True Anglo Saxon Hero example essay topic

Although Beowulf was a true Anglo-Saxon hero, he would not be a hero today. He is arrogant, and resorts to violence. Today, people respect hero's who resort to other methods then violence to solve conflicts. Anglo-Saxon's had high standards on what a hero was in their culture. They had to be brave, strong, and arrogant.

Beowulf is a great example of an Anglo-Saxon hero. Beowulf, showing his arrogance, said, 'I drove five great monsters into chains,' and boasted that he, 'swam in the blackness of the night, hunting the monsters out of the ocean killing them one by one. ' Beowulf is not scared of anything; he is a true Anglo-Saxon hero. Beowulf proves himself to be a true Anglo-Saxon hero when he fights Grendel.

He proves himself by destroying Grendel. He made 'shrieks of pain' and 'tears of defeat' pours out of the monster. Beowulf, resorting to violence, broke the monster's hands, beat him, and tore his arms out of the socket. He did not use any weapons besides his fists like he had promised. Beowulf proves himself to all the Anglo-Saxons and Danes that he is a true hero. Today, Beowulf would not be a hero.

He would be despised because he brutally beats his opponents and then tells everyone how great he is. People like of hero who does not use violence. They want a person who can guide a person out of doing something wrong. Beowulf does not use the method people like.

Beowulf would rather run up to the monster and kill it. If he did not kill the monster but instead talked the monster out of killing everyone, he might be considered a hero in our society. A hero today would be a firefighter who runs into a burning building to save a person and then does not go and boast about how he great he is to the media but just acts like it was nothing and continues with his daily duties as a firefighter. Beowulf does not act like this when he defeats Grendel. Beowulf slaughtered Grendel and then boasted about how easy of a victory it was and how he is the greatest for beating the monster. A true hero in Beowulf's position, would " ve talked to Grendel and tried to work out a solution by talking to the monster.

Therefore, our society has a better standard of what a hero should be. We pick the ones that actually deserve to be recognized by the public. The Anglo-Saxon society just picked the strongest, egotistical man they had to be their hero. Their standards of a hero were very low, but our expectations of a hero are set at high levels.

Our societies standards are set very high and that's why our hero's are greater then any of the Anglo-Saxons hero's.