BEOWULF ESSAY

Jacob Fowler

Period 5

Beowulf Essay

                Our culture is one of change; our lives are completely different than they were just five years ago. That being said, our values and morals parallel those of the Danish people during the Dark Ages. We still share our basic human nature and it is human nature to search for a hero; we all want to know that where our capabilities end there will be someone with the strength to protect us. Whether a fictional character or an actual role model, our quest cannot be quenched until we find our hero. Centuries ago, in the Middle Ages, the Danish other Europeans found their hero in Beowulf; the twenty-first century finds theirs in Thor. And although Thor is a Norse god that has been “Hollywoodized” and although he is just one of the dozens of superheroes in circulation, he is the perfect example of the twenty-first century hero.

The most defining feature in both of these heroes is their pride, both are extremely confident in their own abilities; they find their courage within themselves. Beowulf shows his ego as he strips down and fights his enemy in the nude, although this might be conceived as cockiness, the original text seems to indicate that really he came to depend on himself and God rather than the primitive technology of the day. It was important to the culture of the Middle Ages to forgo the strength of modern innovations and rather depend on the raw power of God. Speaking of raw power, Thor carries the strength of the heavens inside of an iron hammer that he is willing to use in every situation possible. Thor is confident to a fault, he is confident in all of his abilities although some of his strengths are actually weaknesses and they lead him to the point of downfall. We see both of these heroes find their strength within themselves and their respective religions, they do not depend on others to give them power, their abilities transcend human capabilities.

Both characters share one interesting characteristic; they both share a peculiar motive that is defining to their cause. Thor is an out of world god who lives on a planet outside of the Milky Way, he is prepared to take over as king for his dying father when his brother Logi places Earth in harm’s way. It would have been extremely easy for the Norse god to forget about a distant planet and indulge in his evident arrogance and rest as king, however his confidence is his abilities led him to go out of his way to save a people in need, the authors of Thor use this sequence of events to indirectly characterize Thor’s ambition and courage. Beowulf is similarly portrayed in his epic poem where he places himself in danger so he can save a foreign land from a monster that has no intentions to harm Beowulf or his family. The main difference between these two motives is the ultimate question of honor versus glory. Thor does his actions to seek honor for his family, to redeem his brother’s crimes, and to save public perception of his clan. However Beowulf does it for glory, so people will remember him and stories will be told about him forever centuries.

In addition, both characters faced more than one villain. In Beowulf’s case he faced three different physical enemies; Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon that ended up killing him. Thor faced three enemies as well; his brother, the government, and himself. Thor’s villains were much more metaphorical as he struggled to find his identity outside of his planet and cope with being on Earth with a woman he fell in love with while also struggling to fight his own brother while evading the United States government and the CIA. Beowulf’s enemies were much more simplistic but they still brought Beowulf to the edge of his strength (and in regards to the last enemy) past his abilities. Both literary examples use the same style and technique that metaphorically explains to the reader that the hero can only be brought down by three different enemies.

All in all, the way these stories were presented changed the way the reader perceives the hero. The author(s) of these epic literary examples show that heroes will always be needed in any culture, society or empire. Overall, these two heroes are very similar in both who they had to fight and how they fought them, the only difference between the two is their motive, why they did what they did. The main question we as readers need to ask ourselves is the question of honor versus glory. We need to be able to differentiate between vain glory and admirable honor, then we will be able to revere our heroes with more sincerity.