preview

Beowulf Character Analysis

Decent Essays

The Great Motivator
(An analysis of Beowulf’s Motivations) Are everyone's motivations to become a hero pure? This question can be hard to answer depending on the hero. Spidermans motivations for saving an innocent child were pure, but what about people suffering from hero syndrome? A syndrome, that has become a recent phenomenon. This syndrome makes people seek heroism or recognition by creating desperate situations that they resolve in order to become a hero. As common as this syndrome is today, it was not a common syndrome in the tenth century. In the epic poem Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel, a mighty warrior named Beowulf fights three terrible monsters. Beowulf is a hero of the tenth century. Beowulf's motivations to fight the …show more content…

In Beowulf's lifetime, he killed three terrible monsters. One of these monsters was a great fire breathing dragon that was hurting his people. The other two monsters were killing people in a different kingdom. Beowulf is a great warrior and went to assist the other kingdom. Throughout the epic poem, there is a theme of how will people remember you once you die? This is important to Beowulf because he needed to set a good example to the warriors, and leave a legacy for once he was dead. After Beowulf dies in the story, it reads, “Crying that no better king had ever lived, no price so mild, no man so open to his people, so deserving of praise.” (867-869) This is Beowulf's warriors mourning over his death. He had set such a great example to the warriors on how to be a true warrior that they wept over his death. They have been extremely mournful since the greatest example, they had ever seen had died. Beowulf’s motivation of becoming an example to the Anglo-Saxons before he died through being a great warrior and king was fulfilled. The example that Beowulf left became a legacy to the Anglo-Saxon warriors. Beowulf was an individual that others aspired to be like. The motivation of Beowulf's to be an example to all the Anglo- Saxon warriors is pure.
Another motivation for Beowulf is that he needed to save his people, even if it meant sacrificing his own life. With his last fight

Get Access