Beowulf: Interpreting Hubris in Heroics
Patrick Czyz
Many ancient and medieval epics recount tales of larger than life heroes and supernaturally terrifying monsters. The tale of Beowulf is no exception and also holds the distinction of being the first epic poem recorded in the English language. Regarding heroism, what commonly distinguishes heroes is their portrayal as selflessly and altruistically centered characters concerned with the wellbeing of others. After reading Beowulf and examining his character, one may conclude that he is less simple and more nuanced than a typical hero who conforms to these values expected by a modern audience. The unfolding of the narrative in this epic reveal Beowulf as more removed from the simple archetype of dedicated heroism and selfless service. Despite the praise and glory from people surrounding him, Beowulf’s heroic endeavor is, in fact, primarily motivated by his hubris as he handles every foe as a matter taken personally on his own account. Beowulf’s internal hubris is neither a moral flaw nor a deficiency, but rather the force that makes him the greatest warrior, capable of turning fright into a spectacle and dread into a game that he enjoys and ultimately wins.
The intentions of Beowulf reveal that he stages the fight with Grendel as a highly anticipated self-imposed quest rather than heroics. Likewise, even before Beowulf fights Grendel, he displays his efforts like a performer seeking a thrill rather than a concerned hero. From his perspective, he makes his debut appearance not as a savior, but as a man on a quest seeking glory or at least a challenge for himself. Upon hearing what Grendel has wrought on the Spear-Danes under Hrothgar, he makes his intention clear. He does this by going out of his way to cross the ocean to fight an enemy that has posed no threat to his home nor done him any wrong. Along the way, he even recounts a slew of sea monsters he slayed (Beowulf 53) and this intensifies the anticipation for the fight with Grendel because he culminates as the last foe worthy of his challenge. Furthermore, he even calls out Unferth, explaining that to him that “if you were truly as keen or courageous as you claim to be Grendel would have never got away with unchecked atrocity” (Beowulf 53). He even seconds this claim by boasting that “[Grendel] will find me different. I will show him how Geats shape to kill” (Beowulf 54). Beowulf is sure to use the verbiage of spectacle and stage; he will make a show of how he can finally put an end to Grendel while holding the Danes as his indebted audience. Like a performer, he intends to win glory while being a hero simultaneously. Beowulf says to King Hrothgar, “Now I mean to be a match for Grendel, settle the outcome in single combat” (Beowulf 50). Additionally, Beowulf even states aloud for all to hear that he will leave the outcome of their fight to fate, thus adding a showman’s dynamic: “And may the Divine Lord in His wisdom grant the glory of victory to whichever side He sees fit” (Beowulf 55). But regardless of how dashing his debut appears and due to the terror and fear Grendel has wrought for the past many years, the Danes are too weary to see Beowulf as a huntsman. They see him as the godsend they were waiting for all along and thus treat him accordingly. This is why he is deemed a hero as far as the Danes are concerned; he selflessly will defend them. Furthermore, the Danish sentinel on duty remarks to Beowulf upon his landing that “it was bravery, not banishment that brought you here” (Beowulf 48). Hrothgar even seconds him by promising a reward for the “formidable” (Beowulf 48) warrior: “for his heroism I will recompense him with a rich treasure” (Beowulf 48). Every one of the Danes interprets Beowulf’s intention to take on Grendel as heroic and brave and they even use this verbiage accordingly to describe him upon his immediate arrival. While this is true and perforce a result, Beowulf’s style and composure based on the preceding mannerisms and comments reveal that he pursues more than the honorific of hero. He voluntarily plunges himself brashly into a deadly game of chance and tests fate; he literally leaves his life to the unknown. While his reasoning is not made apparent to everyone else, readers can clearly note that despite Grendel’s distance to Beowulf, Beowulf intends to handle this affair personally measured against himself.
Just as hubris and confidence compel draw him to Grendel, they also result as the success behind his victory. Hubris portrayed by Beowulf is not a flaw because he will go on to fulfill his promises and boasts, meaning that his actions meet the expectation of his words. Furthermore, as an expert warrior and with an investigative sense, Beowulf is able to deduce that weapons cannot harm Grendel. He must therefore remove his armor and match strength with strength: “unarmed he shall face me if he dares” (Beowulf 55). In this light, he is also focused on the theatrics and dramatic effects: because without armor and weapons, he places his life in peril: almost unthinkable to the Danes. Fifty years later, he will remember this very moment as he recalls: “I risked my life often when I was young” (Beowulf 95). But at the very least, he makes it look like there is a challenge, but in reality, he knows exactly how to assay Grendel’s techniques: “So it won’t be a cutting edge I’ll wield to mow him down, easily as I might” (Beowulf 55). This pride and confidence bring out the best in him and channel his energy. He ultimately succeeds because his self-imposed challenge compels him fight in a caliber matched only by the likes of himself. An actual superman, “the mightiest on earth” (Beowulf 46), and the fight with Grendel further evinces Beowulf’s conviction in himself. He meant to be a match, and just as his boast indicated, he did not fight to save his life or even defend himself, but rather to prove with hand-to-hand combat in the face of Grendel and to himself that he is the warrior he says he is. He primarily does not fight for self-defense or even to eliminate a threat, but ultimately to prove to everyone that he is a hero worthy of the strength with which he was endowed. A sense of worthiness and pride in what he assures is founded in resolve to fulfill the boast; by removing his armor, Beowulf allowed himself to employ shear strength to forcefully tear Grendel’s arm off and ultimately defeat him (Beowulf 58). His boast thus coincided with the technicalities of bellicose choreography in exploiting Grendel’s weakness. Hubris could not have been a shortcoming because Beowulf handled it well and won the fight: all to validate his boast.
One may initially assume that Beowulf problematizes the proverb “pride goeth before the fall.” This becomes more apparent after the glory and praise showered on him after his victories over Grendel and his mother: “Nowhere...was there anyone better to raise a shield or rule a kingdom” (Beowulf 59). In light of his victories, Hrothgar imparts his wisdom on Beowulf before he departs for home and warns against the dangers of such pride: “O flower of warriors, beware of that trap...Do not give way to pride” (Beowulf 79). Truly the greatest of fighters and heroes worthy of immortal memory stands by a proud achievement, but surely cannot last forever. Hrothgar essentially cautions that the temporal prowess of victory cannot endure because he envisions only two possible ends in the future for when Beowulf reaches an advanced age like himself: old age or death in battle: “For a brief while your strength is in bloom but it fades quickly; and soon there will follow illness or sword to lay you low… or repellant age” (Beowulf 79). In other words, Hrothgar explains that pride will go before the fall and his hubris will catch up to him. But yet again, just as Beowulf can fulfill any boast, he will go on to do what is necessary to rightfully retain his hubris: the final fight with the dragon. Just as Hrothgar correctly warned, Beowulf will naturally die of old age if not in battle or sickness. So, when the dragon awakens, Beowulf was afforded one more chance (unseen by Hrothgar) to allow him to “pursue this fight for the glory of winning” and, quite boastfully, had he a choice, “rather not use a weapon” (Beowulf 95), thus trying to relive the glory from the fight with Grendel. As the dragon nears Beowulf, he urged his men to “remain here on the barrow, safe in your armor” (Beowulf 95) because “this fight is not yours, nor is it up to any man except me to measure his strength against the monster” (Beowulf 95). From his perspective, fighting is much more than attempting to neutralize a threat or to save his own life or even for the protection of his surroundings, although these are all secondary circumstances. Above all, he is primarily concerned with the fight as the determining factor of his success that yields only one of two options, glory or death. While his subjects are fleeing for their lives, Beowulf puts the responsibility solely on himself to “measure strength” and thus harkens back to the verbiage he once used with Grendel: “to make a match” against the beast. He relives his hubris, fifty years strong, and ultimately invalidates Hrothgar’s warning and any proverbs about pride, which is only moralizing and demeaning to a formidable warrior and king like Beowulf. While his hubris did lead to his death, it was the best possible result he could have wanted and victory to say the least. He won the treasure for his kingdom, died in battle against a dragon and secured Wiglaf as his heir and, above all, sacrificed his life for his people and his kingdom. Beowulf’s pride as a warrior precedes victory, not a fall. His death was honorable, proud and worthy of the greatest warrior to have slain three supernaturally monstrous villains.
Centuries later, the prominence of the superhero phenomenon has redrawn the code of heroics. Today’s heroes assume aliases to conceal their true identity and thus channel a life towards humility and piety. Most famously, Superman prefers a less conspicuous lifestyle and even takes on a day job as the journalist Clark Kent which only seems to afford his life modest realism instead of the recognition for heroism that he denies himself. Modern heroes are sure to shun away praise and glory that are well within their reach. Perhaps they follow this model of virtuous character to retain a low profile with caution and prudence. Harkening back to the classics, Beowulf’s style of heroics is anything from what popular culture expects. Brash and victorious, bold and medieval, his code is much simpler: “I shall win glory or die” (Beowulf 74).
Works Cited:
Anonymous. “Beowulf.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages, Volume A, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, W.W. Norton & Company, 2012, pgs. 41-108.
The intentions of Beowulf reveal that he stages the fight with Grendel as a highly anticipated self-imposed quest rather than heroics. Likewise, even before Beowulf fights Grendel, he displays his efforts like a performer seeking a thrill rather than a concerned hero. From his perspective, he makes his debut appearance not as a savior, but as a man on a quest seeking glory or at least a challenge for himself. Upon hearing what Grendel has wrought on the Spear-Danes under Hrothgar, he makes his intention clear. He does this by going out of his way to cross the ocean to fight an enemy that has posed no threat to his home nor done him any wrong. Along the way, he even recounts a slew of sea monsters he slayed (Beowulf 53) and this intensifies the anticipation for the fight with Grendel because he culminates as the last foe worthy of his challenge. Furthermore, he even calls out Unferth, explaining that to him that “if you were truly as keen or courageous as you claim to be Grendel would have never got away with unchecked atrocity” (Beowulf 53). He even seconds this claim by boasting that “[Grendel] will find me different. I will show him how Geats shape to kill” (Beowulf 54). Beowulf is sure to use the verbiage of spectacle and stage; he will make a show of how he can finally put an end to Grendel while holding the Danes as his indebted audience. Like a performer, he intends to win glory while being a hero simultaneously. Beowulf says to King Hrothgar, “Now I mean to be a match for Grendel, settle the outcome in single combat” (Beowulf 50). Additionally, Beowulf even states aloud for all to hear that he will leave the outcome of their fight to fate, thus adding a showman’s dynamic: “And may the Divine Lord in His wisdom grant the glory of victory to whichever side He sees fit” (Beowulf 55). But regardless of how dashing his debut appears and due to the terror and fear Grendel has wrought for the past many years, the Danes are too weary to see Beowulf as a huntsman. They see him as the godsend they were waiting for all along and thus treat him accordingly. This is why he is deemed a hero as far as the Danes are concerned; he selflessly will defend them. Furthermore, the Danish sentinel on duty remarks to Beowulf upon his landing that “it was bravery, not banishment that brought you here” (Beowulf 48). Hrothgar even seconds him by promising a reward for the “formidable” (Beowulf 48) warrior: “for his heroism I will recompense him with a rich treasure” (Beowulf 48). Every one of the Danes interprets Beowulf’s intention to take on Grendel as heroic and brave and they even use this verbiage accordingly to describe him upon his immediate arrival. While this is true and perforce a result, Beowulf’s style and composure based on the preceding mannerisms and comments reveal that he pursues more than the honorific of hero. He voluntarily plunges himself brashly into a deadly game of chance and tests fate; he literally leaves his life to the unknown. While his reasoning is not made apparent to everyone else, readers can clearly note that despite Grendel’s distance to Beowulf, Beowulf intends to handle this affair personally measured against himself.
Just as hubris and confidence compel draw him to Grendel, they also result as the success behind his victory. Hubris portrayed by Beowulf is not a flaw because he will go on to fulfill his promises and boasts, meaning that his actions meet the expectation of his words. Furthermore, as an expert warrior and with an investigative sense, Beowulf is able to deduce that weapons cannot harm Grendel. He must therefore remove his armor and match strength with strength: “unarmed he shall face me if he dares” (Beowulf 55). In this light, he is also focused on the theatrics and dramatic effects: because without armor and weapons, he places his life in peril: almost unthinkable to the Danes. Fifty years later, he will remember this very moment as he recalls: “I risked my life often when I was young” (Beowulf 95). But at the very least, he makes it look like there is a challenge, but in reality, he knows exactly how to assay Grendel’s techniques: “So it won’t be a cutting edge I’ll wield to mow him down, easily as I might” (Beowulf 55). This pride and confidence bring out the best in him and channel his energy. He ultimately succeeds because his self-imposed challenge compels him fight in a caliber matched only by the likes of himself. An actual superman, “the mightiest on earth” (Beowulf 46), and the fight with Grendel further evinces Beowulf’s conviction in himself. He meant to be a match, and just as his boast indicated, he did not fight to save his life or even defend himself, but rather to prove with hand-to-hand combat in the face of Grendel and to himself that he is the warrior he says he is. He primarily does not fight for self-defense or even to eliminate a threat, but ultimately to prove to everyone that he is a hero worthy of the strength with which he was endowed. A sense of worthiness and pride in what he assures is founded in resolve to fulfill the boast; by removing his armor, Beowulf allowed himself to employ shear strength to forcefully tear Grendel’s arm off and ultimately defeat him (Beowulf 58). His boast thus coincided with the technicalities of bellicose choreography in exploiting Grendel’s weakness. Hubris could not have been a shortcoming because Beowulf handled it well and won the fight: all to validate his boast.
One may initially assume that Beowulf problematizes the proverb “pride goeth before the fall.” This becomes more apparent after the glory and praise showered on him after his victories over Grendel and his mother: “Nowhere...was there anyone better to raise a shield or rule a kingdom” (Beowulf 59). In light of his victories, Hrothgar imparts his wisdom on Beowulf before he departs for home and warns against the dangers of such pride: “O flower of warriors, beware of that trap...Do not give way to pride” (Beowulf 79). Truly the greatest of fighters and heroes worthy of immortal memory stands by a proud achievement, but surely cannot last forever. Hrothgar essentially cautions that the temporal prowess of victory cannot endure because he envisions only two possible ends in the future for when Beowulf reaches an advanced age like himself: old age or death in battle: “For a brief while your strength is in bloom but it fades quickly; and soon there will follow illness or sword to lay you low… or repellant age” (Beowulf 79). In other words, Hrothgar explains that pride will go before the fall and his hubris will catch up to him. But yet again, just as Beowulf can fulfill any boast, he will go on to do what is necessary to rightfully retain his hubris: the final fight with the dragon. Just as Hrothgar correctly warned, Beowulf will naturally die of old age if not in battle or sickness. So, when the dragon awakens, Beowulf was afforded one more chance (unseen by Hrothgar) to allow him to “pursue this fight for the glory of winning” and, quite boastfully, had he a choice, “rather not use a weapon” (Beowulf 95), thus trying to relive the glory from the fight with Grendel. As the dragon nears Beowulf, he urged his men to “remain here on the barrow, safe in your armor” (Beowulf 95) because “this fight is not yours, nor is it up to any man except me to measure his strength against the monster” (Beowulf 95). From his perspective, fighting is much more than attempting to neutralize a threat or to save his own life or even for the protection of his surroundings, although these are all secondary circumstances. Above all, he is primarily concerned with the fight as the determining factor of his success that yields only one of two options, glory or death. While his subjects are fleeing for their lives, Beowulf puts the responsibility solely on himself to “measure strength” and thus harkens back to the verbiage he once used with Grendel: “to make a match” against the beast. He relives his hubris, fifty years strong, and ultimately invalidates Hrothgar’s warning and any proverbs about pride, which is only moralizing and demeaning to a formidable warrior and king like Beowulf. While his hubris did lead to his death, it was the best possible result he could have wanted and victory to say the least. He won the treasure for his kingdom, died in battle against a dragon and secured Wiglaf as his heir and, above all, sacrificed his life for his people and his kingdom. Beowulf’s pride as a warrior precedes victory, not a fall. His death was honorable, proud and worthy of the greatest warrior to have slain three supernaturally monstrous villains.
Centuries later, the prominence of the superhero phenomenon has redrawn the code of heroics. Today’s heroes assume aliases to conceal their true identity and thus channel a life towards humility and piety. Most famously, Superman prefers a less conspicuous lifestyle and even takes on a day job as the journalist Clark Kent which only seems to afford his life modest realism instead of the recognition for heroism that he denies himself. Modern heroes are sure to shun away praise and glory that are well within their reach. Perhaps they follow this model of virtuous character to retain a low profile with caution and prudence. Harkening back to the classics, Beowulf’s style of heroics is anything from what popular culture expects. Brash and victorious, bold and medieval, his code is much simpler: “I shall win glory or die” (Beowulf 74).
Works Cited:
Anonymous. “Beowulf.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages, Volume A, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, W.W. Norton & Company, 2012, pgs. 41-108.
Patrick Czyz is pursuing a Baccalaureate of English.
This piece was selected by Professor Sharon Emmerichs.
This piece was selected by Professor Sharon Emmerichs.