Question

How does Emersons ideas align with Beowulf?

Answer 1

After reading about both Beowulf and what Emerson’s ideas of what a hero are, I believe thatEmerson would consider Beowulf to be a hero. This is because Beowulf has qualities thatEmerson considers heroic, such as having a warlie attitude towards e!ternal evils, beingconfident, not worr"ing about the difficult" or safet" of his tas, and being undaunted in his #ursuit of evil. Beowulf is shown to have a warlie attitude towards e!ternal evils because hesays he will defeat Grendel because he is an evil monster that is killing innocentpeople. His Condence is shown by him wanting to defeat the monster by its ownmeans. Beowulf is unfazed by the tales of the strength of Grendel and does not fearfor his own safety and only seeks to protect the people than Grendel hurts, thisshows that he does not worry about the diculty or safety of his tasks. !nd lastly,Beowulf is undaunted because even after hearing of the horrible things that Grendelhas done and seeing them rst"hand, Beowulf is still condent in his ability todefeat him.