Beowulf: Unveiling the Epic Hero's Journey Towards Evil Creatures
'That demon, that fiend”, - these words are used to describe the furious, the truly evil entity, Grendel. Only one pure epic hero with strength and confidence is able to defeat this evil creature from the depths of hell that was placed on earth. That hero’s name is Beowulf. Beowulf, an epic hero of the essay and the main character, is placed on a journey in this epic poem that leads him through three encounters with evil creatures. Within these three encounters Beowulf must adapt to the biome of his enemies in order to be triumphant, just like in modern society how we must adapt to our surroundings with evil right behind us waiting to attack us.
In the fight with the evil entity Grendel, Beowulf is in his own surroundings. He knows the area very well. With Grendel fighting in his own surroundings, he knows what to be aware of. The only down part of the fight is that Beowulf must find a certain strategy to defeat Grendel. This includes finding weak spots or objects/distractions that can be used against the monster. With the evil in this section of the novel, it shows us that even in our own lives things will happen to us no matter the place. Whether it be your own household or your own school etc., anything could happen so we must adapt and know what to do in order to stay safe and live life.
In the second fight with Grendel’s mother, Beowulf must learn to adapt to the biome of his enemy in order to win. As he goes down underwater in a cave where Grendel’s mother stays, Beowulf suddenly gets attacked and dragged to the lair of Grendel’s mother. Beowulf tries to use his sword but doesn’t work because it won’t sink into her skin. Beowulf manages to get Grendel’s mother down but she finds a way to get back up and fight. With her dagger she suddenly tries to kill Beowulf but his armor succeeds in protecting him from the kill. Suddenly Beowulf finds a sword in the lair which was made by giants and uses it to defeat Grendal’s mother by cutting her in two and splitting her collarbone. This showed that Beowulf not only had to be aware but he also had to use what he saw. Since it wasn’t his surroundings it made it a little harder for him to fight the evil. But he then found a sword which was on a wall so he adapted and used what was in his reach very well. This reminds me of life, how sometimes we go places we don't know anything about and suddenly something happens to us but we must know how to use what is around us and be aware of what is going on.
Beowulf was a prestigious warrior in the land of the Danes and Geats. He defeated Grendel and Grendel's Mother early within his life. As time passes (50 years), Beowulf at the age of 80 decies to fight the Dragon which was in possession of a great treasure. Beowulf felt as if it was a payment to the King of the Danes. With pride in his left hand and the warrior code in his right, he would not chicken out of this fight so Beowulf set on to fight the Dragon despite his age. Beowulf's pride would later get him killed in the battle against toe dragon due to the venom in the bite of the dragon. In life we all have those moments where we think we can do something or we get pressured to do and sometimes we fail. But in life we must get back up and keep pushing. Sometimes, we let our pride get ahead of us and then we end up looking like a fool. With life being like that. We have to know our evils in life and how to counter them, just like Beowulf and his fights.
