Beowulf - plight of the hero

A detailed Summary of Beowulf - plight of the hero


Imagine living in the year 700 A.D. The evening's entertainment is a poet, and he tells the story of Beowulf. Beowulf is an all-around hero, and he dazzles the audience with his determined nature and vows to right wrongs. Now fast-forward to the year 2002. The evening's entertainment is a Batman movie. The screen shows Batman to be a present-day Beowulf, as he fights villains and makes the city a better place. This shows that the perfect hero has been recurrent in society for centuries. But, there are differences between Beowulf and fictional heroes from the twenty-first century.

A significant difference between Beowulf and modern-day heroes is the distinction between mortality and vulnerability. Roger B. Rollin wrote the following: "Heroes like Batman are always being threatened with death but never die (or even age), whereas Beowulf not only ages but dies. He is intensely aware of fate and almost preoccupied with death. Transience is his


Batman is a coward to Beowulf and the people of his time, while Beowulf would be looked upon as a fool in today's society. Reality has many false dimensions for the people of the 21st -century, therefore making the number of actual dimensions deplete in number. Today's hero is more ultimate: How far can we go? How big and powerful can something or someone be? The idea of a hero with Beowulf's characteristics is as far away as Batman is from ever being a real person. This provides frightening ideas about what attributes a future hero will have to possess. Society can only deteriorate further leaving even more to be desired from what they will call their hero.

Beowulf in his vulnerability creates a perception to which the every-day person can identify. People of this time period did not have the distractions from one another like that which is present today. Being very pragmatic people, a hero like Batman would have never been allowed or ac

Some common words found in the essay are:
Heroes Batman, Superman Spiderman, Beowulf Beowulf, , Roger Rollin, story additional dimension, today's society, story additional, immortal batman, additional dimension, evening's entertainment,

Approximate Word count = 644
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

join now Save Paper

Related Essays

  • Beowulf and Christianity ... As in most pagan stories, the dragon is a muchused enemy of the hero of the story. ... Mitchell 17.ampquot Beowulf understands the plight of the Danes ... 1542 words
  • beowulf christianity vs. paganism ... This leaves us the impression of pagan immortalityampquot the memory in the minds of later men of a heroamp39s heroic actions ... Beowulf understands the plight of the ... 1523 words
  • BEOWULF ... As in most pagan stories, the dragon is a muchused enemy of the hero of the story. ... Beowulf understands the plight of the Danes that are being oppressed by ... 1146 words
  • Beowulf ... As in most pagan stories, the dragon is a muchused enemy of the hero of the story. ... Beowulf understands the plight of the Danes that are being oppressed by ... 1145 words
  • Beowulf ... As in most pagan stories, the dragon is a muchused enemy of the hero of the story. ... Beowulf understands the plight of the Danes that are being oppressed by ... 1142 words


Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

  • "Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
    Jack M.
  • "With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
    Brian P.
  • "I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
    Sara J.
  • "I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
    Rachel W.
  • "I love this site!!!"
    Marie N.
Home Join Now Support
Acceptable Use Policy About us FAQ
All papers are for research and reference purposes only!
© 2002-2009 DirectEssays.com. All Rights Reserved.