Beowulf

Beowulf represents and plays the role of what would been recognized as the perfect hero. Throughout the poem the common theme of heroism is expressed. Beowulf's heroism in shown during his time of youth as well as through his time of age and experience. Beowulf's heroism is proven by being put through various trials in which he is faced with challenging obstacles that he is forced to overcome in order to fulfill his name and legacy. These difficult challenges come in the form of opponents that are monster like beings such as Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. Beowulf's heroism is shown through various stages in his life including during his youth and during his older age. Beowulf's reaction and way of dealing with issues changes through tout his life and can be analyzed due to being able to identify Beowulf's reaction when he is a young fearless warrior based upon his reaction when he is a mature and experienced king. Beowulf also expresses extreme forms of stubbornness because he never backs down from a challenge, almost as if defeating a foe would be more for himself rather than the people who are now safe and happy due to the terrible monster being slain. Even when Beowulf was an elder king and needed by his people he still was unable to back down from the challenge of slaying the dragon which points to how slaying the dragon means more to Beowulf than actually making his people safe on top of collecting all of the dragons gold. Its almost as if Beowulf has personal goals and motives that keep him going and may be the soul reason for his purpose in life. I feel that, including Beowulf, a main theme includes finding there own identity and meaning in the world. I feel that Beowulf's quest and goal in life is to find his identity and meaning for life. He knows that he is a terrific hero and has incredible fighting skills, yet he wants more and continues to seek more throughout his journey. This character trait is how Beowulf lead his life and is also why he was so stubborn. His stubbornness is fueled by his true meaning to find his true identity in his surroundings. On top of this struggle I also noticed that Beowulf's opponents and foes throughout the poem seem to become more and more difficult to defeat as Beowulf's hero's quest progresses during the span of his entire life as a hero and slayer of evil monsters.This may have happened in order to make the cycle repeat because in order for that to happen monster and hero alike, eventually one must been slain and killed and another one, Hero or monster must take its place.