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Essay / Hercules and Beowulf: comparison of the heroic characteristics and adventures of two characters
The origin of the two heroes Beowulf and Hercules would be associated with divine heroes. They were honored and royal servants of their country and their communities, they led their communities into heroic events and battles. In the majority of their stories, the two warriors usually end with a happy ending. Both concerns had a similar European origin. To be more precise, these 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 Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Hercules came before Beowulf. He was a source of inspiration for the majority of the German population interested in the events and heroic martial acts of the Roman period ("Compare and contrast Beowulf and Hercules"). The story of Beowulf was a source of inspiration for Germanic warriors who came later in the generation. fought with monsters that lived in caves. Beowulf fought a deadly dragon while Hercules encountered the monster Cacus. They both come from royal backgrounds, one from Greece while the other is from Denmark. Beowulf and Hercules achieve similar status, power, and battles in their tales, thus leading to the conclusion that these heroes are the same. Some may say that these two tales are very different, but we must remember that the tale of Hercules influenced the Germanic people with its heroic tales and courage, just as Beowulf did for later generations of the people Germanic, hence the reason for the resemblance between the two. Both Hercules and Beowulf are formidable 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 happens there, so he harasses people and kills them when they try to fight him. Beowulf comes to King Hrothgar and volunteers to fight Grendel and sails to Denmark to do so. He successfully defeats the beast and fights Grendel's mother followed by a dragon. His ability to fight and defeat these beasts shows his skill, and he becomes known as the city's defender and the person people call to fight for them. Hercules is similar in that he was a great fighter and protector. He fought against the Minyans, a group of people threatening Thebes, Greece. He also undertook twelve difficult and dangerous jobs. Some of his tasks included killing the birds of Stymphalus, a group of birds that ate humans and terrorized the city, the Lernaean hydra which had nine heads and as he cut one off, another grew, and the wild boar of Erymanthus which was another beast that he had defeated. pursuing him, until the beast was 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 ready to help others. They attained the status of protectors of the people. These men also possessed considerable 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 grip and their battles shake the kingdom. The warriors attempt to jump with their weapons and help Beowulf, but are unaware that Grendel is weapon-prone, thus forcing Beowulfto use their bare hands. Beowulf tears Grendel's arm off and carries him up the wall. We find his special abilities with the fight against Grendel's mother, which takes place underwater. Beowulf has the ability to hold his breath for hours while he fights and can go days and nights without rest or food. Hercules is reputed to be the strongest man who ever lived. From a very young age, he killed two venomous snakes that were in his cradle sent by the goddess Hera, jealous of Zeus, his father. He also killed the lion Nameon who was a fierce beast with his bare hands, just like Beowulf, and 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 experienced some sort of downfall in each of their stories. When Beowulf fights his last battle which is the Dragon, he is in his old age. He might lose because he wasn't as young as he was when he fought the other two beasts. The dragon and Beowulf start to fight, but then he bites Beowulf and he starts to bleed. Although he is injured, 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 take Deianeira across. She allowed it, but only after being taken away did Nessus attempt to rape her. Hercules, of course, protecting his wife, shot Nessus to stop him. However, as he was dying, he told Deianeria to keep some of his blood, so that in case Hercules started to fall in love with her, she could use it to make him fall in love again . It was a lie and his blood is actually filled with poison, but Deianeria still takes it. Later, Hercules begins to resemble another woman named Lole in a desirable way. Worried about their marriage, Deinaneria takes Nessus' blood and dips 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 takes hold. He is in great pain and because he is a demigod, he does not die immediately, meaning he has to endure slow, excruciating pain. After realizing what she had done, Denineria commits suicide. Ultimately, Hercules decides to kill himself and set the rest of himself on fire. This kills the mortal part of him but not the immortal part. He travels to his new home on Mt. Olympus to join the other gods. These two men also have patriarchal figures who enjoy a certain authority. Hercules was the son of Zeus, the god of kings and thunder who ruled Olympus and the other gods. Beowulf's brother father was the king of the land of the Danes. Although both heroes fight and represent their nations and communities in dangerous and important quests, they exhibit the weaknesses of human nature. Beowulf's main weakness was his ego accompanied by pride. This aspect made him reckless, pushing him to take on very dangerous challenges individually. This aspect distinguished Beowulf from the rest of the Roman and Greek warriors. Greek and Roman warriors always had tragic flaws that led them to defeat and destruction in most cases. Some dangerous quests without the use of weapons and without help because he is always sure that he will be the winner. At an older age, when he no longer had much strength, Beowulf decided to fight the dragon alone, when he was injured and unable to defeat it. the dragon, he takes this as his destiny and accepts that he would die at that moment. This distinguished him from the classical Greek heroes by the.").