The Iliad And Beowulf Comparison Essay

512 Words3 Pages
Bravery, courage, and passion, these are all traits of a great hero. An eric hero in an epic poem is usually a person with great strengths and abilities that they use to overcome situations, usually dealing with a antagonist. In both epic poem Beowulf and The Iliad, both heros present great strengths and abilities. Beowulf being half god and capable to kill monsters and Achilles being the strongest warrior in the Trojan war. Humility is when the hero does a deed not for the recognition but for the sheer sake of doing good. Beowulf only used his strength for good and kept his people safe from monsters. Once all is well after Beowulf kills Grendel and Grendel’s mother, Beowulf remains humble and goes home empty handed. Even in the poem it states Beowulf was, "The mildest of men and the gentlest, kindest to…show more content…
He had no other motive for killing Hector other than for revenge for killing his warrior companion. In that moment he did not do it for the recognition or the cheer of his men, he did it for his beloved friend who died for his sake. Though Beowulf killed the monsters to help the village he had no need to. He killed for the sake of killing. He traveled a great distance to help a village but he did not want the treasure. Beowulf just wanted to demonstrate his strengths. Achilles on the other hand had passion for what he did. He killed Hector because Hector killed his friend. he had heart into his actions. That what a true hero does. A hero fights for a reason, not just senseless killing. Even though fame is not what they aim for, it is what they got. This unexpected fame is called National Heroism. National heroism is when a person is recognized for their attributes as a hero. Beowulf was known over many places as a hero for his great strength. After he defeated Grendel and Grendel’s mother, he was viewed as a hero by the king and the
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