Beowulf: The Heroic King

To say Beowulf was a good king is an understatement; by splitting the poem, "Beowulf" into a tripartite, his character as a good king develops into a heroic king. The three battles of the poem - the battle of Grendel, Grendel's mother's vengeance, and the greedy dragon, all provide evidence of Beowulf's heroic side building up.

In the first battle between Beowulf and Grendel, Beowulf's heroic nature begins to show even before the fight begins. Knowing that Grendel was going to attack that same night that Beowulf arrived, Beowulf did not act nervous or scared. In fact, Beowulf lay in his bed, awaiting the attack. If Beowulf was scared he would have stayed up waiting for the monster instead of acting calm.

Being a monster, Grendel had the upper hand in the fight with Beowulf. Yet, Beowulf still fought fairly. He knew that Grendel wouldn't have any weapons, so he engaged himself in the battle without weapons as well. In line 671 of the poem, Beowulf "began to remove his iron breast-mail, took off the helmet and handed his attendant the patterned sword." By removing his armor, Beowulf was taking a huge chance with his life. He wasn't going into battle with a human; he was battling a monster that already devoured people prior to their fight. A scared king would be covered in the greatest of armor and have the best sword if he were to even fight a monster like Grendel. But, Beowulf, on the other hand, went into the battle with his bare hands. He relied on "his strength of limb" as he said in line 670.

For a monster of Grendel's capability, it's shocking to hear that for the first time he is thrown off by a single man, Beowulf. There hasn't been anyone prior to Beowulf that could "clamp or corner" Grendel, as stated in line 756. Normally, heroes stand out for being able to something so tremendous and for Beowulf to be the only one that can handle Grendel this way shows just how much of a hero he was. Beowulf was able to "accomplish something none could manage before" as Hrothgar stated in line 940. Being able to accomplish something that no one else can makes a person stand out in a positive way.