Heroic Images In Beowulf

In the propaganda film Triumph of the Will, Hitler is portrayed as the savior and hero of the people of Germany. Director Leni Riefenstahl captures Hitler in a documentary like setting doing what would have been considered at the time to be “good deeds” for his country, in order to show all who watch the film that Hitler is the ideal image of a heroic human being. Alternative views of the heroic are portrayed through Isak Dinesen’s “The Heroine”, and through Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal character Antonius Block (the knight). In Dinesen’s short story and Bergman’s film, modern heroic images are shown that contrast with the “ideal” heroic image that is represented by Hitler in Riefenstahl’s film. In Isak Dinesen’s short story “The Heroine,”

The knight in a confession to Death, whom he believes is a priest, reveals that he wants to do one good deed before Death takes him, later on in the film by similarly sacrificing himself as Heloise did, he makes this good deed happen. While trying to out-wit death in a game of chess in order to live a longer life, Antonius saves the actor family he is traveling with allowing them to be free of Death by knocking over chess pieces on the board to distract Death while the two actors and their baby flee. Much like Heloise, Antonius is making self-sacrifice in sabotaging his chess game and saving the others and permitting the family to escape safely from Death’s grasp. Antonius also rejects the idea of taking the easy way out with Death, he could easily accept his fate and let Death take him right away, yet he chooses to challenge Death to a game of chess in order to prolong his life and carry out his one good deed. Again, this contrasts with the image of Hitler as a hero because Hitler is illustrated as acting in favor of Germany through favoring an idea of unison. Individuality is somewhat lost in this concept of heroism through the practiced rituals of the soldiers that are shown in The Triumph of Will, where as with the knight he is more individualized with his act of good