Examples Of Courage In Beowulf

Beowulf is a true epic hero because he is fearless, very strong, and well honored. Beowulf portrays all of the traits of a hero throughout the epic. He never hesitated to kill a monster, or even to give a helping hand at any time. He could always back up his boast with perfection. Beowulf is not a god, or a supernatural man, but he was the closest man to

Beowulf first displays his courage during his fight with the evil monster Grendel. In the poem, Beowulf challenges the beast to duel and says that he will fight him with no weapons and armor to show his courage. “No weapons, therefore,/ for either this night: unarmed he shall face me if face me he dares” (Heaney 683-685). This shows how much courage Beowulf has because he is fighting a descendent from Cain and is taking him on without any weapons and armor. Secondly, Beowulf does not hesitate for one second and takes on the beast without any help, this shows how courages the hero is.

Beowulf first displays his courage during his fight with the evil monster Grendel. In the poem, Beowulf challenges the beast to dual and says that he will fight him with no weapon and armor to show his courage. “No weapons, therefore,/ for either this night: unarmed he shall face me if face me he dares” (Heaney 683-685). This shows how much courage beowulf has because he is fighting a descendent from cain and is taking him on without any weapons and armor. Secondly, Beowulf does not hesitat for one second and takes on the beast without any help, this shows how courages the hero is. “He was bearing in/ where he lay on the bed: he was bearing in/ wiht open claw when the alert hero’s/ comeback and armlock forestolled him utterly” (764-750). Beowulf then defeats the evil monster grendel by tearing off his arm and killing the beast. In the poem the poeple are celebrating over this victory while Beowulf is dissapointed in himself because he thinks that it would be better if he had the head of the beast rather than the arm. “If you could have seen the monster himself/ where he lay beaten, I would have been better pleased” (960-961). Beowulf does not realise that he was the only one who could defeat this monster and no one else could because they do not have the courage.

Beowulf has confidence when he battles. Beowulf announces that he will fight Grendel, the evil that has been lurking them for a long time. However; Beowulf says he will fight with his bare hands instead of using weapons (Lines 400-490). This shows how he is brave enough to challenge Grendel with a single combat with only hands and in the end, he wins. Another example is when Beowulf boasts, Unferth interrupts him and insults him. Then Beowulf replies, “The fact is, Unferth, if you were truly as keen and courageous as you claim to be Grendel would never have got away with such unchecked atrocity, attacks on your king, havoc in Heorot and horrors everywhere” (590-595). This is an example of where he shows courage because he corrects Unferth and makes him look as a fool for not stating the truth of what actually happened. Also, this explains while they were swimming he was fighting off sea creatures along their swim, which is why he lost. According to Heaney, Beowulf shows courage when he believes he can defeat the dragon. During when Beowulf fights the dragon, it states, “Yet the prince of the rings was too proud to line up with a large army against the sky-plague. He had scant regard for the dragon as a threat, no dread at all its courage and strength, for he had kept going often in the past, through perils and ordeals of every

Beowulf is a prime example of what it means to be courageous. In his fight with Grendel, he chooses “[n]o weapons, therefore, / for either this night: unarmed he shall face me / if face me he dares” (683-84). Beowulf has never encountered Grendel before. He has only heard the stories of the beast’s evil doings, so going into a fight with no protection requires great strength and bravery. Beowulf is the only man to dive into the waters to fight Grendel’s Mother. He goes into the fight believing “life doesn’t cost him a thought” (1536). The outcome of the battle does not faze Beowulf because a warrior should

Beowulf exhibits great bravery by coming to Heorot to help Hrothgar, out of his own free will. Before facing Grendel, he announces, “I hereby renounce/sword and the shelter of the broad shield, / the heavy war-board: hand-to-hand/ is how it will be, a life-and-death/ fight with the fiend” (Heaney 436-440). Reckless and impressive actions like abandoning “the shelter of the broad shield” deciding to “renounce sword” and fighting “hand-to-hand” makes Beowulf appear as more courageous and daring (Heaney 436-438). Nevertheless, he boasts, “When it comes to fighting, I count myself/ as dangerous any day as Grendel. / So it won’t be a cutting edge I’ll wield/ to mow him down, easily as I might” (Heaney 677-680). Beowulf’s belief in himself that he counts himself “as dangerous any day as Grendel” motivates him to believe that he can defeat the demon-monster. His decision to not use “a cutting edge”

Throughout the story, Beowulf showed that he was brave multiple ways. One way that Beowulf has shown his characteristics is by defeating many monsters. Beowulf states, “I drove Five great giants into chains, chased All of that race from the earth. I swam

He shows his courage in every battle he is in. one place in particular is when Beowulf is old and he has become king. He hears news of a dragon and with his boastful heart he takes the challenge to kill him. Even through this boastful nature he is very courageous in the things he does. He does things alone, he asked his men to stay behind.

He was willing to put his life on the line for someone else's people. Another example of Beowulf showing bravery is when he insists on fighting Grendel with nothing but his bare hands. This shows he was fearless and brave about fighting Grendel. These examples provide a clear image of Beowulf’s bravery throughout the poem.

Beowulf is in fact and epic hero and the story of Beowulf is an epic poem because of all the daring and heroic adventure that he endures throughout the epic. Most heroes are willing to put their own lives in danger for the greater good. Beowulf risks his life multiply time whether its battling Grendel’s mother or paying the ultimate price fighting the dragon in the final battle. In Connie Jankowski article she talks about what makes Beowulf a true hero. She talks about how he defeats every monster that he crossed paths with and how his bravery helps solidify his heroic acts. She writes about how during his 50-year rule, the kingdom is attacked by a dragon but nobody cannot defeat him. He stepped up and decided that he could be the one to

Bravery is probably the hardest trait a leader can possess because it’s not something that you can be taught, it’s something that you’re born with and only a few are able to show this bravery through their leadership. Again, in his fight with both Grendel and Grendel’s mother, Beowulf demonstrates another leadership quality; bravery. First off, even fighting them both is brave beyond comprehension, yet along fighting Grendel with no weapon! After defeating Grendel, he then has to march into the swamp of an angry mother who had just killed his friend and fight a creature even scarier than Grendel. Also, even in his old age when he had been ruling his kingdom for 50 years, Beowulf still decides to fight a fire breathing dragon.

Beowulf is an poem. Certainly Beowulf’s feats of strength and victories in battles make him a legendary hero. Beowulf has fought many times, and he has usually succeeded in his many battles. Beowulf is a brave, loyal, and honorable person throughout his life. In addition, the epic story of Beowulf is a young warrior of great strength and courage.

Epic heroes exist throughout every culture and time period. They reflect their societal values and fight a life and death battle with evil. In Beowulf, characteristics such as bravery and loyalty are shown in the character Beowulf. Beowulf has heroic qualities that other characters in the poem lack. When Beowulf arrives in Herot, his bravery is shown.

Beowulf is an epic hero because of his characteristics and actions. His characteristics and actions align with what is believed to be those of an epic hero. Such as Beowulf’s engagements with supernatural beings, how his actions affect others, and Beowulf’s importance in history.

Beowulf is always strong, always ready for battle, always honorable, and always a hero. He defeated his greatest enemy, Grendel, and then a few more, just to protect his people and show his bravery, and to prove to himself and everyone around him his heroic abilities. He never strays from god, as other lords in other cities had, and always is honest and faithful. He shows remarkable strength and excessive bravery through all of his battles. No matter how far or tough the challenge, Beowulf always protects his people in their desperate times of need. Irimia only further states Beowulf’s honorable traits in his nonfiction article, and Irimia’s statements would agree that Beowulf is, in fact, an epic hero. Beowulf deserves the title of epic hero, and earns it through preforming acts of bravery, honesty, his superhuman strength, traveling far and wide to defeat his enemies, and his