Boasting In Beowulf's Day

Boasting, talking with excessive pride in oneself and one’s accomplishments, has drastically changed societally since not only Beowulf’s day but across many centuries. In Beowulf’s day, around the eleventh century, boasting was a societal norm and not considered morally frowned upon unless the boasts were lies. As seen in Beowulf, the characters, especially Beowulf, take pride in their accomplishments and feats by sharing them with the world to show their greatness and strength. Today, boasting is considered a weakness and many are scolded for praising themselves rather than others. The theme of the past few decades has been to build others up before yourself, to acknowledge others success before your own. This mentality as a societal norm is drastically different from

The media in today’s time will shame athletes or music artists for boasting of their accomplishments in recent game play or tracks sold, or will attack the wealthy for boasting their money inadvertently by buying million dollar homes and quarter million dollar cars. It is those who have overcome repression, prejudice and hate who are accepted for their boasting. For instance, gay and transgender rights have been a recent controversy in the public eye, and those who share their stories of how they overcame the gender or gay shaming triumphantly and now stand proudly to be who they are are often praised for their boasting and their accomplishments. A more accepted form of boasting that is almost always accepted is those who share their triumphs over cancer. Most of society sees the fight against cancer as courageous and encourage those who survive to tell of their victory against cancer. Boasting will always be controversial, but it is becoming more acceptable now than it has been to tell of your victories against outside