Beowulf and His Counterparts
Beowulf contains characteristics associated
with folklore or fairy tales: lurid, sensational events; man-eating monsters;
and heroes saving a people or a country from destruction. Due to these elements, the poem has appealed
to sophisticated audiences for more than twelve hundred years.
The story of Beowulf creates a small glance
into the Germanic and Scandinavian’s imagination. These people loved telling
stories about good versus evil- heroes saving people from villains and getting
rewarded for their efforts. This is evident in the story of Beowulf. While
there probably never was a creature as terrifying as Grendel, the imagination
of the people captivates and causes people in modern time to use their own
imaginations to create heroes battling villains and being victorious. Gruesome
parts of the poem, such as the scene in which Beowulf crushes and rips off
Grendel’s arm, have seemed to interest audiences throughout the years, and have
given ideas to copy those gruesome parts and make them even more horrid in
today’s society and media.
Other qualities that may intrigue these
audiences are displayed demonstrations of alliteration. Alliteration is the
occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely
connected words. Examples of alliteration in the poetic story of Beowulf are: “A
canny pilot along coast and currents,” (Beowulf, 209), and, “Over the waves,
with the wind behind her.” (Beowulf, 215) The style of writing may also appeal
to sophisticated audiences because the vivid scenes that the words paint in people’s
minds pull them in with the poetic, yet story-book theme.
Then, there’s the subject of morals and the
fact that these audiences could relate to those morals in the story of Beowulf.
For example, loyalty to ones people or race is found throughout the poem.
Loyalty establishes relationships and connections between the characters in
these stories. Most audiences root for the people whose words don’t fall to the
ground, and want to see the heroes standing up for what is honorable and
truthful. Beowulf is the epitome of the word “loyal”. Even though a war was
started by Beowulf’s father between the Geats and Danes, Beowulf did not
hesitate to come to the aid of those who were once called “enemies”. Beowulf
wanted to make right what his father had meant for wrong. And the fact that he
came to the rescue of his own people as a warrior shows his honorable
relationship between him and his people.
In modern entertainment media today, there
are counterparts to Beowulf in a variety of ways. These resemblances of Beowulf
are created to reach everyone who may have an imagination just like those
Anglo-Saxons. For example, most movies in today’s media contain a good side
fighting a bad side. Superheroes are good examples of counterparts to Beowulf.
Most superheroes are revealed to be very loyal to the people that they are
watching over. Spiderman defeats many villains as he protects the huge city of
New York. Batman protects Gotham City
and shows up whenever his SOS sign is flashed into the dark skies. Captain America, who didn’t have any
superpowers, but had super-human strength, could be compared to Beowulf. These
superheroes go to where the danger is and save the day every time, just as
Beowulf did.
Even in today’s entertainment news
broadcasts, there are real-life people who can be considered counterparts to
Beowulf. Just as the mighty Geat traveled to Heorot to defeat Grendel, firemen
travel throughout various places to defeat a modern-day villain known as fire.
They risk their lives in the line of duty to help protect people from this
raging enemy. Policeman serve the people by keeping their streets safe and
families protected from villains, such as thieves and murderers.
Stories and poems just like Beowulf were treasures
used as entertainment in that time. And while those stories were passed down
from generation, they led to even more stories that involve loyalty and honor
and super-human strength. These sophisticated audiences are drawn in by those
monsters and heroes. And they don’t have to look too hard before they will see
a counterpart to those stories in the modern world.
WORKS
CITED
Lawall,
Sarah. The Norton Anthology: Western Literature. New York. 1984. Print
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