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Pride In Beowulf And Greek Mythology

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In Anglo-Saxon literature and Greek Mythology both Beowulf and Jason show similar and unique characteristics through their pride, which reflects the values of each of their cultures. The two characters share a similar characteristic through pride such as leadership; however, Beowulf from Anglo-Saxon literature with pride tends to be very boastful and is easily triggered to compete, while Jason from Greek mythology tends to be more self-centered about the accomplishments. Based on these actions and attitudes the characters reflect the values of each of their cultures because it shows how confidence and arrogance is viewed. In the story leadership is a similar characteristic shown by both characters through their pride. In “Beowulf” it shows …show more content…

Beowulf tends to boast about his accomplishments while Jason tends to be more self-centered about the accomplishments. In “Beowulf” it conveys that Beowulf is very boastful about his accomplishments by having him to always be telling stories of him fighting and winning and how he is always ready to face challenges. In addition, Beowulf also appears to be easily triggered to compete, since he is known to be the best warrior of the Geats. Due to the fact he is known as the best warrior, he tends to look for something challenging to compete with in order to remain as the best warrior. In contrast, Jason from “Jason and the Golden Fleece” and “Medea” appears to be more self-centered of his accomplishments. Unlike Beowulf, who is boastful about his accomplishments, Jason tends to keep it more to himself and taking credits even though it wasn’t really his accomplishments. In “Jason and the Golden Fleece” and “Medea” it shows that Jason is greedy, since he is always taking credit for the accomplishments that Medea has accomplished not him. One example of the two texts is when Jason claims that is if it wasn’t for him for, then Medea wouldn’t even be able to stay in the palace, which is not true because Medea was the one that helped Jason to obtain the Golden Fleece and return safely to Iolcus to trade in the Golden Fleece for his throne. However,

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Bravery, defined as, courageous acts of one’s character. The main person in this epic poem to demonstrate the act of bravery would be, Beowulf himself. Beowulf’s battle with Grendel shows true courage. Beowulf then “took off the helmet and handed the patterned sword”. (672-673)He was completely unarmed as described in the lines previous.

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Boasting has varied a tremendous amount throughout centuries because of the opinions that the community has. At Beowulf's time, boasting was many to inform society about someone positive characteristics, but as you mentioned, boasting today is viewed as being egotistical. In my opinion, people should not be frowned upon because of boasting because sometimes it helps raise your confidence level. Though, one should only boast on special occasions. You said that you would be embarrassed if anyone read your boast because it sounded like you thought highly of yourself but you should never feel embarrassed about your qualities and accomplishments.

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Beowulf, on the other hand, went on his quest to save a kingdom that needed help to defeat the great monster Grendel. “Follower and the strongest of the Geats—greater /And stronger than anyone anywhere in this world— /Heard how Grendel filled nights with horror/And quickly commanded a boat fitted out, /Proclaiming that he’d go to that famous king,” (Raffel 110-114). The different character traits between these two characters suggest a difference in culture too. Beowulf goes on quests to earn pride and help others, while Jason does it to promote Greek lifestyle and get a reward, besides pride. Greek society can be flashy, arrogant, and greedy.

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