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Compare And Contrast Beowulf And Sir Gawain

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What makes a character in a book heroic? Beowulf was a strong and courageous hero who risked his life for the safety of other. Sir Gawain was also brave and mighty. He risked his life instead of his king’s life. These to character have many things in common as well as differences. Beowulf and Sir Gawain are two outstanding heroes that are similar with their bravery, quest, and religious beliefs, but in those categories there are also differences between the two. First of all, these two characters went on a quest. Beowulf came to defend the Danes of terrible monsters that attacked the town. As the story states, “He announced his plan: to sail the swan’s road and seek out that king, the famous king that needed defenders” (200). Similarly, …show more content…

The king was very grateful that Beowulf arrived at the Danes: “Beowulf my friend, you have traveled here to favor us with help and to fight for us” (457).The king had already lost hope of defeating Grendel since twelve years had passed and Grendel still attacked. They were helpless. Beowulf was their only chance. Although Grendel was undefeated, Beowulf had the courage to fight him. He wasn’t frightened by the things he heard about Grendel. The news of Grendel actually made him want to go to the Danes to battle him. Likewise, Sir Gawain was the only person to volunteer to hit the Green Knight. The Green Knight wanted to see if the king had enough courage to hit him, but Sir Gawain stepped in the way of that. He preferred to do it himself than let the king do it. They both risked their lives by going on a quest for the sake of others. Although they both were courageous, one had humanly emotions and the other did not. Beowulf was strong. He did not show no fear even if he saw his life flash before his eyes. He battled three monsters and died trying in his last encounter. He was old, yet he still battled. He was very confident with himself. Otherwise, Sir Gawain did show his emotions. He was very frightened on his way to seek the Green Knight. He was scared of failure. Many thoughts went through his head and the fear of not being able to find the Green

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Beowulf and Gilgamesh compare and differ greatly in the epic hero texts. This shows many traits that shape the two epics into what is the same and different. The main reasons that compare and contrast the epics is leadership, culture, and the journey. The monsters is a big part of the epics as well because it shows how they deal with them. Like how Beowulf's monsters terrorize him, and Gilgamesh was out to get the monsters.

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After Gawain had been challenged, he had a year and a day to wait for the fight. He had plenty of time to abandon the task to save himself, but his courage and honor held him at his word. As a Knight, he had to honor his word, himself, and his King and seek to find the Green Knight. Although it must have been hard for Gawain to stay, considering natural human instincts is to flee from danger. This shows courage not only in his status as a Knight, but in Gawain himself.

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Winston Churchill and Beowulf are similar when it comes to their basic thought process. The two heroes are both fearless, and determined to do the best that they can. Winston Churchill is fearless because around the time of World

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Brian Baglioni Professor Tague BRL: Epic to Novel-01 10-23-15 The Notion of a Hero: Comparison and Contrast of Beowulf, Gawain and Portia A “hero” can mean many things; it is subject to interpretation especially when taken into account that what defines a person as a hero is dependent on his or her relationship to the society in which he or she lives. In general, heroes strive for some form of perfection, to be something greater than they already are. They wish to help the people around them in whatever ways they can, often sacrificing their time and effort to do so.

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Steve Wilkos once stated that “It's hard to describe yourself as a hero - I just like to think of myself as a policeman. People can look to you like that, as a good guy who can help people.” Throughout Beowulf and Sir Gawain’s poems they never thought they were heros either, just a guy who was either helping a friend, their nation, or their king. Beowulf and Sir Gawain are both heroes in their own right because of different traits that they have shown in many different forms in their journeys.

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“It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle”. Even thought there are a lot of similarities and differences between the movie and the poem, Beowulf was still hero in the poem and in the movie. Beowulf was a hero that travelled from Denmark to help out the king of Danes, Hrothgar, by fighting a monster.. One of the main differences between the movie and the poem is that in the poem they made Beowulf sound like god, while in the movie he’s just a hero.

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Heroes are a major part in any story no matter how clear their heroism is. In the case of the characters, Beowulf and Sir Gawain, they are considered to be heroes. However, they are two different types of heroes even though they both show the key attributes that make them considered to be heroes; Beowulf is the brave idealistic hero whereas Sir Gawain is a noble knight who is also modest and cares a lot about what people think of him so much so that he tells a lie to keep up his reputation. In the epic poem Beowulf, the character Beowulf hears about a monster named Grendel tormenting the land Heorot, so “he announced his plan: to sail the swan’s road and seek out that king, the famous prince who needed defenders” to help fight the monster. (David and Simpson, Beowulf 46)

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One was brave for fame, and the other to pursue his dream. Beowulf was a show-off. He fought Grendel without armor and boasted, “I could kill [Grendel] with my sword; I shall not… I will meet him with my hands empty”(678-684). At the time, heroes wanted to be immortalized, and the only way was to be famous. This was the backbone reason for which Beowulf was courageous.

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First he was strong enough to stand up to Grendel and claim his victory against his opponent. Everyone knew his strength and therefore believed he was the only one capable of fighting the monster Grendel. In the text the guard for Scyldings tells Beowulf, “I have never seen a mightier warrior on earth” Beowulf was also very strong when he was able to rip out Grendel's shoulder, a monster who made the Danes suffer a tremendous amount. Beowulf was also courageous in his battle because he didn't back down against Grendel. He knew of Grendel's fierce attacks on the Danes but he still came to fight him.

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Gawain doesn’t have many encounter where his life is put on the line as many times as Beowulf has. In the story Gawain only has one main encounter and that is when he makes the deal with the green knight. Within his encounter he gets a chance to strike the green knight

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Their valor is one of the first heroic characteristics that all three characters share. Beowulf, Sir Gawain, and Macbeth at some point in their story want the best for their culture and put their lives to risk in order to secure the lives of others. For example, in Beowulf, King Hrothgar of Denmark and the Danes suffer for many years hardships due to the number of deaths caused by Grendel, a horrible demon. Until moved by the needs of his people, young Beowulf decides to sail to Denmark along with a limited amount of men hoping to defeat Grendel and save his people from future horrors. In, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight challenges the entire court and taunts them by asking ,“Where is

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   The first similarity between Beowulf and King Arthur are that they are both very brave. Beowulf traveled all the way to Denmark after hearing the plight their people were going through. He didn’t even know anything other than what he was told. As if that wasn’t brave Beowulf went on to never back down from any monster whether it be Grendel, Grendel's mother, or the dragon he didn’t ever run from a fight. While King Arthur didn’t do go around killing all these monsters he was brave in other aspects.

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. . for brave vows [Arthur] yearned to hear made,” but Gawain, whether out of humility or fear, maintains his knightly status and makes no formal boasts. The reason for his silence is probably because he knows that he cannot back them up. Finally, a year has passed and he must leave to find the Green Chapel, so he armors up to leave on his journey. One of his admirers says to another, “Before God, ‘tis a shame that thou, lord, must be lost, who art in life

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Beowulf risked his life multiple times by battling Grendel and Grendel’s mother to save the people of Denmark. He also embarks on a battle with a dragon as an old man ascending on the Geats Throne. Each battle Beowulf fought has all been for the safety of his people. Although the Knight did not battle as a deed for his people, he also is viewed as a humble person his battles were for a purpose greater than himself. The knight never talks about his brave and valorous deeds.

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Sir Gawain is very kind while welcoming the Green Knight to his table (33). Gawain invites the Green Knight to his table with no hesitation. Heroes are brave and kind for the most part, as long as they don’t go against their code of chivalry. “My life would be least missed” (“Sir Gawain” 132). Gawain is a selfless and modest man throughout the whole story.

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