Comparing Beowulf and Odysseus

This is another short piece that I wrote for my literature class. It compares Beowulf as a hero to Odysseus.

Both Beowulf and Odysseus are good at fighting and have exceptional strength and skill. Beowulf’s primary characteristics are courage, bravery, and pride. Odysseus’s primary characteristics are craftiness, patience and trusting, and “godlikeness.” They are both kings., but Beowulf is first a warrior and then a king. Odysseus is a king who is also a warrior.

Beowulf is loved and trusted by his men, but ends up being abandoned by them in his time of need. He dies to save them and his nation. Odysseus goes through much with his men, but he ends up being the only one to make it home. This is partly because of their own foolishness (opening the bag of winds, eating the cattle of Helios), and partly from dangers that they could not avoid (i.e. the monster that grabs the men off the boat and eats them). 

That scene with Skylla stood out to me in stark contrast to Beowulf. Odysseus did not tell his men about Skylla because he did not want to frighten them, and he saved himself while six of his warriors were killed (to his great sorrow). Compare this to Beowulf, who dives down into the water alone to meet Grendel’s mother, or who faces the dragon alone, sacrificing his life for the men. If Beowulf had been on the ship when Skylla attacked, I think he would have attacked the monster himself, and fought his hardest, even if he did not think there was hope of winning. If Odysseus had done this, though, he would have left his people without a king, as Beowulf did when he fought the dragon.

Which is better? I do not know. My mind sees the wisdom of Odysseus’s patience and foresight, but my heart is with Beowulf. 


Popular posts from this blog

The Franks - History Summary

Clovis gradually rose to power by conquering other small kings of the Franks. The land ruled by the Merovingian dynasty grew until it encroached on Rome. However, the kings gradually lost power to their noblemen. The nobles would make agreements to peasants to protect them, and the peasants would serve the nobles. The kings began granting more and more immunity to the nobles, which meant that they and their law was immune from interference from the king. Finally, the kings had lost almost all their power, and even the royal land was disappearing. Another important event that happened at this time was the Musselman invasion. Because of the Muslims, the focus of Europe was turned north, breaking the continuity between Western Europe and the East. Trade on the shores of the western Mediterranean was becoming non-existent.
Read more

Women in the Church

June 2, 2023 A friend and I were talking recently about women’s ordination. Should women ever be ordained to serve in the church? Is it ever okay for a woman to serve the church in a formalized way? She had been reading in the doctrinal statement of a denomination where they did not allow women’s ordination, and their justification was male headship in marriage. She mostly agreed with the statement, but not with the reasoning. I wanted to take a little time to look at what the Scriptures say about women in the church. Women should remain silent in the churches. Paul gives specific instruction in 1 Cor. 14 about what it should look like when believers come together: “ What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done so that the church may be built up. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. ...
Read more

Gregory the Great - History Summary

When Pope Gregory the Great came to power in 590 AD, the Roman Empire in the West had almost completely deteriorated. Gregory used his organizational skills to consolidate many things from the Roman empire into the church, bringing stability. As a spiritual leader, he differed from the earlier church fathers. His writings and teachings centered on eternity, heaven, and the torment of hell. The author says that this laid a foundation for the philosophy of medieval times. It also made the church important as the agent of salvation by which all people could be rescued from this terrible and fearful fate. Gregory also consolidated the monks and made them a part of the church. Both his practical side and his mystic side worked together toward his greatest scheme — the Christianization of England. After a long and careful planning stage, the missionaries set out. It was not long before England itself was sending missionaries to colonize Germany. It’s fascinating to me how quickly England was...
Read more