King Arthur and Beowulf Comparison

Out of all the stories I’ve read about heroes in this lesson, the only one I had ever heard of was King Arthur. I guess I had also heard of the name Beowulf, but only because there was a new movie coming out called that. I knew nothing about him though. But after reading the stories in this lesson, I became much more aware of both of these characters. As I was reading, I found out that Beowulf is an epic hero, and that King Arthur is a romantic hero. There are two other heroes that I read about, Gilgamesh and Achilles, but I chose to just write about Beowulf and Arthur because they both intrigued me very much, and because they are so different from each other. The main differences I noticed between the two were their personalities, the way they fight. But I also found some similarities too.

King Arthur and Beowulf’s personalities are completely opposite from one another. King Arthur is a very compassionate, and humble person. He doesn’t care about being praised, or making a name for himself. All he wants to do, as king, is what he thinks is right and best for everyone. Beowulf is a completely different story. He is very cocky, and prideful. I would consider him a show-off too because of the fact that he killed Grendel with his bare hands. Beowulf does lead his people well, but I find him to be very conceited, and only doing things that will bring him fame. Like the fact that he cared so much about being forgotten, that he wanted to be buried with treasure when he died, and Arthur didn’t care at all if he even had any recognition or memorial after dying.

The way King Arthur and Beowulf fight is completely different too. King Arthur always used weapons. He relied on them to defeat his enemies and to protect himself. King Arthur also fought his enemies with armies, and battled against armies. He fought for his people and to better society. Beowulf fought with his bare hands. He was considered the strongest man in the world, so why would he need weapons? He also fought to better society, and he rescued needy people, but I think all he wanted was fame. Beowulf