Examples Of Heroism In Beowulf

First, loyalty is very important to the Anglo-Saxon people. Loyalty is swearing allegiance to a person, place, or thing. There are many examples of loyalty in Beowulf. Beowulf is exceedingly loyal throughout the entire Anglo-Saxon epic. Beowulf shows loyalty to the Geats and his king. To elaborate, Beowulf shows loyalty to the Geats and his king, Hygelac, by notifying them of his plans to travel to the land of the Danes and help the Danish King, Hrothgar, defeat Cain’s descendant, Grendel, who has been terrorizing Hrothgar’s mead-hall. Beowulf is loyal and seeks the approval of the Geats and Hygelac before anything else(first and foremost), and Beowulf most likely would not have left the land of the Geats to help the Danes if his people and king did not approve. Also, Beowulf demonstrates loyalty to Hrothgar because of an allegiance between Beowulf’s father and Hrothgar. Beowulf helped the Danes for glory and because of a sense of devotion to Hrothgar who once helped Beowulf’s father, Ecgtheow, after he killed a man. Hrothgar paid the death price for

Throughout his reign as the ruler of the Geats, Beowulf is a benevolent leader bringing peace and power to his nation as Hrothgar instructs him to do after the great warrior defeats Grendel’s mother. Hrothgar relates to him as “King of the Danes”, who brought little joy to the Danish people, only death and destruction. He tells Beowulf to learn from this and understand true value. Hrothgar intends that this information can be carried on with Beowulf. Hrothgar was a brave and strong-minded man.

Beowulf’s responsibility differs from a warrior to a king. As a young fighter he has responsibility to his Geatish king as well as to Hrothgar. His king, Hyglac, relies on Beowulf to represent him and

During Beowulf’s time, a trait many Anglo-Saxons valued was loyalty. This trait was necessary in the pagan warrior culture that Beowulf lived in and was a key factor in many actions he did. For example, he participated in many events that were grueling for any person, but for Beowulf he would do it in the name of his nation. This is shown when he states, “They had seen me boltered in the blood of enemies / when I battled and bound five beasts, / raided a troll-nest and in the night-sea / slaughtered sea-brutes. I have suffered extremes and avenged the Geats” (419-423). Beowulf is willing to put himself through long lasting hardships in order to represent his nation. Also, it may appear Beowulf originally kills off Grendel for the Danes (his other fights have been strictly for the Geats) but really, he is paying off a debt to the Danish king for protecting his father’s life and ending a feud started by his father. The king briefly explains this occurrence when telling Beowulf, “There was a feud

A hero is one who is not only strong, but one who uses his strength to uphold others. A hero is humble, philanthropic, magnanimous and selfless, a humanitarian at best. In the unprecedented epic Beowulf, the tale’s namesake exemplifies every characteristic befitting an Anglo-Saxon hero. He is honest, loyal, and courageous. He portrays these characteristics in the battle against Grendel, the affray with Grendel’s mother, and the fight against the dragon that inevitably ended his life.

The loyalty of the characters in the epic poem Beowulf, translated by , exerted towards Beowulf through his battles that shows how his men look up to him as a sentiment of man who passes traited a heroic figure. Beowulf came to what we now know as Denmark, but was know as Herot, looking for eternal life in fighting the monster heard around the different kingdoms as Grendel, but will change his life and the way he is perceived forever. Anglo Saxon heroes would search in other countries to find monsters that would give them eternal life. “We are geats” Beowulf comes to the shores of the Kingdom known as Herot and was greeted by the men watching the Danes under the King known as Hrothgar, who wants to know the reason he has come to his kingdom.

The early Danish king Beow was characterizing Hrothgar, his descendent. Generosity is valued greatly as a king but there is no disguise for failure. The warriors had a culture which became a give-take relationship between ruled and rulers for society. Loyalty was a concept with Beowulf when his men deserted him against the dragon which was his downfall. Beowulf values himself as a great warrior by backing it up by defeating Grendel and Grendel’s mother.

Faithfulness is one of the important traits of an Anglo-Saxon hero. In the beginning of the poem, Beowulf makes a promise to Higlac, the king of the Geats. He vows that he “would sail across the sea to Hrothgar”. He is seeking permission from Hrothgar to battle Grendel. The fact that Beowulf is willing enough to sail across the sea to defeat Grendel truly shows how faithful he is to Higlac.

Many years before Beowulf’s tale, Ecgtheow, Beowulf’s father, was being pursued by a tribe, whose leader he killed, and Hrothgar was hospitable and sheltered him and paid off the tribe to leave him alone. For this act of generosity and hospitality, Beowulf gave his loyalty to Hrothgar. So when Hrothgar and his people need assistance, Beowulf does not care about the potentially fatal consequences to himself, he just acts on his loyalty and goes to their aid. Hrothgar is not the only person Beowulf is loyal to though. He is also loyal to his king, Hygelac, and the king’s heir.

Beowulf, the epic of England is about the importance of the family and a leader or a king. There was a kingdom named Danes led by king Hrothgar, Is an old man he had a wife younger than him and doesn’t love the king. King Hrothgar has a close friend and that was the father of Beowulf so that, king Hrothgar put Beowulf as his right hand to guide and led the group of Danish in every fights.

The scene in Beowulf when main character Beowulf proclaims the reasonings he felt to go protect the Geats suggests among the Spear-Danes classification as a warrior related with proving loyalty in the form of self-sacrifice. Additionally, I will argue in what follows that other scenes in the poem, such as, Wiglaf giving the speech on what amounts of cowardice behavior proves respect came from an urgency for loyalty proven through self-sacrificing methods. However, I will argue on top of loyalty being expressed as important it was not matter of want for Beowulf to sacrifice himself but his understood purpose. Influentially, a tension is formed between how reputation and loyalty is defined throughout the poem. The passage I will analyze is when Beowulf is speaking in the mead hall about urgency to be loyal towards the Geats right before Grendel attacks the hall. Here in Beowulf dictates that in order to be a good warrior he knew it was necessary to go to sea to defend the Geats which would entail him having to go extremes to prove his loyalty. Beowulf’s urgency suggests the believable notion that loyalty is necessary to survive in this society even when it means a warrior would sacrifice his own life for others. This in makes it difficult to withstand the belief that reputation was as important as loyalty.

As Beowulf storms across the ocean, the reader learns that he possesses the ideal character traits Anglo-Saxons idealized. Beowulf sets sail to offer help to Hrothgar. Beowulf is very strong, courageous, and has a great sense of duty, traits an epic hero possesses. In lines 110-110, the text states “... strongest of the Geats—greater and stronger than anyone anywhere in this world—” Beowulf feels that it is his sense of duty and loyalty to help which also be used

They both know that a warrior fights for respect and honor. Additionally, they agree that a king should fight in support for the country and its people. Although Beowulf and Hrothgar agree about the expectations of a king, the performances they had as kings were not equal. Hrothgar’s kingship did not follow attitude of a warrior. A warrior is fearless and courageous, Hrothgar’s decision to not stand up to Grendel displayed fearfulness. He was old an unwilling to fight, he was not a warrior. In opposition to Hrothgar’s dreadful leadership, Beowulf’s decisions resembled that of a true warrior. Beowulf would not feel threatened by the dragon and would risk his life for the greater good of his people. This highlights the difference between Beowulf and Hrothgar’s job performance. Beowulf remained a warrior despite his ascendancy to kingship, Hrothgar lost the courageousness and fierceness as he

Anglo-Saxon and Germanic culture has a very deep culture, in which they are known in history. As this epic poem is told, Beowulf embodies this culture in his heroic instances during this epic poem. With the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic culture being the backbone of this poem’s culture, Beowulf exemplifies what this culture is and what they stand for. As the story is told and develops with Beowulf, he himself shows through his heroic instances what it means to be a heroic figure from this ancient culture having qualities of honor, loyalty, and strength.

Allegiances with others were paramount to survival in the harsh environments of the Vikings, and loyalty was highly valued. This is shown in Beowulf: the majority of his actions are spurred by loyalty to others. When King Hrothgar is troubled by the demon Grendel, Beowulf immediately comes to the aid of the king, because his father “Ecgtheow, [had] acknowledged [the king] with vows of allegiance.” Beowulf does not take advantage of the king’s age and weakened state either, he never attempts to overtake the