How Is Beowulf Liberal Or Conservative

There have always been two groups of political thought: liberal and conservative. These two schools of thought can be applied to almost anything. This includes the thousand year old poem, Beowulf. Who better embodies the liberal traits than Beowulf himself. A liberal is a nontraditional person who is open to new behaviors and not afraid to discard their traditional values in order to better themselves and their community. This definition of liberal describes Beowulf. Beowulf was a fictional hero who saved the land of the Danes from dark monsters. He later became a king who was well loved by his people. Beowulf deviates from the standard customs of heros and people with power because he cares about everyone from commoners to fellow royalty.
Beowulf is a true liberal who believes in the power of the people. Beowulf's values align with the liberal perspective of civic virtue. Like many liberals, he has many altruistic moments. When a Firedrake attacks his kingdom, Beowulf stepped up to the challenge “against the Firedrake”. Beowulf risks his life for his people which results in his own death. Beowulf’s actions are of a liberals. He gave something up for the greater good of his community. In this case he made the ultimate sacrifice of his own life. Another time Beowulf demonstrates civic virtue was when Beowulf heard about Grendel. He traveled from his home in the land of the Geats and traveled across the sea to Denmark. Beowulf was “determined to go and help Hrothgar” defeat Grendel and save the Danes. These are examples of how Beowulf is an altruistic person. Liberals believe in a strong government. Beowulf’s actions show that he also agrees with a powerful, centralized government. Liberals think that gun and weapon control is necessary to a safe country. Beowulf chooses to only use his hands when fighting Grendel and dismiss the use of a sword. He goes as far to say “Have swords been any good...in the past?” meaning that swords and other weapons should only be used in dire circumstances. Weapon control requires a strong government that has power over its people. He is also shown to be against war. Beowulf and liberals alike believe in wealth distribution. When he is presented with a gold collar and white stallions, he gives them away. This shows that Beowulf believes in wealth dissemination. Beowulf is a liberal since he believes in a powerful government. Beowulf also shows a strong belief in the liberal concept of equality.
He treats everyone with respect and fairness, even those who do not return the gesture. When Unferth was angry at Beowulf for killing Grendel, Beowulf’s men wanted to hang him. However, Beowulf remained calm and stated that “To Unferth, Grendel was beautiful,”. This exhibits a strong sense of equality to treat everyone with the fairly even when they do not do the same. At one point in the epic, a slave steals a “jeweled cup” which awakens the Firedrake. This angered the Firedrake, so it burned down a significant amount of the kingdom. The slave was brought upon Beowulf to decide whether or not he would be sacrificed. Beowulf instead decides to “let him eat honey,” meaning that the slave should deserve pity and not be killed. This shows that Beowulf is against the death penalty which is a liberal value. These kind of decisions demonstrated to his people that Beowulf was a fair and egalitarian ruler. Another quality that Beowulf and liberals share is that they have nontraditional values. Conventionally, heros used swords to fight monsters. Beowulf went with the uncustomary option of using his arms , “strong wrists” and his intelligence. Near the beginning of the story, Beowulf eats an apple that was made from a cursed tree. Unferth tells him that the apples are bad but Beowulf disagrees and explains that good things can be brought by something bad. This is extremely untraditional. He also admits to his imperfections which help him improve upon his weaknesses. These qualities conveys Beowulf’s liberal
values. In summation, despite the thousands of years that set apart Beowulf's time and today, Beowulf's values align with those of a modern liberal. Just like today’s liberal, Beowulf believes in civic virtue, a strong government, equality, and a variety of nontraditional values. In a world still filled with liberals and conservatives, Beowulf remains a quintessential liberal.