Topic > Hercules and Beowulf: heroic characteristics and adventures of two characters compared

It is stated that the origin of the two heroes Beowulf and Hercules is associated with divine heroes. They were honored and royal servants of their country and communities, leading their communities to heroic events and battles. In most of their stories the two warriors usually have a positive ending. The two concerns had a similar European origin. To be more specific the two concerns inspired two different generations in Germanic history ("Compare and contrast Beowulf and Hercules"). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayHercules came before Beowulf. He was a source of inspiration for the majority of the German population interested in the events and martial heroics of the Roman period ("Compare and contrast Beowulf and Hercules"). The story of Beowulf was a source of inspiration for the Germanic warriors who came later in the generation. they fought with the monsters that lived in the caves. Beowulf fought a deadly dragon while Hercules encountered the monster Cacus. Both came from royal backgrounds, one was originally from Greece while the other was originally from Denmark. Beowulf and Hercules achieve similar status, power, and battles in their tales, thus allowing one to come to the conclusion that these heroes are the same. Some may argue that these two are very different, however we must remember that the tale of Hercules influenced the Germanic people with heroic and courageous tales, just as Beowulf did for later generations of the Germanic people, hence the reason for the similarity in both. Hercules and Beowulf are both extraordinary warriors. Beowulf is called to fight the beast Grendel who is terrorizing the people of Heorot. Grendel doesn't like the noise and commotion that occurs there, so as a result he harasses people and kills them as they try to fight him off. Beowulf goes to King Hrothgar and volunteers to fight Grendel and sails to Denmark to do so. He successfully defeats the beast and continues to fight Grendel's mother followed by a dragon. His ability to fight and defeat these beasts proves his skill, and he becomes known as the city's defender and the person the people call to fight for them. Hercules is similar in the sense that he was a great fighter and was a protector. He fought the Minyans who were a group of people who threatened Thebes, Greece. He also undertook twelve challenging and dangerous labors. Some of his tasks included killing the Stymphalian birds, a group of birds that ate humans and terrorized the city, the Lernean Hydra which had nine heads and as it cut off one it grew another, and the Erymanthian Boar which was another beast defeated by him. chasing it, until the beast got tired. Even after completing his twelve labors, he continued to fight more battles and adventures. Both Hercules and Beowulf are men who are consistently victorious in their battles and always willing to help others. They achieved the status of protectors of the people. These men also had a tremendous amount of strength and special powers. Beowulf's abilities are evident during his battle with Grendel. During the fight, Grendel tries to grab Beowulf but instead Beowulf grabs him so hard that he gets scared. Grendel is unable to escape Beowulf's grasp and their fighting is shaking the kingdom. The warriors attempt to jump in with their weapons and help Beowulf, but are unaware that Grendel is prone to weapons, thus forcing Beowulf to use his bare hands. Beowulf tears off Grendel's arm and carries him to mount him on the wall. Let's review his special fighting skillsagainst Grendel's mother, which takes place underwater. Beowulf has the ability to hold his breath for hours while fighting and can go days and nights without rest or food. Hercules has the reputation of being the strongest man who ever lived. Since his childhood he killed two poisonous snakes which were in his crib sent by the goddess Hera, jealous of Zeus, his father. He also killed the Lion Nameon who was a ferocious beast with his bare hands just like Beowulf did and he challenged the Gods in battles and often won. He never aged and could jump 100 feet in the air. Another similarity between the two is that they have experienced some sort of downfall in each of their stories. When Beowulf fights his last battle, the Dragon, he is now old. He is risking the possibility of losing because he was not as young as when he fought the other two beasts. The dragon and Beowulf begin to fight, but then Beowulf is bitten and begins to bleed. Although he is wounded, he takes a knife and stabs the dragon and it dies. Unfortunately, Beowulf also dies. Hercules' second wife, Deianeira, was the cause of his death. The two were trying to cross the Evenus River and a centaur called Nessus offered to accompany Deianeira to the other side. She allowed it, but only after she was given passage. Nesso tried to rape her. Hercules obviously, protecting his wife, shot Nessus to stop him. As she was dying, however, she told Deianeria to save some of her blood, so that in case Hercules began to fall out of love with her she could use it to make him fall in love again. This was a lie and his blood is actually full of poison, yet Deianeria still takes it. Later, Hercules begins to look desirably at another woman named Lole. Concerned about their marriage, Deinaneria takes Nessus' blood and soaks his clothes in it so that he will continue to be interested in her. When Hercules goes to put it on, his skin catches fire as the poison spreads. He experiences immense pain, and since he is a demigod, he does not die immediately, meaning he must endure slow, agonizing pain. After realizing what she had done, Denineria kills herself. In the end, Hercules decides to kill himself and set fire to everything else. This kills his mortal part but not his immortal part. He goes to his new home on Mount Olympus to reunite with the other gods. These two men also have patriarchal figures who had some sort of authority. Hercules was the son of Zeus, who was the god of kings and thunder who ruled Olympus and the other gods. Beowulf's father brother was king of the land of the Danes. Although the two heroes fought and represented their nations and communities in dangerous and important missions, they eliminated the weaknesses of human nature. Beowulf's main weakness was his ego accompanied by pride. This aspect made him reckless, leading him to individually undertake very dangerous challenges. This aspect distinguished Beowulf from the rest of the Roman and Greek warriors. Greek and Roman warriors have always had tragic flaws that led to their defeat and destruction in most cases. Some dangerous missions without the use of weapons and without help as it is always sure that he will be a winner. At an advanced age, when he did not have much strength, Beowulf decides to fight the dragon alone, when he was injured and unable to defeat it. the dragon, takes it as his destiny and accepts that he would die at that point. This distinguished him from classical Greek heroes because their fate was based on the poor choices they made at crucial moments. He had to choose between deciding to meet the dragon or many people would die. In this action he never demonstrated Greek hamartia but demonstrated the fatalism of Western strengths. Beowulf").