Beowulf vs. Odysseus

Literary Heroes: Beowulf and Odysseus Reading through Beowulf I began to compare it to the last great epic I read, Homer’s The Odyssey. While The Odyssey and Beowulf are each examples of both historic and modern ideas of heroism, the acts of Beowulf’s hero seem to fit better within its context. Beowulf exhibits many obvious heroic qualities, such as his strength and confidence in battle. These along with more subtle diplomatic actions serve …

…character is far more evident. It is clear that Odysseus learns from his mistakes and grows as a person through his adventures, while Beowulf undergoes only superficial evolution, growing from boy to man. In the end, our society’s schema of heroes are aptly fulfilled to a certain extent in both poems; but while The Odyssey tries more to humanize the hero, Beowulf firmly solidifies its hero’s super-human niche in the annals of history.