helped him achieve many of his great feats. Beowulf was a relentless fighter and would not stop until the job was done, and that was driven mainly by his selfish thoughts. Not only was Grendel defeated, but his mother was as well, which is no easy feat for anyone, including Beowulf. Beowulf’s true selfishness is shown when he says, “That I, alone and with the help of my men, may purge all evil from this hall(260 & 261).” Although he further shows that he is in it for himself by saying “that I” rather than “that we”, that selfishness is what made him want to purge all evil from the hall, and he did. Any time a hero is constantly being told how great and heroic he or she is, the individual will begin to develop a sense of arrogance. Beowulf had a cocky and selfish nature to start with, and that was just accentuated even more because of his soldiers and people. After all of the battles that he had, Beowulf received constant praise for his being victorious in his seemingly impossible tasks. The praise he got was well deserved, but after hearing it over and over Beowulf’s characteristics became more and more extremified. His farewell was overdone by the soldiers, and they were misleading, making it sound like Beowulf was a far better leader and fighter than he really was. Although Beowulf was a relentless fighter, he was overshadowed by his greed and selfishness. It is easy to look past it or even not pick up on it in the first place because of how well the story is written. He was put on a pedestal by the author, but also but the soldiers who fought alongside him. Beowulf was driven to battle, but driven based upon his selfish motives. Fame, money, and power corrupt people, and sadly Beowulf was no different.