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Beowulf And The Hero's Journey Analysis

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The Initiation is the second stage in The Hero’s Journey. The Belly of the Whale, which usually occurs during the hero’s departure, happens much later in both Beowulf and Spider-Man. In Beowulf, that part is represented in the scene when he is in the lake fighting Grendel’s mother. “Squatting with her weight on his stomach, [Grendel’s Mother] drew / a dagger, brown with dried blood, and prepared / to avenge her only son. But [Beowulf] was stretched / on his back, and her stabbing blade was blunted / by the woven mail shirt he wore on his chest. / The hammered links held; the point / could not touch him” (lines 502-507). For Spider-Man, this is when he is fighting his final battle with the Green Goblin. Peter is getting beat to a pulp by …show more content…

After the Initiation there is The Return, which contains many different types of returns. The Magic Flight of Beowulf is when he dies and gives his kingdom to Wiglaf and the others. In Spider-Man, The Magic Flight is the testing of Peter’s abilities in his final battle with the Green Goblin. When he discovers that the Goblin is Harry’s dad, Peter realizes he can’t kill him. Additionally, there is The Crossing of the Return Threshold which, for Beowulf, is represented by the return home after defeating Grendel’s mother, and remaining safely at home for fifty years. Contrastingly, Peter’s Crossing of the Return Threshold lasts for only a few minutes. Peter is at Mr. Osborn’s funeral and seems, for the time being, safe and ordinary while talking to MJ and Harry. With a hero’s return there is almost always a way they become a Master of Two Worlds. For Beowulf, that is when he returns from his fifty year rest to Herot to fight the dragon. Obviously, for Peter this is his ability to be Peter Parker, an ordinary young adult, and then become Spider-Man, saving the city from evil. Finally, the last type of return of a hero is The Freedom to Live. Even though he dies, Beowulf “lives on” through the tower he ordered people to build in his honor. This tower reminds passers-by of his greatness and heroic deeds. In Spider-Man, Peter’s Freedom to Live is when he defeats the Goblin (though, in the process, he kills Mr. Osborn). Peter Parker has gained the wisdom it requires to

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