Beowulf and king Authur comparison essay
Numerous stories about numerous heroes have been told and then retold. All of these heroes do different things and all of them have a different set of qualities which make them heroes. Due to the fact that there are only so many heroic adventures and qualities, most are shared in part with at least one other hero. Such is the case between the great hero, Beowulf, from the epic poem Beowulf and King Arthur from the story of Morte d’Arthur. These great heroes have strong similarities and a great deal of differences. Once their similarities have been compared and then dismissed it is evident that Beowulf is the greater hero of the two. True heroes do good things for good people. Such is the case in Beowulf, Beowulf leaves his homeland to help the Danish people rid themselves of the human eating monster, Grendel. This heroic quality is also evident in Morte d'Arthur, as Arthur consciously rides into a battle in order to rid his people of an evil knight who would not allow others to pass. Both heroes are displaying their concern for others by risking themselves in battle for the greater good. In the same aspect they are also striving for love and respect from the people they protect.
Beowulf is indeed the greater hero as the help he received from his men was useless, not by fault of his men but by the simple fact that Grendel, “had bewitched all men’s weapons, laid spells / That blunted every mortal man’s blade” (Beowulf, line 322-323). Since Beowulf’s men could give him no help due to Grendel’s spell, he had to defeat the monster by himself with his bear hands. Arthur on the other hand lost his battle. First Arthur lost a jousting match then lost on the ground when “the knight smote King Arthur’s sword in two pieces” (Morte d’Arthur, paragraph 32). Merlin had to come to his rescue at this point and by using his magic he put the knight to sleep for a period of three hours. So to recap Beowulf defeated a monster with no aid from his companions and Arthur could not even defeat a knight, he instead he had to rely on the aid of magic from Merlin. That is the extent to which Beowulf and King Arthur are similar. Beowulf has way more confidence in his fighting ability then Arthur has in his. This is evident in the fact that Beowulf fights Grendel unarmed, he says “my hands / Alone shall fight for me, struggle for life” (Beowulf, line 172-173). His reasoning behind this is that Grendel’s, “scorn of men / Is so great that he needs no weapons and fears none [so] / Nor will [he]” (Beowulf, line 167-169). By facing Grendel unarmed to shows that he is brave and more imp
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Approximate Word count = 995
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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