Martin Luther King Jr. and Beowulf: Leaders During Changing Times All societies have qualities they value. Some value qualities such as physical strength and a noble bloodline while others value qualities like bravery and honesty. We call the people who embody completely all the values of their society, heroes. The society of the Anglo-Saxon’s and 1960’s USA bear a remarkable similarity. Both societies found themselves in the midst of change. In the 1960’s,These societies also had heroes and leader fighting for change or values. The Anglo-Saxons had Beowulf and the 1960’s had Martin Luther King Junior. Both King and Beowulf played the role of strong, honorable leaders fighting various monsters that posed a threat to their society. These two …show more content…
Both fought in an honorable way. For King that meant peaceful and nonviolent protests, even though other activists during the civil rights movements, such as Malcolm X, did fight with violence. In Beowulf’s case, that meant taking on monsters with only his hands to ensure a fair fight. “My lord Higlac/ Might think less of me if I let my sword/ Go where my feet were afraid to, if I hid/ Behind some Broad Linden shield: my hands/ Alone shall fight for me” (lines 169-173). In this passage, Beowulf refuses to fight Grendel, a viscous monster much larger than him, using anything except for his hands because Grendel does not employ the use weapons. Beouwulf feels if he used weapons he would not be fighting honorably. Fighting in a non honorable way could have yielded better results. Maybe Martin Luther King would have drawn more attention to his platform had he staged violent riots and Beowulf risked losing his fight by not using a sword, but both of them held firm. They wanted to fight in an honorable way. Both refused to give up the value of honor to win their fight. They led their movement in a way that still encompassed the values important to society; Beowulf refused to battle in a way he deemed unfair and King never once resorted to