The Various Ideas of a Hero

The poem Beowulf tells the story of a man considered to be quite the hero in Pagan culture. A few of our Socratic Seminar questions discuss Beowulf's heroic qualities. In Pagan culture, Beowulf would have been regarded as an esteemed hero. He demonstrated qualities of loyalty, generosity, and bravery. Beowulf accepts the challenge of fighting Grendel even though many before him have failed and most would run away from the challenge in fear. Obviously, it takes quite an amount of bravery and courage to do what he did. Many years later, Beowulf musters up the bravery to fight the dragon, again demonstrating that Pagan value of a hero. Beowulf also exemplifies the characteristics of loyalty and generosity through his care for his people. In the end, as he lies dying, Beowulf asks to see the treasure of the dragon to know that his battle was not for nothing and that his people will reap the benefits. "I give thanks that I behold this treasure here in front of me, that I have been allowed to leave my people so well endowed". He sees the treasure and is pleased that even though he cannot stay with his people, they will be alright.

In modern culture, I think that Beowulf would be considered as arrogant and overly prideful. I can understand why in Pagan culture is was called a hero, but I probably would not call him one myself. His bravery seems to come when he has something to gain personally. To me, it seemed like Beowulf was only fighting Grendel because he thought it would be an impressive feat. When Beowulf first arrived in Heorot, he told stories of his previous great accomplishments and sounded like he was simply bragging about his life and how great he was. Today, I think your average hero (or at least what people assume to be the "average hero") would not brag about himself or herself but would say something like "Oh, don't thank me. The real heroes are..."I just can't see someone who we take as a hero to say something like what Beowulf said to Unferth after being accused of being reckless, "Well, friend Unferth, you have had your say about Breca and me. But it was mostly beer that was doing the talking. The truth is this: when the going was heavy in those high waves, I was the strongest swimmer of all." Beowulf is just too prideful and arrogant to be a true hero. I'll admit, some of his actions were definitely heroic (like defeating Grendel  and fighting the dragon), but I don't think he was a hero, according to the modern idea of a hero.

This brings me to why I think that the modern idea of a hero has become warped. I'm not about to say that  someone who signs up to be in the military isn't heroic and honorable, because they most certainly are and they should not be forgotten, but they shouldn't be deemed as heroes for that one action. In my opinion, heroes are quite different from role models, and those people would be more like role models. A role model, to me, is someone you respect and look up to. A hero is someone who puts others ahead of him or herself, takes risks for the benefit of others, and makes a positive influence or change in the world. I don't think that Beowulf would, today, be considered a role model or a hero, but his actions were still heroic, he just wasn't doing those actions for the reasons a hero would.