The Comparison of Characters in Reference to Beowulf Essays

The Comparison of Characters in Reference to Beowulf Essays The Comparison of Characters in Reference to Beowulf Paper The Comparison of Characters in Reference to Beowulf Paper However, I find this untrue, the characters In Beowulf are more dynamic and have greater moral value when compared and contrasted to characters In most modern day novels. When we think of the epic Beowulf the first thing that comes to mind Is the mall character of the story Beowulf himself. Throughout the story he Is by far the most dynamic character and we see more of his Inner self than anyone else In the story. We witness Beowulf develop from an upstart young man Into a wise, courteous, old king. For example, we observe this change mostly in the reason that he fights: when he was young Beowulf fought for himself, for self glory, at the end of the epic (in the fight with the dragon) we see that he fights for his people selflessly and without care for his own safety. In his younger days Beowulf fought Greened without weapons so that the fight would be on fair terms, but when we look upon Beowulf when he is older, he does not leave behind any advantage when he pits himself against the dragon, it is this unique change that tells us so much about how he feels about the dragon as apposed to how he felt of Greened when they did battle. In that battle Beowulf wanted to prove himself, so he did not use weapons so that the fight would be on even terms; conversely, in the battle with the dragon he was protecting his people so he used all his weapons and skills to defeat the beast, he wanted to ensure hat he would not lose at any cost. While looking for a modern day novel to contrast with Beowulf I found an enormous series of novels written by R. A. Salvatore, this series is called the Forgotten Realms series and has one main character throughout the entire series. This character is named Drizzle, and after reading many of these books I can give an honest opinion about the series. I found that in this series the main character hardly changes at all, one could say that the character is almost completely stoic throughout the entire series; not through Just one book, or chapter, but throughout the entire rise he barely develops psychologically as a character. I found that through this series Drizzle changes locations, wardrobe, weapons, and associates. However, I found that he does not change what he fights for or why he fights; some of the other characters In the books change, but none so dramatically so as to be compared to Beowulf. By observing the moral values In Beowulf society we find many saltcellars to our own set of values. However, there are also some not-so-salary values found In this work, such as the grandeur and quality of hospitality shown to Beowulf by Warthogs. This cultural value is one that we do not extend to everyone that comes to our home, unlike Harington we 00 not value now everyone reels tout us nor 00 we Tell obligated to treat everyone as guests. This deficit is Just one of the many things in todays society that has been degrading since the time of Beowulf and before. The simple facts are that we do not think that we can afford the same kind of hospitality and honor that Warthogs bestows upon his visitors. We do not have the time to thank someone that comes to help us with a problem, we need to get the problem fixed and et back to life. There are very few of us that seem to think akin to Warthogs. For example, if we are friendly to an electrician and help him in any way possible, maybe get him a drink or something, if we ever need his services again I would bet that his repairs are more prompt and his attitude is better than if we had been mean or indifferent to him the last time he had to come fix something. It makes me think that Warthogs has some common sense in acting this way to Beowulf; this is Just one example of the moral deficits we find when comparing Beowulf society to our own. All in all, when compared to the characters in modern novels I find that Beowulf is generally better in most aspects. He does not fall short when it comes to moral decisions, he takes everything in stride, and he is not lacking in the bravery department. His character is very dynamic and changes throughout the epic, not only that but his comrades change along with him, some for better and some for worse. I cannot help but admire this epic in all its glory, not only is it a great story with a good plot but it has survived for over a millennia and to this day never fails to entertain readers. How can I compare some novel that is not even thirty years old to this epic, I do not expect any modern novel to be as great as Beowulf or to attain such a level of fame and respect. If one was to ask me why, I would tell them to check with me in a thousand years and see if they could find their favorite novel from the present being studied in colleges across the world. Even then I doubt that it would be on par with Beowulf nor for that matter any other works written around that time. Overall the epic Beowulf has better character development than almost any modern book that I have had the pleasure, or displeasure, to read.