Achilles And Beowulf As An Epic Hero

An epic hero is a character in an epic poem who is admired for large achievements and great deeds. Beowulf and Achilles are epic heroes for some of the same reasons, but their culture makes them different. The story of Beowulf was written in the fifth century, but was based around the time period of somewhere between the middle of the seventh century A.D. and the end of the tenth century. Beowulf wanted to help people when he could, even by risking his life. The story of Achilles fighting in the Troy war was written in the 4th century A.D. Achilles was very upfront about wanting glory from his people, he always didn’t want to help his people. Both stories tell the great deeds done by Achilles and Beowulf, proof of how they both were epic heroes. However, their cultural differences does set them apart from each other. Beowulf fulfills his role as an epic hero by protecting his people and going above that and crossing the sea and protecting the Danes

In the Iliad on page 81, lines 205-208 it states, “Think a bit, though: this may be a thing the gods in anger hold against you on that day when Paris and Apollo destroy you at the gates, great as you are.” In those lines it tells that Achilles knew that going to fight, he would most likely die. Being an epic hero means sacrifices. Achilles made a huge scarifies by going into a battle knowing he may not come out alive but still going. While Beowulf and Achilles were alike, they also had differences. Beowulf and Achilles both have very different cultures that make them who they are. Beowulf was thought of as a selfless person, while Achilles was thought of as a selfish person. Achilles was a lot different from Beowulf because he fought for revenge, “Hector, had you thought that you could kill Patroclus and be save?” (Beowulf,80). When Hector killed his best friend, he killed him to get revenge of the death, that is something Beowulf didn’t