Beowulf Case

A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men (Plato pg.1). In the story Beowulf by Burton Raffel a warrior named Beowulf becomes a true hero. Beowulf goes on a heroic journey containing five steps fighting battles with a monster named Grendel and a dragon. Throughout Beowulf's journey he experiences supernatural elements that help him to succeed.

With the strength of thirty men in one arm, the courage to fight monsters and the knowledge to respect and consider others Beowulf defines the word hero. Beowulf's first battle with Grendel ends with Beowulf being the hero and Beowulf goes on to kill Grendel's mother to be rid of all evil .

Before the battle between Beowulf and Grendel, Grendel, the monster, hated the noise coming from the mead hall. It made Grendel so mad that, he would go lurking in the middle of the night to slaughter the men who caused all the corruption and noise. From that point Grendel went on searching for more and more kills. It scared Beowulf's people and Beowulf has to put a stop to it. Beowulf goes on to kill Grendel and Beowulf succeeds by ripping Grendels arm off, Grendel Bleeds to death in the woods. Beowulf then goes on to kill Grendels mother(Burton pg. 48-52). Beowulf discovers that he has supernatural elements, while in his battle. Beowulf has the strength of a thousand men. Beowulf also succeeds in killing Grendels mother. All is well and Beowulf and his people celebrate the victory.

As the story goes on Beowulf has to fight another battle with a dragon. The dragon ends up hurting Beowulf and Beowulf eventually dies. Beowulf hands over the treasures and he hands down his name to a man that helped him fight. Beowulf is a true hero. Hero's must use strength, wits, both to defeat enemies, monsters, or demons, although some are aided by luck .Sometimes hero's have to give up something precious to move forward in the quest. In the end the hero returns home enriched with powers, wisdom, treasure or perhaps a mate won in the course of the quest. In Beowulf a mate ends up getting the treasure.