Fame And Ambition In The Iliad And Beowulf

How the themes of Fame and Ambition appear in The Iliad and Beowulf Do heroes and warriors truly crave the attention they gain, for showing acts of bravery and heroism? In The Iliad and Beowulf, there are several moments we see how elated the warriors get from fighting and winning battles. Both Beowulf and Achilles describes how powerful they are. From slaying many in the Trojan War, or by defeating sea monsters and dragons, we can tell both men are the greatest warriors of all time. While similar in many ways, because they are both heroes from a different setting and time period, there are also many differences between them. Beowulf is a warrior who is willing to cross oceans in the middle of a storm to slay a demonic monster. While Achilles is quick to anger, he does not go out of his way to kill anyone unless there is a reason. Most notably,

He states “I am old, now, But I will fight again,” (? 1) this shows how passionate he is about fighting, and that his age can’t stop him. Even though he is now the king of the Geats, and has an army to fight battles for him, Beowulf still leads his army to another victory against the dragon. Also, Beowulf is enthralled at seeing the fear in people's eyes when he goes to fight another monster. Meanwhile, Achilles would rather have people cheer him on when he flaunts another victory in front of their eyes. In addition, Achilles despises having to fight and wishes his father had “taken a mortal queen” (Homer 2) instead, so he could have had a chance at a normal life. In The Iliad Achilles kills Hector only because Hector killed his best friend. Unlike Beowulf, Achilles does not go looking for battles. But once Achilles finds a reason to fight, he won’t back down. When Achilles is talking to Thetis about Patroclus’s death he says “you cannot make me listen” (Homer 5) no one can stop him from avenging Patroclus. This shows Achilles has to be driven by a personal