FREE ESSAY ON BEOWULF AND KING AUTHUR COMPARISON ESSAY

BEOWULF AND KING AUTHUR COMPARISON ESSAY

The Great Ones Reveled
Numerous stories about numerous heroes have been told and then retold. All of these
heroes do different things and all of them have a different set of qualities which make
them heroes. Due to the fact that there are only so many heroic adventures and qualities,
most are shared in part with at least one other hero. Such is the case between the great
hero, Beowulf, from the epic poem Beowulf and King Arthur from the story of Morte
d'Arthur. These great heroes have strong similarities and a great deal of differences.
Once their similarities have been compared and then dismissed it is evident that Beowulf
is the greater hero of the two. 
True heroes do good things for good people. Such is the case in Beowulf, Beowulf leaves
his homeland to help the Danish people rid themselves of the human eating monster,
Grendel. This heroic quality is also evident in Morte d'Arthur, as Arthur consciously
rides into a battle in order to rid his people of an evil knight who would not allow
others to pass. Both heroes are displaying their concern for others by risking themselves
in battle for the greater good. In the same aspect they are also striving for love and
respect from the people they protect. 
In order to obtain maximum respect per battle, both Beowulf and Arthur enter into battle
somewhat alone. Beowulf specifically asks, "That [he], alone and with the help of [his]
men, / May purge all evil from [the] hall" (Beowulf, line 165-166). His request is
granted by Hrothgar, King of the Danes, so he and his man enter into the battle
themselves and when Grendel is defeated, the glory, love and respect belong solely to
Beowulf and his men. Arthur does the same, "he met with his man and his horse, and so
mounted up and dressed his shield and took his spear, and bade his chamberlain tarry
there till he came again" (Morte d'Arthur paragraph 20). Although Arthur begins his
journey alone he does meet up with Merlin, the court magician and faithful companion, who
accompanies him. Much like Beowulf, Arthur gains great respect and praise from all men of
worship by fighting alone, even though it is not necessarily the smartest thing to do.
The characteristic of being fearless when faced with death is often a trait of heroes
because it is associated with courage and strength. King Arthur and Beowulf are not
afraid to die, thus showing their courage to their adversaries and peers. When Arthur is
faced with death he declares, "welcome be it when it cometh, but to yield me unto thee as
[cowardly] I had liefer die than to be so shamed." (Morte d'Arthur, paragraph 34). Simply
put he would rather die than admit to defeat and being cowardly. Beowulf feels much the
same way about death. He illustrates this by showing no fear for his own life but instead
expressing concern for the honor of King Higlac by asking that, "if death does take
[him], send the hammered / Mail of [his] armor to Higlac" (Beowulf, line 186-187). In
sending his King his armor it recommits himself to his country and lets his King be
reminded of his bravery every time he looks upon it.
That is the extent to which Beowulf and King Arthur are similar. Beowulf has way more
confidence in his fighting ability then Arthur has in his. This is evident in the fact
that Beowulf fights Grendel unarmed, he says "my hands / Alone shall fight for me,
struggle for life" (Beowulf, line 172-173). His reasoning behind this is that Grendel's,
"scorn of men / Is so great that he needs no weapons and fears none [so] / Nor will [he]"
(Beowulf, line 167-169). By facing Grendel unarmed to shows that he is brave and more
importantly unafraid to be equal to Grendel. Since Grendel is going to fight without the
use of weapons, Beowulf creates equality and therefore more respect upon himself by doing
the same. Were as the much less confident Arthur fights only with weapons and once his
wounds were amended his first thought was, "I have no sword" (Morte d'Arthur, paragraph
41) followed by the task of finding him a sword. This demonstrates Arthur's weakness in
his dependence of weapons and thus Beowulf's greatness in comparison.
Beowulf is indeed the greater hero as the help he received from his men was useless, not
by fault of his men but by the simple fact that Grendel, "had bewitched all men's
weapons, laid spells / That blunted every mortal man's blade" (Beowulf, line 322-323).
Since Beowulf's men could give him no help due to Grendel's spell, he had to defeat the
monster by himself with his bear hands. Arthur on the other hand lost his battle. First
Arthur lost a jousting match then lost on the ground when "the knight smote King Arthur's
sword in two pieces" (Morte d'Arthur, paragraph 32). Merlin had to come to his rescue at
this point and by using his magic he put the knight to sleep for a period of three hours.
So to recap Beowulf defeated a monster with no aid from his companions and Arthur could
not even defeat a knight, he instead he had to rely on the aid of magic from Merlin.
Even thought both King Arthur and Beowulf are great heroes, Beowulf emerges as the
greater of the two. He does this through his successful feats only, not through his
heroic qualities. For when comparing the heroic qualities of Arthur and Beowulf they come
up pretty even. Both demonstrate a great love for others as they both try to do good
things for commendable people. Their differences in heroism might be due to the fact that
Arthur is a young hero in comparison to Beowulf who is an experienced hero. Either way
they, like most heroes, have similarities and differences, this makes them who they are,
commendable and memorable fantasy characters.