Israel Gonzalez
Beowulf
Beowulf is a poem that its first printed edition was back in 1815, and is apparently approximately 1000 years old.It is said to be the oldest surviving epic poem in old english.This epic poem is about Beowulf and his journey to glory and his victory over the three monsters D'Grth, Grendel, and Grendel's mother. Grendel and his mother were both demons while D'Grth was a dragon. This is basically the framework for most epic works such as the Avengers, Kingsman, and other smaller works such as Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief. Has this technology really separated us from prior civilizations? Is our thinking today any different from the thinking of ancient cultures? Although it may not seem to be true, there are actually many similarities between our new works and that of Beowulf’s. Most of the characteristics that Beowulf had during his publication, most super-human epic heroes, and sometimes anti-heroes, also have nowadays. Characters like this are Captain America, Luke Skywalker, and Yondu Udonta.
A trait that many of these characters have is bravery and vulnerability. Sure it is a good thing that for an epic hero to be brave but also that they need weaknesses, if not they are considered gods. Beowulf’s greatest weakness is not allowing any of his men to assist him in battle. Beowulf comes out of his battles with Grendel and Grendel’s mother unscathed, but had a great deal of strength and was still in his youth. Using this the reader can infer that he will not ask his men for assistance in the next big battle, in which he will need them. Thus making the reader anxious for beowulf, Today’s epic heroes also have major flaws or weaknesses that burden them from accomplishing their goals. For example in Captain America, his main goal at the beginning was for him to be in the military. Despite his personality he was too skinny and was not fit enough to be in the military.
Another trait t...
