Is Beowulf an Epic Hero? The Anglo Saxon poem Beowulf has a heavy presence of the archetype of “Epic Hero”which is shown through Beowulf himself and his physical strength.
Although beowulf has immense strength he is humble, even when his strength is challenged by Unferth who believes that Beowulf is not able to defeat Grendel. “And so it turned out. Each of us swam holding a sword, A naked, hard-proofed blade for protection Against the whale-beasts”(Heaney 540). In this excerpt Beowulf describes his one on one competition with a good friend to see who was the better swimmer. In this competition, even though Beowulf technically lost the competition, he swam for five days with a sword and armor, and in these five days fought off sea monsters. This shows that Beowulf has the epic hero’s trait of supernatural strength, and along with his virtuous, humble personality. This is one of the first examples of Beowulf's strength to prove his readiness to kill Grendel. Beowulf's strength was so immense that he was able to swim while he had armor on, was wet, and had a sword in his hand, all
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Beowulf does this for "for the glory of winning" (2514). This shows that Beowulf was so powerful in battle that he doesn't have to struggle and enjoys his glory in winning. And he accomplishes this once again proving his strength in battle. In conclusion Beowulf is so powerful that he can enjoy his glory. This quote also show another trait of an epic hero which is the “fatal flaw.” In his confidence in combat he failed to recognize that he was wounded by the dragon, with a poisoness bite. In conclusion due to Beowulf’s confidence is warranted, as he possesses the strength to succeed in battle, but his confidence is also a fatal flaw because it causes him to not notice his fatal