Examples Of Heroism In Beowulf

Throughout the poem, Beowulf is seen as a hero through his actions and how he helps the Danes and the Geats. Three of the best examples of Beowulf’s heroism is seen in each of the three battles he has. When Beowulf fights Grendel, he tells Hrothgar of how he will fight Grendel, “…my hands alone shall fight for me, struggle for life against the monster…” (Beowulf 38). Beowulf shows how he is a hero by not only facing this terrifying monster that has already killed so many, but he will face him, and defeat him, with his own hands, nothing more. Bravery is another characteristic of a hero, which is seen in each of Beowulf’s battles. In order to be able to show off his strength and power, Beowulf needed to be brave to stand up against each of

Some traits that Beowulf demonstrates are courage, wisdom, strength, loyalty, and honor. In each of Beowulf’s battles, he shows how heroic he is. When the Danes need someone to help them defeat Grendel, Beowulf courageously volunteers himself and twelve of his best men to go and fight the terrible monster who had been terrorizing the Danes for many years. While he is fighting Grendel, with his bare hands, he rips off his arm. This is evidence of Beowulf’s strength, which is so great that it can rip a monster’s arm off. His strength is again seen when he fights Grendel’s mother in her underwater lair and he picks up a sword that no regular man could hold, and then “lifted it high over his head and struck with all the strength he had left, caught her in the neck and cut it through, broke bones and all” (Beowulf 49). He used his strength to kill Grendel’s mother, even after she showed how strong she was. Beowulf’s superhuman strength enabled him to kill Grendel and his mother. By killing Grendel and his mother, Beowulf showed his loyalty to his people as well as the Danes. He saved the Danes from Grendel, partly to show off his strength and courage but also because he is loyal to Hrothgar, who he is related to. Later on, Beowulf’s loyalty is seen with his own people. When the dragon is terrorizing his people, the Geats, Beowulf shows his loyalty to his people by going to fight the dragon,

Both Beowulf and the people from Texas all were brave, courageous, and loyal. Beowulf bravely fought the monsters that were terrorizing his people and his relative’s people. He helped them by defeating these monsters and allowing them to get back to their normal lives. The people from the article, such as Dr. Kimmel bravely left his own flooded home to travel an hour to go perform surgery on a teenager who needed it. The bakers showed their loyalty to their neighbors by giving out the bread they made while they were stuck in their bakery. The Evola brothers from Dallas showed their loyalty to their fellow Texans and their bravery as they traveled from a safe place to a very dangerous area to go help people who were in need. However, a major difference between the Texas heroes and Beowulf is the reason behind their heroic acts. Beowulf decided to kill Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon because he wanted to be remembered. He wanted to save the Danes and the Geats to show off his strength and his power and to prove how much of a hero he really is. He was helping the Dane and the Geats for the fame, not for their well-being. The people from Texas were helping people for the opposite reason. They did not care about how famous they would be after the fact; they were worried about helping as many people as possible. While many heroes share similar traits, the reasons