Beowulf Comparison to Modern Day Hero

From Beowulf to Superman, Why we need our Heroes Heroes, from Beowulf to Superman our cultures have always created heroes. We may always have political, social, economic and religious differences, but at the end of the day we all have one thing in common, heroes. They help define who we are and what we want to be. They give us hope and inspire us to head in the right direction. They show us that good will always triumph over evil and that anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Heroes give us the inspiration we need to overcome problems in our own lives and that is why we create them. Beowulf perfectly embodies the idea of a hero. He defeats the evil Grendel and his mother, slays the dragon and saves his people. He is strong, brave, moral, inspiring; all of which are traits that some one can look up to and while his story may have been written over a thousand years ago, Beowulf’s heroism has echoed through the ages. Even today, our heroes are strong, brave, moral and inspiring. In a way, one could say Beowulf was the hero of hero’s not only inspiring the people of his time, but inspiring the heroes who would later be created in his image. Beowulf begins as many epic tales do, by introducing the hero. The author tells the reader of how Beowulf has trekked oceans and slain monsters; right from the beginning it is made obvious that Beowulf is no ordinary man. However, with any tale, the hero must have an adversary, an evil that must be overcome. In Beowulf’s case, he has three, the hideous monster Grendel, Grendel’s mother and the foreboding Dragon. So while there may be three physical antagonists, one can argue that they metaphorically represent one thing, the personification of societies shortcomings. In John Gardner’s “Grendel”, the monster is said to harbor feelings of lust or jealousy of the inhabitants of Hrothgar’s mead-hall and attacks them due to his feeling of exclusion. The story also alludes to the idea of wrath or vengeance.