Blog 3:

Luke Skywalker and Beowulf are very different heros, yet they have a lot of similarities between the two of them. Beowulf is a hero that enjoys being a hero, and is never against saving the day. He loves getting the challeneges that are put in front of him. Luke Skywalker, on the other hand, was very reluctant the first time he was told he had to come and save the day. He thought that he couldn’t do it, and almost didn’t take the challenge. Once Luke starts, however, he is very passionate about what he does. He tries his best to save the people and side that are important to him, and puts his neck on the line to try and make everything safe. Beowulf also does everything he does with a great sense of passion, but also Beowulf has the alternative motive of fame and reputation that is driving him. He wants to protect the people, but he wants to make sure everyone knows it is him doing it. Luke just has that goal of helping protect against the dark side. Also, Beowulf is very confident. He has been in the hero business for quite a long time, so he often times doesn’t worry about whether he is going to make it out alive. He assumes that he will be victorious in what ever he might get involved in. Because Luke is so new at being a hero, he is much more nervous and insecure about his actions. Luckily he has a strong spiritual guide to help grow on his journey, because if not there would be a lot of second guessing. They are similar in the fact that they both share the points of a hero journey. They both have their mystic weapons in the great sword that Beowulf has and the light saber that Luke has. Also, they both make a journey exc. They have many similar traits as well. For example, both Luke and Beowulf are great leaders. At first Luke is so unsure of himself that he isn’t much of a leader, but once he begins to believe in himself, everyone else does too. He even gets Han Solo to come back and help, which was a huge feat. Beowulf is the guy that has everyone listening to his every word, and if he says jump, everyone jumps no questions asked. Also, they both are extremely brave. Beowulf volunteers to take on monsters that can not be defeated, and Luke agrees to fight against this powerful darkside.

Blog 2:

Wiglaf has a lot of the same traits are Beowulf, but he also shows a few of his own traits. The main action of bravery we see Wiglaf complete is when Beowulf is fighting the dragon by his lonesome and he needs help. Before he enters battle to help his faithful Beowulf, he gives a speech to the deserting men. He says that Beowulf has spent his whole life protecting everyone else, and it is their duty to help him, but they are just being cowards. After this speech he enters the dragons layer to aid the hero. He tries to fight the dragon, and with the help of Beowulf, they end up killing the dragon, but at the cost of Beowulf. Wiglaf had alot of the same heroic traits as Beowulf. First off, he made a speech before he went to battle, which is very similar to what Beowulf did before his battles. Beowulf always made an elaborate speech about him being willing to die for the people he was fighting for, and his reason for fighting, and that was seen here as well. Also, he had some of the same heroic ideas as Beowulf because they are fighting the same Dragon. The basic hero values are all the same between the two men. The main place where Wiglaf takes it to another level is because of his reason for fighting. Sometimes we get the idea the Beowulf is fighting because he wants to become a hero, and he likes the fame behind it. Also, he is driven by the idea of fate. With Wiglaf, he is pushed by the desire to do right to Beowulf. He feels like it is his duty to help the person that has helped him so many times instead of just flee like the other men. He isn't trying to go into this fight to earn glory or fame, but he just wants to go and help a friend. I think this is what makes him more heroic than Beowulf. With Wiglaf, he is fighting with someone else in mind. Beowulf, on the other hand, is fighting to protect other people, but he has himself and his fame in his mind while he is fighting.

Blog 1:

In the beginning of this excerpt, Unferth begins to talk about Beowulfs swimming match with Breca. In this swimming match, Beowulf lost. Unferth talks about how it was sort of embaracing for Beowulf to loose something as simple as a swimming match, when he is supposed to be this influential person. Unferth is a jealous man. He is normally considered the powerful and heroic person among the Danes, but now that Beowulf came, and offered to take care of protecting Heorot, he isn't considered as powerful anymore. For twelve years, Grendel had been attacking the mead- hall, and he hadn't been able to do anything about it, and now there is a man who is confident in himself that he will be able to stop this monster. Unferth is jealous that the attention is away from him, so he is trying to make Beowulf sound weaker than he is. Beowulf responds to this by saying that he might have lost the actual swimming match, but he won many more battles within this match than Unferth has given him credit for. The whole time he was swimming the match, he was being attacked by huge sea monsters. He continued to swim, but fought and killed these monsters the whole way. By the time the match was over, he had killed nine sea monsters, and protected the seas for all sailors. This is something that adds to Beowulfs heroic qualities in many ways. First off, Beowulf was able to talk his way out of being humiliated. Articulateness is a quality found in many heros. Also, he took a situation that was bad for him, and turned it into this epic journey where he did all of these wonderful things. He was able to take a situation where he lost, and turn it into this time when he cleaned the seas of all dangerous threats. He gave up the competition in order to save all of the sailors. This is very heroic of him.