Compare Beowulf and Achilles Essay

The idea of a hero is different for every person. Some think a hero has to be physically strong others think a hero has to be kind. Most of the ideas of what a hero is are taken from stories and society. Two examples of this are the Beowulf and Iliad stories. The first example is Beowulf a story told/written by anonymous scot men and deals with action and adventure. The other story the Iliad written by Homer is an action epic story. Beowulf story is about a monster that kills people which Beowulf must defeat. The Iliad deals with Achilles hunting down hector for killing his friend. Both stories share one common character role, there is a hero, different in their journeys and actions but similar in one heroic trait. . For me a hero is a very strong, brave person who always does the right thing. A hero does not have to be physically strong; he or she can be emotionally or intellectually strong. Even their definition of what is right or wrong may be different than other people. The heroes in the Beowulf and Iliad stories are Beowulf and Achilles, which show some of the basic heroic traits. I will compare and contrast the traits that make Beowulf and Achilles heroes, which are strength, speed, and bravery.

Beowulfs most interesting and heroic trait is his strength. In the story of Beowulf there are many demonstrations of Beowulfs superhuman strength, but there is one event that stands out the most. That event occurred during the battle of Beowulf and the monster Grendel, in which Grendel finally is defeated. He twisted in pain,/ and the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder/ snapped, muscle and bone split/and broke(105-108). Beowulf is so strong, that he is able to rip Grendels arm off. Grendel is a big, evil monster who would kill humans, so it is no easy task ripping Grendels arm off. The fact that Beowulf was able to do such a thing proves that Beowulf had a lot of strength and because Beowulf used his strength to fight of the evil monster Grendel, strength became the main heroic trait Beowulf possessed.

Achilles also has an archetypal heroic trait, his speed. In the story of the Iliad when Achilles is hunting Hector the one thing that lets Achilles never lose sight of his target is his speed. Hector even gets help from the God Apollo, but is still not fast enough to out run Achilles. Achilles is so determined to avenge his friends death by the hand of hector that he wont stop chasing Hector. So Hector could never throw/ Achilles of his trail, the swift racer Achilles (6-7). In the quote Achilles is shown to be so fast that he is compared to a racer. The reason why his speed is a heroic trait is because all heroes have some sort of super human trait whether is a physical or mental trait. In the case of Achilles he has speed; which he uses to catch and kill Hector. Unlike Beowulf who only used his strength to become a hero. Without his speed Achilles would not have kept up with hector and managed to defeat him.

Beowulf and Achilles have many differences in their heroic traits. Beowulf is strong and Achilles is fast, but there is one common heroic trait both heroes share. That trait is bravery. Bravery allowed both men to accomplish their heroic moment. For example, when Beowulf tricked Grendel and started the fight for glory.And was, instantly seized himself, claws/ bent bask as Beowulf leaned upon one arm (39-40). Beowulf took a big risk by challenging Grendel. Beowulf demonstrated a lot of bravery for tricking and attacking Grendel. No only did Beowulf show bravery but Achilles also showed bravery. When Achilles and Hector were going to fight, Achilles had no problem with being hurt or dying all he wanted was to kill Hector. no truce/ till one or the other falls and gluts with blood (90-91). When Achilles said those words he demonstrated how brave he was. It is easy for someone to get in a fight, but to know that there is a chance of getting hurt or dying and being perfectly fine with that, well that is a very brave mentality. Both men showed one similar trait, which was bravery. A hero is many things, has many traits, but the main trait any hero has is bravery. Which both Beowulf and Achilles possessed. The trait of being brave made Beowulf and Achilles true heroes.

Both characters, Achilles and Beowulf were heroes in their own separate ways. Beowulf was strong and defeated the monster Grendel for his people. Achilles was fast and used his trait of speed to catch and get revenge for his fallen friend. Even with differences, there is one common trait that every hero fictional or non-fictional share, which is bravery. Achilles showed his bravery when talking to Hector before the fight. That there would be no truce between them, someone had to die. Going into battle thinking like that is very brave; chasing hector is also very brave. The same goes for Beowulf, he was so brave he wanted to defeat Grendel with his bare hands risking his life for glory and his people. Beowulf acted like a sleeping soldier and when Grendel approached him, he got up and grabbed his claws. That moment showed how brave Beowulf was because he was the one who started the fight between him and Grendel. Both men showed great amount of bravery, which is the essential heroic trait. Beowulf and Achilles both showed similar and opposite heroic traits, but in the end both men were archetypal heroes one was fast the other was strong but both were brave.