Beowulf & Luke

Both Luke Skywalker and Beowulf are true heroes. They both go through the Hero Cycle. They are very courageous men, and heroes because of all the tasks they accomplish. Luke destroys the Death Star and saves Princess Leia, and Beoqulf kills Grendel and his mother, and the dragon. Both Beowulf and Luke have spiritual guides that aren’t tangible. Even though Luke has Obi-Wan, he has the Force. Beowulf is guided by fate. A difference between them is their call to action. Beowulf hears about the terror that Grendel has been causing the Danes, so he immediately goes to save them. Luke, however, is asked by Obi-Wan to help the rebel cause. Luke isn’t ready and is unwiling, and he declines the offer. But when he goes home to find that his aunt and uncle have been killed by the Storm Troppers, he becomes a willing hero and joins the rebel cause. Another difference is the last step in the Hero Cycle, the “Master of Two Worlds.” Once Beowulf defeats Grendel and his mother, he becomes a master of Denmark, and once he returns home, he is a master of Denmark. Luke does not become a master of two worlds because his story has just begun. He has much more to do on his journey. Beowulf’s life ends at the end of the poem. He defeated the dragon and saved his people once again. He died as a Master of Two Worlds, but Luke hasn’t yet.

Wiglaf

To me, Wiglaf seems like the Beowulf of the next generation, even though he was not well known before this. He is very honorable and heroic just like Beowulf. While everyone who was there with Beowulf ran away, he was the only one to stay with his lord and help him. If it weren’t for him, the dragon may not have even been slain.
He was very loyal, and was the only one of Beowulf’s man to be a hero. When Beowulf died, Wiglaf became the new hero. Beowulf thinks about how he doesn’t even have a son to give his possession to. Wiglaf sits with him while he dies, and it is obvious that Wiglaf is going to take over Beowulf’s job as the protector. Wiglaf is much like the younger Beowulf from the beginning of the poem, like during his fight with Grendel. Beowulf’s last act is to give him his collar. Wiglaf is furious with all of the other soldiers that left their leader to die, and yells at them for it. They are both true heroes. However, Wiglaf has some values that Beowulf lacked. Beowulf was very confident and cocky the whole poem, and after his death Wiglaf talks about how Beowulf was too proud to bring a whole army against the dragon and to instead fight the monster practically by himself. He was thinking too much about when he was younger and defeated Grendel by himself. Wiglaf disapproves of his irresponsible reasoning and believes that it would have been better to think about the best strategy rather than just go in by yourself with only your pride.

Unferth

Unferth is a local-hero Dane that is jealous of the hero Beowulf. He brings up a swimming race that Beowulf had against a man named Breca. He talked about how Beowulf lost the simple match, and said that the same failure will occur against Grendel. Because everyone that has gone up against Grendel has been killed. Unferth does this because he is jealous of Beowulf and he wants to make him look bad and make himself look better. Beowulf responds calmly that Unferth is talking like a crazy drunk, and tells everyone about the real story. His story was that they both swam for five days, carrying swords just in case. Beowulf encountered sea monsters, and stopped to slay several of them to protect the sailors and other people. He talked about how Breca nor Unferth would be heroic enough to stop and kill the beasts. The story he tells makes him even more heroic. He had to protect everyone and he still finished. So, he is the better man. He makes fun of Unferth for not being heroic or man enough, because he has never tried to kill Grendel and allow him to wreak havoc on the mead-hall.