Odysseus Vs Beowulf Essay
An epic poem is a long narrative poem that tends to be about heroic deeds and events. Beowulf shows traits of an epic hero by using his ability of strength to help him overcome evil. Beowulf kills Grendel and some of the rest of the men, by using his strength. Odysseus shows traits of and an epic hero by inspiring all his men to fight the cyclops. Odysseus uses his cunning sense to be an epic hero. Furthermore, while Odysseus was on his journey he completed the following: won the Trojan war, went to the Land of the Lotus Eaters, battled with a cyclops, love affair with a witch goddess, tempted by deadly Sirens, his journey into hell to consult the prophet he was looking for, fight with the monster Scylla that is from the water,
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and killed all of Penelope’s, suitors. Both Beowulf and Odysseus went through many trials while on each of their journey’s. Odysseus went through many battles and was on a long (omit this whole paragraph and instead just talk briefly about how Odysseus went through this trial and Beowulf went through a trial) In addition, the writer will now be giving a quick summary over Beowulf. Beowulf take place in Scandinavia in older times. Beowulf is the son of someone that is not mentioned in this poem. Beowulf and his men travel across the waters and arrive to kings Hrothgar’s Palace. Hrothgar and his people are haunted by an evil, demonic spirit named Grendel at the mead hall. Beowulf finds out and challenges the evil demonic spirit to fight.(Beowulf poem) The mead hall was haunted by Grendel, and anyone who decided to stay there for the night would get killed by him. After the first few killings no one wanted to go to the mead-hall at night, until Beowulf came. In both of our poems our hero’s had to face evil monsters that no one wanted or thought of doing. (SparkNotes) They both show traits of an epic that are similar.
They both are favored by their god more than other people. Beowulf is favored by his God, which is just one God. Odysseus is favored by Athena one of the few gods that they believe in. The early greeks made these gods to keep control over the people and make sure people stay in order This shows how they are both favored by a god. They also have special abilities each uses to defeat the evil monster they are fighting. In the personal opinion of the writer, he thinks that these are epics. They are without a doubt an epic poem/short story. In this paper, Beowulf and The Odyssey will be compared by the writer. A main point was that Beowulf and Odysseus both fought an evil/vicious and ruthless monster. Odysseus fought an evil one eyed cyclops that ate and killed all of his men. Beowulf fought an evil spirit, a demon, for example and liked to kill and eat his prey. The fate of Odysseus was already made to be doomed and die. While Beowulf didn’t really have his fate set out for him. When it came time for Beowulf to fight the evil spirit, demon, Beowulf relied on his strength to defeat it. Odysseus counted mainly on his wittiness and cunning self of being. They both had abilities they used to defeat their own
monster. Both Beowulf and Odysseus were very loyal to a part of their life. Beowulf was that he will keep his promise and try to defeat the evil spirit, the demon. Odysseus’ loyalty belongs with his men and keeping them safe from the evil that is in the world. They both tried so hard to keep their loyalty and not betray their people. “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14). In the bible being loyal is something good, something all heroes/good people should have. The bible is with loyalty so Beowulf and Odysseus have a great trait and The Bible views it correct so the religious stand point is great. Odysseus was considered a hero even though he had many girls over his wife and lied to everyone he had met. Back then the Greek people believed that you would be a hero if you had a special ability or a certain attribute, which Odysseus defiantly had. Beowulf was considered a hero because he was respected, he was kind, he was going to fight an evil spirit that everyone who encountered him would die or parish, never to be heard from again. Odysseus and Beowulf are both great leaders in their books. Beowulf uses force to fix his problems that he has. Odysseus uses his quick wit that he was gifted with. They both are strong only Beowulf is a bit stronger and Odysseus is a bit wittier. They both are monster killers and more likely to win against them. In the stories it describes Beowulf as only a human but with a lot of strength. Beowulf is capable to rip someone’s arms off if he wanted to. Odysseus solves his problems with his mind and is not so aggressive. Odysseus is also part “god” as they are pagan and believe in many gods and not just one. Beowulf is also very helpful to others and watches out for them and cares for them. While Odysseus only really tries to watch out for himself and if it is possible help someone out without it putting his life in danger then he will more than gladly do so. In the poem you can tell that Odysseus is pagan and believes in many gods for his support as how he is the favorite of the goddess Athena. Beowulf is what some people would like to assume a Christian, because God favors him and he prays to God in the poem. Religion has a big part to do in this as the story line. Oral tradition leaves its mark not only in the formulaic style of verse making and in the presence of repeated themes but also in the persistence of certain basic narrative patterns, in spite of sea-changes and reinterpretations. There seems to be evidence that one of the patterns found in the story of Odysseus also underlies a section of the first half of Beowulf. “Friedrich Panzer's study of the relationship of the Bearson folktale to the story of Beowulf focuses on the struggles of the hero with two monsters, the second of which is in the “other world.” There are surely many similarities both in essence and in detail between the folktale and this part of the Old English epic. Rhys Carpenter has reviewed the adventures of Odysseus as told by the hero, concentrating especially on the incident of the Cyclops, and has found a parallel between them (or it) and the folktale of the Bearson. According to the work of these two eminent scholars, Beowulf and Odysseus have much in common. They share at least one traditional story pattern.It is frequently pointed out that the taunting of Beowulf by Unferth is reminiscent of the challenge and insult to Odysseus by Euryalus at the court of Alcinous on Phaeacia. In this case the parallel is between themes, incidents in a story, namely, calumny of a stranger at a feast, whereas in the previous instance the parallel was between narrative conglomerates. As far as I am aware, no attempt has been made to compare the events leading up to the Unferth episode with those leading up to the taunt of Euryalus in the Odyssey to see if the parallelism goes beyond the single theme to include a larger complex.
In the Old English poem we have the following sequence: Beowulf has a ship built, crosses a body of water, is met by the coast guard on the opposite shore, and after identification, is led to Heorot, where he is graciously received and entertained, except that during the entertainment he is, without provocation, insulted by Unferth, but after he has proven himself by the long story of his adventures with Breca, the entertainment continues and is ended when all go to bed” ( v.1.0.11 | 2016 | The Center for Hellenic Studies | 3100 Whitehaven Street, NW. Washington, DC 20008 ).
and killed all of Penelope’s, suitors. Both Beowulf and Odysseus went through many trials while on each of their journey’s. Odysseus went through many battles and was on a long (omit this whole paragraph and instead just talk briefly about how Odysseus went through this trial and Beowulf went through a trial) In addition, the writer will now be giving a quick summary over Beowulf. Beowulf take place in Scandinavia in older times. Beowulf is the son of someone that is not mentioned in this poem. Beowulf and his men travel across the waters and arrive to kings Hrothgar’s Palace. Hrothgar and his people are haunted by an evil, demonic spirit named Grendel at the mead hall. Beowulf finds out and challenges the evil demonic spirit to fight.(Beowulf poem) The mead hall was haunted by Grendel, and anyone who decided to stay there for the night would get killed by him. After the first few killings no one wanted to go to the mead-hall at night, until Beowulf came. In both of our poems our hero’s had to face evil monsters that no one wanted or thought of doing. (SparkNotes) They both show traits of an epic that are similar.
They both are favored by their god more than other people. Beowulf is favored by his God, which is just one God. Odysseus is favored by Athena one of the few gods that they believe in. The early greeks made these gods to keep control over the people and make sure people stay in order This shows how they are both favored by a god. They also have special abilities each uses to defeat the evil monster they are fighting. In the personal opinion of the writer, he thinks that these are epics. They are without a doubt an epic poem/short story. In this paper, Beowulf and The Odyssey will be compared by the writer. A main point was that Beowulf and Odysseus both fought an evil/vicious and ruthless monster. Odysseus fought an evil one eyed cyclops that ate and killed all of his men. Beowulf fought an evil spirit, a demon, for example and liked to kill and eat his prey. The fate of Odysseus was already made to be doomed and die. While Beowulf didn’t really have his fate set out for him. When it came time for Beowulf to fight the evil spirit, demon, Beowulf relied on his strength to defeat it. Odysseus counted mainly on his wittiness and cunning self of being. They both had abilities they used to defeat their own
monster. Both Beowulf and Odysseus were very loyal to a part of their life. Beowulf was that he will keep his promise and try to defeat the evil spirit, the demon. Odysseus’ loyalty belongs with his men and keeping them safe from the evil that is in the world. They both tried so hard to keep their loyalty and not betray their people. “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14). In the bible being loyal is something good, something all heroes/good people should have. The bible is with loyalty so Beowulf and Odysseus have a great trait and The Bible views it correct so the religious stand point is great. Odysseus was considered a hero even though he had many girls over his wife and lied to everyone he had met. Back then the Greek people believed that you would be a hero if you had a special ability or a certain attribute, which Odysseus defiantly had. Beowulf was considered a hero because he was respected, he was kind, he was going to fight an evil spirit that everyone who encountered him would die or parish, never to be heard from again. Odysseus and Beowulf are both great leaders in their books. Beowulf uses force to fix his problems that he has. Odysseus uses his quick wit that he was gifted with. They both are strong only Beowulf is a bit stronger and Odysseus is a bit wittier. They both are monster killers and more likely to win against them. In the stories it describes Beowulf as only a human but with a lot of strength. Beowulf is capable to rip someone’s arms off if he wanted to. Odysseus solves his problems with his mind and is not so aggressive. Odysseus is also part “god” as they are pagan and believe in many gods and not just one. Beowulf is also very helpful to others and watches out for them and cares for them. While Odysseus only really tries to watch out for himself and if it is possible help someone out without it putting his life in danger then he will more than gladly do so. In the poem you can tell that Odysseus is pagan and believes in many gods for his support as how he is the favorite of the goddess Athena. Beowulf is what some people would like to assume a Christian, because God favors him and he prays to God in the poem. Religion has a big part to do in this as the story line. Oral tradition leaves its mark not only in the formulaic style of verse making and in the presence of repeated themes but also in the persistence of certain basic narrative patterns, in spite of sea-changes and reinterpretations. There seems to be evidence that one of the patterns found in the story of Odysseus also underlies a section of the first half of Beowulf. “Friedrich Panzer's study of the relationship of the Bearson folktale to the story of Beowulf focuses on the struggles of the hero with two monsters, the second of which is in the “other world.” There are surely many similarities both in essence and in detail between the folktale and this part of the Old English epic. Rhys Carpenter has reviewed the adventures of Odysseus as told by the hero, concentrating especially on the incident of the Cyclops, and has found a parallel between them (or it) and the folktale of the Bearson. According to the work of these two eminent scholars, Beowulf and Odysseus have much in common. They share at least one traditional story pattern.It is frequently pointed out that the taunting of Beowulf by Unferth is reminiscent of the challenge and insult to Odysseus by Euryalus at the court of Alcinous on Phaeacia. In this case the parallel is between themes, incidents in a story, namely, calumny of a stranger at a feast, whereas in the previous instance the parallel was between narrative conglomerates. As far as I am aware, no attempt has been made to compare the events leading up to the Unferth episode with those leading up to the taunt of Euryalus in the Odyssey to see if the parallelism goes beyond the single theme to include a larger complex.
In the Old English poem we have the following sequence: Beowulf has a ship built, crosses a body of water, is met by the coast guard on the opposite shore, and after identification, is led to Heorot, where he is graciously received and entertained, except that during the entertainment he is, without provocation, insulted by Unferth, but after he has proven himself by the long story of his adventures with Breca, the entertainment continues and is ended when all go to bed” ( v.1.0.11 | 2016 | The Center for Hellenic Studies | 3100 Whitehaven Street, NW. Washington, DC 20008 ).