Comparing Beowulf And Sir Gawain

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Emily Dickerson British Literature Professor Gray Due: 10/13/15 What is a hero? When one thinks of a hero, they typically will reference someone like Super-Man. In our course we have read multiple old British works, many of which include heroic characters. Some of those heroes are Beowulf and Sir Gawain. Both of these characters are known as imminent heroes in their tales. A hero is someone that has made the large impact in the lives of people and created positive outcome from their actions. Though many poems have been written and yet forgotten, Beowulf is a well known epic poem about a hero named Beowulf. Beowulf is considered an “epic hero” and an epic hero is someone who does “epic” things to be come a hero. His role as a character is very important to this tale because he represents himself as the hero to his people and those that he helps. The characteristics of strength, humility and essential goodness are what makes Beowulf the hero that he is. The deeds which Beowulf fulfills to make him a hero are the slaying of Grendel, his mother, and at the end of his tale the dragon. Through fulfilling these deeds he does so while risking his own life to help the lives of others. After hearing about a monster called Grendel attacking the King’s Hall, Beowulf heroically volunteers himself and his fellow men to fight the beast. He shows his strong sense of…show more content…
When a dragon attack’s Beowulf’s kingdom, his heroic characteristics kick in and he fights the dragon all by himself. Though in this final fight to protect his kingdom Beowulf is mortally wounded and eventually dies, he first passes his throne along. This shows that Beowulf gave the ultimate sacrifice to try to protect his people despite the possibility of death yet again. Even after his death he is still known as a hero because he puts the safety of his people first and doesn’t think twice about the chance that he could
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