Examples Of Survival Instinct In Beowulf

Mankind exists today because its predecessors were able to fight starvation, weather precarious climates, and outrun vicious animals and adversaries. Nowadays, survival is a game, whether it is proven through reality shows filmed in exotic locales or simply a video game blown up on a big screen television. To live is to survive, so it is easy to see why the survival instinct presents itself countless forms of media, dating all the way from ancient times to Old English to modern day. Beowulf, an epic poem from the 700s, exhibits the need for the survival instinct and displays the lengths mankind will go to keep himself safe. The survival instinct exposes itself as an archetypal trait in all humans, as characters will put others in harm’s way

The safest way to protect mortality from monsters’ wrath is to sacrifice those around. Beowulf vows to fight Grendel sans weapons, but for Beowulf to successfully achieve the takedown he needs to live up to his honorable name, Grendel’s focus must be on someone other than the warrior. When the time comes for Grendel to terrorize Heorot, Beowulf allows the creature to “[grab] and [maul] a man on his bench… And [gorges] on him in lumps, leaving the body utterly lifeless, eaten up” (17-18). Who is Beowulf to value his life over one of his comrades? There is no other justification behind the warrior’s decision other than he knows he cannot defeat Grendel without weapons unless a distraction is present. The only way Beowulf could live through his battle with the mead hall-terrorizer is to sacrifice a comrade. Beowulf values his life over his companion’s, so the titular character makes the decision that allows him to live through the fight, but his lesser cannot. This way of placing oneself over another is an archetypal trait shown not only in Beowulf. In AMC’s post-apocalyptic drama, The Walking Dead, a show set thousands of years from the epic poem’s day and age, the quintessential trait of sacrificing so others may live is present throughout multiple seasons. During a dangerous supply run to an abandoned high school overrun by zombies, Shane, a main character, and Otis, a guest star, find themselves surrounded by flesh-eaters at every turn. Just when the viewer is ready to write the pair off for dead, Shane shoots Otis in the leg, causing the man to fall to the ground and is quickly torn apart whilst still alive. Otis’ death serves as the perfect distraction for Shane to slip from the school grounds undetected by the “walkers”. Shane parallels Beowulf in this scene, even though thousands of years and