Exploring The Anglo-Saxon Hero - 2467 Words

What is a hero? Perhaps it should be rephrased: who is a hero? Of course, it now becomes easy to answer – we can say Odysseus, as he didn’t just assist in the victory at Troy, but fought the gods with his longing for his home; or Beowulf, who fought of the terrible monsters in Hrothgar’s kingdom as well as his own; or Byrhtnoth, who died while defending the land he loved. Clearly, it is easy to list off the heroes in these ancient poems. However, why is this so, why can we so easily identify heroes without consciously recognizing the clues that lead us to those conclusions? While this question may remain unanswerable without understanding psychology, it is still possible to understand what makes a hero tick – his set of features†¦show more content†¦143). By telling Wiglaf to bring the treasure to him, Beowulf is showing the audience that despite his imminent departure from the mortal world, he still possesses a greed for treasure. While some argue that Beowulf is merely trying to understand the fate of his kingdom based on its newfound wealth, the desire for treasure is nonetheless childish – telltale signs of selfish attributes in Beowulf’s character. The story of the Volsung family contains the tale of Sigmund in The Saga of the Volsungs. Sigmund is also a mythological character, due to his immediate relation to the mythical Volsung family, just like Beowulf. His actions, such as becoming a wolf (just like Beowulf) with his incestuous son Sinfjotli in the forest, embarking on an adventure to fight hunters, are clearly impossible without the mythological or legendary setting. For this reason, we classify Sigmund as being mythological, since he could not have been real, at least based this description. Similar to Beowulf, audiences can observe crucial, dark characteristics of Sigmund that distinguish him. His legendary feats are just that – legendary. However, they also possess negative qualities. In the previous example of how Sigmund and Sinfjotli â€Å"put the skins on† (The Saga of the Volsungs, p. 44), Sigmund does not just run about the forest happily, he and Sinfjotli terrorize hunters by competing to kill moreShow MoreRelatedEssay on Good vs Evil in Beowulf1568 Words   |  7 Pagesmain and most significant focal point. Although the epic poem Beowulf utilizes many characteristics of Christian themes, the violence in the poem relates to paganism. By exploring the characteristics of â€Å"good vs. evil† such as Cain, Grendel and Beowulf, this paper will explore the elements of Beowulf in such a light. The Anglo-Saxon poem, Beowulf, was originally told orally then later was written down anonymously in the Old English language. It is not known who or whom wrote this poem down. 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