Ebony Lewis
Mr. Brooks
English 7-8
September 13, 2017 The Story Behind Beowulf and Batman
Close your eyes and imagine yourself living in the time of 700 A.D. There is a guest speaker at and evening entertainment and he begins to tells the story of Beowulf. Now fast forward to the 21st century, modern times, the evening entertainment is now a Batman movie. The screening shows Batman resembling much like Beowulf, who is an all around hero just like Batman. Heroes are often seen as mythological legends, who are endowed with great courage and strength. Some may also say heroes are noted for their rise of courage or nobility of purpose. Although, Beowulf and Batman come from completely different time periods, they each share similarities of strength, both endure courage, but they both are quite different.
To begin, the meaning of what a hero means to certain people have altered throughout the years. Both Beowulf and Batman have similar qualities of strength. During the battle with Grendel, Beowulf with his mighty power, rips off Grendel’s arm ferociously with his bare hands. With that being said, Batman shows his strength by defeating gangs and criminals on numerous amounts of occasions, showing not only strength but endurance just like Beowulf. Batman proves to not only himself but to the city that he does not allow for murder unless it is necessary. If the criminals are not an immediate threat to Bateman, he will let them go. Beowulf as well shows this type of persona
Superman, Spiderman, and Batman are heroes! They possess the two traits that are needed in western civilization to be considered a hero: wisdom and fortitude. These modern heroes have wisdom and fortitude. Did Beowulf possess these traits? Beowulf shows he is a hero through both his wisdom and fortitude throughout his adventures. Beowulf is a great hero because he possesses both wisdom and fortitude.
Beowulf and Superman are characters that define what it means to be an epic hero. Epic heroes are leaders, warriors, or rulers that possess characteristics that provide for the betterment of their people. Although they are similar in many ways, Beowulf and Superman are also different in many ways to. Beowulf is known as a great warrior with unmatched fighting skills, and Superman is known as a man from another world that has god like powers. Beowulf and Superman possess the characteristics of battling supernatural foes, superhuman capabilities, and unmatched warriors.
Beowulf and Lord of the flies are both old stories with many important lessons to be learned. Both stories have interesting and complexing events that take place throughout the novel that are caused by lots of violence and evil. These acts include many different different facets including death. While both stories revolve around death Piggy and Simon’s death, in Lord of the Flies, were much more influential to the other characters, plot, and the theme than beowulf’s death.
Beowulf, like many modern heroes such as the ones we see in movies and read about in comic books has an unnatural amount of strength. Take superman for example, he has superhuman strength. Although Beowulf does not have the same amount of strength as superman he still has more than the average human. This gives him a typical “hero” trait that many people are familiar with today.
Reading through Beowulf I began to compare it to the last great epic I read, Homer’s Odyssey. While the Odyssey and Beowulf are each examples of both historic and modern ideas of heroism, the acts of Beowulf’s hero seem to fit better within its context.
Beowulf and Wolverine are very harsh and pitiless when it comes to conflict. From ripping limbs off with crude strength to tearing their enemies into pieces, it goes to show just how extreme their fight scenes can get. Heroes are seen as selfless people and are idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, and noble qualities. (Rebecca Ray) These men both fall under the category of what people consider a hero. In Beowulf’s
Next, Both heroes posses much strength and endurance: Beowulf is said to have swam seven days while fighting off sea-monsters and he tore off Grendel’s arms using just his hands; Batman, too, single-handedly fights off big groups of gangs and criminals on many occasions. Lastly, both Batman and Beowulf are truly committed to fighting evil to save others, even putting their own lives at risk to do so. Both heroes are there when a villain attacks the innocent. For example, Beowulf traveled all
Both the epic poem Beowulf and the novel Grendel depict the same storyline, but from different point of views. Grendel’s personality tends to be much more evil than he himself depicts in the novel. Since Grendel is the narrator of the novel, the audience only gets to know what the story is like from his point of view, which he stretches the truth on numerous occasions. But, in Beowulf, the poem has a narrator and is in the third person omniscient, this means the audience knows how all the characters and feeling, thinking, or saying. Also, the theme nature vs. nurture appears a lot in Grendel which means his viewpoints on certain things are either
Lastly, Beowulf is brave like Superman. Beowulf and Superman are both trying to help save their areas. Beowulf is trying everything he can do to save his country including doing things
Popular heroes like Superman, Iron Man and Batman, all seemingly fight villains who represent some moral turpitude. However, what is really interesting about these heroes is how closely they resemble a character a thousand years older than them, Beowulf. If heroes are supposed to represent what we as people want to be morally, then it would make sense that they would also represent what we want to be physically. Look at how Beowulf is depicted physically. He is a strong, statuesque man who seemingly towers over his peers. At the time, that is most likely what every man wanted to be. Now look at our heroes today. For example, Batman, who is a tall, handsome, millionaire bachelor who drives nice cars and dates beautiful women. The same can be said for heroes like Superman, Iron-man, Captain America and most other well-known heroes, but in order to fight crime, the heroes do not need these things. This point speaks to the fact that not only do our heroes reassure our moral standings they also embody the physical epitome of what we wish to be. While the physical nature of our heroes excites us, it is their actions that we gravitate towards. The premise of the first section of Beowulf is the hero bringing order and stability to a chaotic Heorot. This is similar to our heroes today, where Superman and Batman
Most of us have heard of modern day heroes such as Spiderman, Superman, and the Hulk. Each is a hero to many children. Heroes are introduced to people early on in life usually as fictional characters, but as children grow older their perceptions of heroes alter. The characteristics of a hero are usually based around the ideas of a society or culture. In the epic Beowulf, the main character is thought of as a hero. Beowulf, a pagan warrior and the main character of the epic, shows certain characteristics such as bravery, loyalty, and generosity, which portray him as a hero. It is interesting how modern day heroes show the much of the same qualities as Beowulf.
Beowulf and Batman are textbook heroes and thus have similar qualities, but they have differences as well. It is in these differences that the depth of character that Batman has over Beowulf can be seen. Batman is a man of ordinary physical accomplishments, who overcomes his enemies through access to technology and physical conditioning they do not have. His success is attributed to skill and insight into the criminal mind. He is called to do good deeds by the needs of others. He is also driven by a desire for revenge on those who killed his parents. “Geats used to say that he has in his handgrip the strength of thirty men." (32) Beowulf is
Heroes bring a hope to people whom they protect. Heroes bring people joy and bring a sense of relaxation to the people of their society because they play such an important role in lives everywhere. Heroes are complex rather than unembellished because they can fight dragons to defend their kingdom, or create a non-profit foundation to enhance the quality of life for more than 2,000 underprivileged kids. Heroes in our present day can be very complex because a person’s viewpoint on a hero’s life can be a completely different than the way another person looks at that same hero. Thomas Davis Sr. can be extremely comparable to Beowulf but they also have major differences.
The story of Beowulf is a heroic epic, chronicling the distinguished deeds of the great Geatish warrior, Beowulf, who travels across the seas to rid the Danes of the evil monster Grendel, who has been inflicting destruction and terrorizing the kingdom. Beowulf is glorified for his heroic deeds of ridding the land fiendish monsters and stopping the scourge of evil, while the monster, Grendel, is portrayed as a repugnant creature who deserves death for its evil actions. However, many have disagreed with such a simplistic and biased representation of Grendel and his role in the epic poem. John Gardner in his book, Grendel, sets out to change the reader’s perception of Grendel and his role in Beowulf by narrating the story through Grendel’s point of view. John Gardner transforms Grendel, once perceived as an evil fiend in Beowulf, into a lonely but intelligent outcast who is actually quite similar to humans, due to his intelligence capacity for rational thought and his real, and at times irrational emotions. Gardner portrays Grendel as a hurt individual and as a victim of oppression, ostracized from civilization. Although the two works revolve around the same basic plot,, the themes and characters in Beowulf and Grendel are often different and sometimes contradictory.
To understand the culture of a certain time period, one of the best resources available is not a textbook but a story written from that time period. For example, the story Beowulf, which was written at the beginning of the Middle Ages, is a fantastical story about a man named Beowulf who defeated demonic monsters through heroic acts. Despite the fact that it is fantasy, Beowulf depicts what the local and national government of Scandinavia was at the time, what the religion of the area was, and what human characteristics were seen as most important during that period. Another example of a cultural piece was the story Aeneid which was a Roman story written during the Classical Period. This piece makes the same illustrations of the culture as Beowulf did. Comparing both these stories as well as their characters excellently demonstrates how two pieces from different periods can give an in depth look into the