Beowulf, the Epic Hero

Beowulf: Friend or Foe

Today society is faced everyday with threats of danger, but unlike in the epic poem Beowulf the danger is not dragons and monsters. In this tale Beowulf, the hero, in order to protect his and King Hrothgar’s kingdom must fight evil to the death. First he must face Grendel, a monster threatening the lives of Hrothgar’s public, then due to the destruction of Grendel must face Grendel’s mother. After this, surely Beowulf faces several adversaries, but in his declining years he is forced to battle a dragon, his ultimate demise. In the epic poem Beowulf the harmony of a civilization is dependent on the actions of an individual hero, Beowulf, but must be maintained by the community.

Although the epic hero, Beowulf, gains many victories, they are do not all have long-term advantages. In his battle against Grendel in Denmark, Beowulf’s victory is not long lasting, merely temporary; he is soon haunted by yet another monster, Grendel’s mother. Beowulf’s work is never done, harmony is never permanent, “The victories of Beowulf are great ones, but they are temporary; the threat remains, and the entire poem is haunted by the vision of ultimate destruction” (Halverson 103). Throughout the poem, Beowulf acts as the defender of civilization, he must go out and defeat monsters and villains, live in harmony for a moment, then waits for the threat to return in another form. In order for the threat to be defeated permanently, a group stance must be taken. A single individual, in this case Beowulf, cannot handle the task of keeping societal peace, rather an entire community. Part of the down side to the epic hero is that Beowulf’s victory will always be temporary because he is temporary, “’I’ve never known fear; as a youth I fought in endless battles. I am old, now, but I will fight again…” (Beowulf 68). Beowulf is a mortal and when he dies, society will fail.

Throughout the poem, society is kept safe through the sole actions of the hero, without them, social order would vanish. The Beowulf’s key task is to defeat evil, prevent chaos, and restore peace, but if Beowulf were ever defeated, which he eventually is, pandemonium would ensue. Luckily at the end of the poem when Beowulf is destroyed, there is Wiglaf there to replace him, but had Wiglaf not come to his aid, surely the Dragon would have destroyed the village and all of it’s people. In the end, after the dragon is defeated, and Beowulf has died Wiglaf scolds Beowulf’s cowardly army who ran away, “‘I say what anyone who speaks the truth must say…War came and you ran like cowards, dropped your swords as soon as the danger was real. Should Beowulf have boasted of you help, rejoiced in your loyal strength? With God’s good grace he helped himself, swung his sword alone, won his own victory” (Beowulf 76). Wiglaf knew that societal peace is not