How Is Beowulf An Epic Hero

Beowulf the Hero A hero is someone who goes out of his way to do the right thing no matter what. In the epic, “Beowulf,” many things make the era in which our hero lives a dark and dangerous one. Monsters like Grendel and his mother terrorize people for no reason, and a huge dragon razes villages by breathing fire and hordes enormous amounts of treasure. When each of these dark beings arises, Beowulf shows the fortitude to challenge them with all his might and fury. These events show us that Beowulf is an epic hero because he possesses strength greater than anyone else in the world, he accomplishes great feats, impossible for anyone lesser, and his actions echo values of a good and strong leader. To begin with, the book clearly tells one…show more content…
First, Beowulf crosses the sea to help king Hrothgar during an incredibly powerful storm. Many common men and even many other great men would have succumbed to Mother Nature’s fury, yet Beowulf makes it to his destination unharmed. Also, again one looks to Beowulf’s struggle against the monster Grendel. Not only does Beowulf fight and beat the monster, but he does so on his own and without any weapons, shields, or armor. This truly exemplary feat is pictured to us when the book says, “[Beowulf] stopped those claws/ In his fists till they cracked, clutched Grendel/ Closer.”(50) In addition Beowulf also swims for hours to find, battle, and kill his enemy that was Grendel’s mother. Here, the hero had to lift a Giant-made-sword off the wall to kill the beast. Any lesser man would surely have been defeated and never seen again. Swinging the sword, Beowulf beheaded both Grendel and his mother, ending them forever. Finally, Beowulf even manages to find courage greater than other men when he faces down a full-blown dragon in his old age in order to save his kingdom. The fact that the man even held the fortitude to stand in front of that terror is amazing in itself. Continuing, Beowulf overcomes the threat with a little help from his trusted Wiglaf and saves the day again. Truly, this only shows one further how Beowulf is the perfect example of…show more content…
Beowulf always made sure that his men were taken care of when he was with the Danes. He ensures that they will be cared for if Beowulf was to fall in arms to his foes. Indeed, he does this both when he fights Grendel and his mother. The soldiers under Beowulf’s command shows one their faith in Beowulf as a leader while they wait vigilantly for his return from the battle against Grendel’s mother. If they had thought any less of Beowulf as a leader, they would have left and returned to wait in Herot. Also, Beowulf presents his virtue as leader when he will ride out to face the dragon even though he is far into old age. To drive the point home, the Geats that Beowulf ruled as king gave Beowulf the most spectacular funeral that they have ever given someone. They built him a tower and put all their good into that tower. One sees this in the book when it reads, “Then the Geats built the tower…the treasures they’d taken were left there too.” (63) If Beowulf had been an ordinary and un-epic man, the Geats would have buried him in a common manner and used the treasure for themselves. Clearly, all evidence points to the fact that Beowulf was truly epic in the manner that he led his troops and his