Beowulf And Achilles: The Roll Of An Epic Hero

How do you define what any epic hero really is? In both the stories we read, Beowulf and Achilles are very fulfilling in their roll of an Epic hero. Beowulf is the leader of the Geats and the setting of his adventures began around the 500’s. Achilles is the leader of the Greek army and the setting of his story is around 200 B.C. In both accounts they are in times of war, and in times of crisis. Beowulf and Achilles both fulfill the roll of “Epic Hero” because they defend their nation by fighting whoever tries to attack them; However, Beowulf fights alone, while Achilles has an army to back him up. Beowulf and Achilles are Epic heroes because they defend their nation with everything they can. They both stand up for what they believe in and

He fights alone and has to use a well thought out plan to fight the magical creatures of his land. He is very strong and is not afraid of anything that tries to attack his village. No one in the community is even close enough to his strength. Everyone looks to him for advice and guidance in almost all aspects of life. In the Illaid written by Homer, Achilles is the leader of the greek army and uses that army to his advantage. Achilles only fights with honor until he finds out about his friend that was killed. In the poem Achilles says “Hector had you thought that you could kill Patroclus and be safe?”(Homer 80). Achilles is basically telling Hector that he is going to get revenge on him for killing his beloved friend. The phrase “Epic Hero” can mean a lot of things, but in all honesty Beowulf and Achilles both fulfill the title of it because, they defend their community with everything they have, while still have cultural differences. Beowulf has to constantly use his brain to outsmart the creatures of his land. Achilles on the other hand uses his men to his advantage and uses brute force to murder anything and everything in his path. My purpose for writing this is to become better informed of the things that make each one of the characters the same while also showing how they are very