Beowulf is truly a perfect example of a modern day superhero. Beowulf goes into battle for the glory and fame of it but he saves many peoples’ lives in doing so. Since he saves many peoples’ lives he is a superhero. The picture perfect superhero has strength, power, arrogance, ethics and fights evil. Beowulf possesses all of these traits which make him a superhero. Beowulf is very similar to the modern day Batman because they both have the same tactics about being a superhero.
Some attributes for being a superhero is they have to be arrogant. Beowulf is a very arrogant character, for example he says,
They have seen my strength for themselves,/
Have watched me rise from the darkness of war/
Dripping with my enemies’ blood. I drove/
Five great giants into chains, chased/
All of that race from the earth. I swam/
In the blackness of night, hunting monsters/
Out of the ocean, killing them one/
By one; death was my errand and the fate/
They had earned. Now Grendel and I are called/
Together, and I’ve come. (Raffel 36, 417-426)
In order to be a superhero you have to be arrogant and Beowulf shows that when saying this because he is talking about how he drove away five monsters and even though Grendelis a huge monster he hasn’t backed down. Another example of him being arrogant is when he is just about to fight Grendel and says,
Grendel is no braver, no stronger/
The Essay on Grendels Mother Beowulf Dragon Monsters
Beowulf is an epic about a man named Beowulf. The epic explores Beowulf as a Goatish hero who fights the monsters, Grendel, Grendels mother, and a fire breathing dragon. Beowulf defeats all three of the monsters, which possess him with honor, loyalty, courtesy, pride and fame. In the epic the monsters are the difficult conflicts that Beowulf encounters. The three monsters can be understood to have ...
Then I am! I could kill him with my sword; I shall not,/
Easy as it would be. This fiend is a bold/
And famous fighter, but his claws and teeth…/
Beating at my sword blade, would be helpless. I will meet him/
With my hands empty-unless his heart/
Fails him, seeing a soldier waitng/
Weaponless, unafraid. Let God and his wisdom/
Extend His hand where He wills, reward/
Whom he chooses! (Raffel 44, 677-687)
This means that Beowulf does not need a sword to kill Grendel, the monster; he only needs his bare hands to defeat him. Beowulf and Batman both possess the heroic quality of strength. Batman shows this by fighting gangs and crime in the city of Gotham. Beowulf shows this by fighting monsters, swimming for seven days and fighting nine sea monsters. This is an achievement that most ordinary people cannot complete. Another similarity that Beowulf and Batman both share is their code of ethics. Often times when Batman fights crime he lets the criminal go instead of killing him because the criminal is not life threatening. Like Batman, Beowulf uses the same code of ethics when saying,
So Edgetho’s son proved himself,/
Did as a famous soldier must do/
If glory is what he seeks: not killing his comrades/
In drunken rages, his heart not savage,/
But guarding God’s gracious gift, his strength,/
Using it only in war, and then using it/
Bravely. (Raffel 91, 2177-2183)
Beowulf means he is proud of Edgetho’sson because he uses his strength for the right purposes, like war and not killing his comrades while he is drunk. Both superheroes have the same code of ethics and that is killing when it is only necessary.
Beowulf and Batman have many similarities, but their biggest one is they both fight evil. For example, when there is a villain like the Joker, Batman is there to fight him and protect the city of Gotham. Like Batman, Beowulf protects Herot by fighting off Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. Beowulf knows he is a hero even though Herot is not his home town, because he must stay and fight for the people. Beowulf successfully kills the dragon by ripping its heart out with his bare hands and saves the people of Herot. He falls down a cliff with the dragon which leads to his death. Wiglaf shows gratitude towards Beowulf’s heroic actions when he says, “For ten long days they made his monument,/ Sealed his ashes in walls as straight/ And high as wise and willing hands could raise…/ And the treasures they’d taken were left there too,/… Ground back in the earth.”(Raffel121, 3159-3163) Beowulf was a superhero and did all he could to save innocent people.
The Essay on Beowulf An Epic Death Hero People
Beowulf, an epic poem, describes a most herioc man of the Anglo-Saxon times. The hero, Beowulf, is seemingly an invincible person with all of his extraordinary traits required to be a hero. He is able to use his super-human phyiscal strength and courage to put his people before himself. He encounters hideous monsters and the most ferocious of beasts, but he never fears the threat of death. His ...
