Beowulf: the Epitome of an Epic Hero

Beowulf: the Epitome of an Epic Hero

In the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, an epic hero is displayed. An epic hero is traditionally someone who appears to be larger than life to those around him. Qualities of a typical epic hero include courage, loyalty, superhuman strength, bravery, honesty, and good leadership. Beowulf’s generosity and fighting spirit are what make him a good leader, serving and protecting his people, whom have come to trust and obey him with their lives. Beowulf’s superhuman qualities are what allow him to tear off Grendel’s arm, and to swim underwater for an entire day. The bravery Beowulf exhibits at all times is unmatched and unrequited as he accepts challenges and takes on his foes unarmed. What truly contributes to making Beowulf the epic hero that he is, however, is not his courageousness or his strength, but rather his belief in fate. Thus complete in three fundamental aspects, Beowulf the protagonist is also a clear epic hero.
Most every epic hero possesses some superhuman characteristic, either physical or metaphysical. Beowulf’s most obvious superhuman trait is his strength, cited to be that of 30 men. Confident in his abilities and power, he faces Grendel bare-handed, and with ease, rips Grendel’s arm from its socket. “The captain of evil discovered himself in a handgrip harder than anything he had ever encountered in any man on the face of the earth,” and where no man before could even touch this fierce creature, Beowulf effortlessly removes an appendage from him. After a battle in Frisnia, so one tale goes, Beowulf carried and swam with 30 suits of armor across the North Sea for 500 miles until he’d returned to Geatland. On another occasion, Beowulf submerges himself in a lake and swims downward for a full day toward the lair of Grendel’s mother. These instances of supernatural qualities exemplify Beowulf’s God-like persona. The sword he uses to kill Grendel’s mother is seemingly God-like in itself, for it has never before lost a battle, and the chain mail Beowulf so reluctantly dawns during occasional battles is said to be made by the demigod Weyland Smith. It is not his physical characteristics or his armor alone, however, that make Beowulf seem the larger than life epic hero he is.
Many warriors accept the challenge to fight Grendel, but none do so with the same bravery and audacity as the mighty Beowulf. “I shall… prove myself with a proud deed or meet my death,” boasts Beowulf in a brave voice as he readies himself to fight. Is the help of this noble combatant ever summoned by those terrorized by Grendel? Not once, yet Beowulf puts to sea regardless, in a daring attempt to help his much afflicted neighbors. It would have been a great deal easier for him simply to have stayed home in the safety and comfort of Geatland, but nothing could stop this mighty warrior from accepting yet another challenge. When faced with many a foe, he never stands down or fears the worst. He challenges Grendel with his bare hands, and refuses to step back from the dragon in the face of utmost danger. “Unyielding, the lord of his people loomed… sure of his ground,” and unwilling to move, as one observes. Their respected leader stands fast in heroic bearing with utmost rancor for the fire-breathing beast. Where others before him either refuse to face this monster, or do not stand for very long after doing so, Beowulf battles until his own death. Bravery is a noble characteristic of any epic hero, and Beowulf exhibits greater bravery at every stage of the poem than any other person before him.
Unparalleled cunning, brain, and brawn are heroic, but they are not what make Beowulf the epic hero that he is. What completes Beowulf is his belief in fate. A perfect compliment to his unmatched physical qualities, this belief is what makes him the true hero. Many times, superior strength is not exhibited by those who possess it, most particularly in fear of the consequences that might ensue as a result of them doing so. Beowulf confronts a fire-breathing dragon and a demonic creature from hell, both of which have the potential to kill him in an instant, yet he does not fear death. Why is this? Simply put, Beowulf believes in fate. It maintains that if you were good enough—kill the right people and perform the right deeds—then fate will hold back from taking you to your death. “Fate goes ever as fate must,” asserts Beowulf as he accepts this form of prophetic predetermination. Beowulf feels that if he dies, then it is simply his time to go. This is how he is able to enter every challenge without fear of death; because he knows that if he dies, then it is simply his destiny to die then and there. To Beowulf, consequences, other than death, are seemingly nonexistent because everything that happens does so, in his eyes, for a reason. Beowulf possesses supernatural strength, is brave beyond belief, and does not fear death, thus establishing in him the foundation of literature’s ideal epic hero.