Beowulf : The Leader Of The Anglo-Saxon Hero

Exceptional leadership has played a role in society for millennia. Every good leader has essential traits that define his or her character. Beowulf exemplifies authority in the poem Beowulf, displaying acts of courage and fearlessness throughout. Beowulf guides his warriors through life-threatening situations and emerges victorious because of his prowess as a leader. His capacity as role model instills confidence in those around him, which also establishes him as a great leader. Beowulf fits into a tradition of great leaders throughout history who lead through their courage, decisiveness, and inspirational qualities.

The poem, Beowulf, shows many examples of leadership. Beowulf would be the first ideal “leader” to come to mind. Throughout the poem he chooses to be an effective king, defend his people and be a brilliant warrior. We all want good leaders in our lives, but knowing what makes a good leader can be hard to figure out in certain situations. A leader should be able to guide you in the right direction and show characteristics that you would want to grow to be. The men who were leaders in Beowulf showed many characteristics of loyalty, charismatic and bravery.

Beowulf is a hero in that he represents the values of courage, strength, respect, loyalty, and honor. Beowulf is willing to do whatever and whenever to protect Hrothgar and all his people.

Beowulf traveled to Herot to visit Hrothgar to help defeat Grendel. Grendel was an evil demon. He was a murderer. Beowulf was a hero who helped is people, whenever they needed his help. Beowulf was the strongest of the Gates. Beowulf went out of his way, and put his life in danger for the people who needed his help. He was a hero willing to sacrifice his life for someone. Beowulf fought for what he believed in. Beowulf goes underwater and fights with Grendel’s mother in a cave. After Grendel mother killed Hrothgar bestfriend.Beowulf tried to hit her with a sword, but it does word because her skin is against sword. Then, Beowulf decides to attack her with his bare hands. He then knock her down, but she still managed to fight back then gets on top of him. Grendel’s mother tires to kill Beowulf but his armor protect him. B ut then Beowulf founds a giant sword that kills her. Grendel came hoping to kill anyone he could trap on his trip to high Heorot. Grendel approaches Heorot and tears open the door. Cries for fierce Grendel arm with a grip stronger than any Grendel felt before, Grendel dies. One day Beowulf finally founds his match a fire breathing dragon, woken by a thief

On the surface, Beowulf emulates every single characteristic of a hero; he is brave when he fights Grendel, he was confident when he fought unarmed, and he did not fear for his life when he died battling the dragon. It is actually quite easy to get the impression that he is the Anglo-Saxon version of Thor, that he is the epitome of the heroic archetype. However, throughout the course of the poem, the text begins to evoke certain emotions and thoughts of Beowulf’s psyche and prerogative. The story prompts readers to think of what it means to be a hero or what the definition of heroism itself means, in terms of Anglo-Saxon culture and literature. The typical definition with the usual characteristics begins to meld with the events of Beowulf’s life and his downfall. But, it also merges questions of whether he genuinely cared to fight for his people or if he was just boastful. Despite Beowulf making some reckless decisions and eliciting a cocky personality, in turn creating blurred lines between what it is to be a good warrior and king, his character is best understood through the positive repercussions of the events that made him memorable because of his ability to protect his kingdom.

Similarly to the great kings during the Anglo-Saxon time period, Beowulf is a great warrior who achieves many victories such as his battle with Grendel, Grendel’s mom, and the Dragon. He recognizes his own abilities and uses it to help others such as Hrothgar’s men, the Danes. The amount of strength that he has to battle one on one with the creatures that others deem unkillable is extraordinary. In his battle with Grendel, he uses his own tactics to gain victory and kill him. The text says, “The battle was over, Beowulf had been granted new glory: Grendel escaped, but wounded as he was could flee to his den…” (340-342)

Beowulf, in Burton Raffel’s translation, is portrayed as a religiously conflicted Anglo-Saxon cultural hero. The story blatantly conveys Beowulf’s Christian faith with excerpts like, “Jumping to the ground, the Geats pushed their boat to the sand and tied it in place, mail shirts and armor rattling as they swiftly moored their ship. And then they gave thanks to God for their easy crossing” (224-228). Without any analysis, the reader can safely assume that Beowulf practices Christianity because the character gives thanks to God on a regular basis. Moreover, through sacrifice, the brave soldier embodies Christian values. Beowulf’s altruistic decision to sail to Denmark could save a kingdom to which the Geats are not in any way indebted. Comparatively,

The story Beowulf, is about an epic hero in the Anglo-Saxon period. An epic hero is someone who is noble and brave and is affected by great events. Beowulf was a strong warrior and king, but how much could he actually handle? He fought many battles during his life; however, the three main battles he fought during his life included a vicious dragon terrorizing his town, a revenge seeking mother who lives in a cave beneath the mere, and a terrifying descendant of Cain who lurks over heriot seeking a meal.

The story of Beowulf gave me a great impact because it was a story of a mighty hero who can’t resist the beauty of a woman who turn into hideous creature. As a story started when the monster named Grendel attack the kingdom of king Hrothgar then Beowulf when to that place and kill the monster, as a reward he become a king and married with a beautiful queen. But the straggle starts when the son Beowulf from the monster appear. Beowulf was also the one who kill his own son but the sad story was Beowulf killed in the end.

Throughout the epic of Beowulf, the differences between the hero of Beowulf and the villain of Grendel are made clear. Taking place during the fifth century, Beowulf is commonly known as the oldest surviving epic poem of Old English. It is also considered one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature. With a different age and time period comes different values. Many of the traits greatly admired during the time of Beowulf may now have much less emphasis placed on them. Similarly, the characteristics known to be of a villain may have also changed since the Middle Ages. The portrayals of the hero, Beowulf, and the villain, Grendel, in the epic poem of Beowulf reveal many of the values of Anglo-Saxon culture.

The original poem, Beowulf, goes back to the Anglo-Saxon period in c. 650 and c.1100. Authors translated Beowulf many times in the Anglo-Saxon period to present day. It displays how a hero should be in the real world. He helps the people in the village and slays monsters. Everyone in the village looks up to him as he acts as if he were a role model. Beowulf, the protagonist in the translated Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, is a hero of his village, stands for bravery, strong will, and nobleness. In addition, the poem relates to Christianity and God in many ways.

Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon epic that depicts the tales of the great hero Beowulf who fights valiantly and wins every battle he ever fights in. One day he gets word of a terrible monster named Grendel who is terrorizing the Danes and they can’t kill the beast himself, so Beowulf takes off to help the Danes. Upon arrival he is led to Heorot, the mead hall where Grendel does a lot of his killings. Once he is there he decides to trick Grendel by pretending to be asleep, which was when Grendel did most of his killings, and then attacks him while he is off guard. After he kills Grendel he is deemed a hero by the Danes and adopted by the king as his son. Several days pass and killings begin happening again and it is found out that Grendel had a mother who is grieving the loss of her son a bit too much. So Beowulf goes into an underground cave in order to fight Grendel’s mother and wins with the aid of a sword that was forged by Giants. Beowulf soon grows old and doesn’t fight as often as he did in his youth, until a slave accidentally steals a dragon’s treasure and the Dragon is now angry and running rampant leaving Beowulf to be the one to slay it. At least that’s how one would assume but Beowulf pretty much gets his butt kicked by the dragon and is saved by his kinsman Wiglaf who helped to defeat the dragon. During the fight against the dragon Beowulf is fatally wounded by the dragon and soon after dies, but before he dies he

Beowulf is an Old English epic that shows us the qualities and traits of a great leader. We can see this by the usage of heroic code throughout the poem in the character Beowulf. The heroic code states that the values of a respectable king and leader are: strength, hospitality, generosity and loyalty. Although Beowulf can be an intimidating character we also see that he has a generous and loyal side to him. He shows his loyalty and generosity by fighting for his people. This is evident when he wins and earns rewards he does not forget to give back to his people and his men; which allows him to gain a strong relationship and trust with his tribe as well as others he has assisted. Beowulf is a leader who does not back down from any challenges, instead he faces them head on displaying his courage and bravery. At times Beowulf may seem reckless because he chooses to fight the monster and dragon himself without any help from his men, but he risks his life for the greater good of the people and his kingdom. Beowulf has a strong sense of pride which is an important trait of someone with heroic status. Although due to Beowulf’s egotistic nature he may seem reckless, he is a heroic leader because he put the lives and well being of his people before his own.

What makes a good leader? Is it physical qualities? Mental qualities? Is it who their parents were? In every good story, fiction or nonfiction, at the center of it all is a great leader. Beowulf is the epic tale of a man who is revered among many, who possesses qualities unlike any other, among these qualities, is leadership. Beowulf shows us some of the most critical characteristics of what makes up a good leader, such as his ability to fulfill his promises, his willingness to sacrifice for his people, and the example he leaves on his people.

Through the work of Burton Raffel, he develops the theme of leadership in the story of Beowulf. In the beginning of the story, Beowulf is introduced as a brave soldier willing to come to the land of the Danes in order to fight this evil creature known as Grendel. He greets the king and states, “I have drove five great giants into chains, chased all of that race into earth.” (Beowulf line 248). In this, he is proving himself to be a great warrior in battle while speaking on the behalf of his men. Quoting people that would say that Beowulf was “the wisest, most knowing and the best of them” (Beowulf line 244). As the story continues, the king grants him to fight Grendel. The fight yet proved how big of a leader he was to his people. Beowulf had fought Grendel alone, putting all at risk in order to save the people of the Danes. Adding to fighting alone, it is seen that later in the story. In his final years he was faced with yet another monster stating, “I’ve never known fear, as a youth I