Different cultures have different ways of defining what they consider heroic. For example, in the 2016 campaign for the Democratic nomination for President in the United States, one candidate who has emerged as a hero for the Left is Bernie Sanders. His followers tend to praise his refusal to accept donations from corporations or to have anyone set up one of the gargantuan political action committees (called SuperPACs) that raise millions of dollars in money. They also tend to praise the fact that he has not changed many of his positions on matters of social justice, in an era when many politicians tend to change their “deeply held” beliefs with the latest polling results. They also praise his advocacy of the everyday person as opposed to the power structure in Washington. This progressive element of the hero in American politics is not new; it was what drove Theodore Roosevelt to the height of popularity around the dawn of the twentieth century. In Anglo-Saxon culture, the progressive impulse had not yet developed, and in their literature, heroes were warriors. In order to be a hero in one of their stories, it was necessary to be smart, brave and strong, willing to take on any foe at any odds and make the ultimate sacrifice, if necessary, for their people and earn everlasting glory. Beowulf represented the iconic hero from the point of view of Anglo-Saxon mores.
If you want to be taken seriously as a hero in Anglo-Saxon lore, you have to look the part – and you have to be strong. Sure enough, the epic tells us that Beowulf, using just one arm, had the strength of thirty entire men. When Beowulf first sets foot in the territory of the Danes, the sentinel reports, “I have never seen a mightier warrior on earth than is one of you, a man in battle dress” (Beowulf).
While strength is important, of course, it is not enough by itself; the story also indicates that each hero has to have bravery. When Beowulf is arguing with Unferth, he notes that destiny will often rescue “an undoomed man when his courage is good” (Beowulf). The purpose of this is to show that bravery is not only necessary but is sometimes enough to counteract a lack of strength. In Anglo-Saxon lore, the belief was that one could not change one’s fate. However, when one has enough courage, things seem to change. So when Beowulf encounters the apparently unbeatable Grendel, which even with full arms would have been a real feat, he does so without his sword, showing that his courage was even greater. Beowulf expands on this in this message to the thanes who have gathered in Hrothgar’s mead hall: “I resolvedthat I shouldfulfill the will of your people or else fall in slaughter, fast in the foe’s grasp. I shall achieve a deed of manly courage or else have lived to see in this mead hall my ending day” (Beowulf). These words indicate the considerable bravery at work within the warrior, showing the correct attitude that an Anglo-Saxon hero must have. The only way to show courage is through what one does, even if those actions lead to one’s demise. A willingness to die for glory is essential to the Anglo-Saxon hero.
With courage and strength, though, one must have the tempering quality of humility. After Beowulf carries the day against Grendel, and then Grendel’s mother, the Danes praise him and even offer him their land’s crown. However, he not only turns down the Danish throne, but he goes home to Hygelac and gives the treasure that he has earned through his conquests away. As the epic winds down, the narrator refers to Beowulf as the “mildest of men and the gentlest, kindest to his people” (Beowulf) – an early Clark Kent, if you will.
In summary, the hero in the Anglo-Saxon tradition had to combine the three traits of strength, bravery and humility. Without strength, a brave and humble would fail at his first trial and fail to build glory for himself. Without bravery, even the strongest warrior might refuse to take on battles, as his humility would conquer the rest of his personality. Without humility, the warrior would become arrogant and cruel, without any regard for the well-being of those around him. This is why the three characteristics, taken together, are so vital for the definition of a hero in the Anglo-Saxon tradition. While the telling of tales has become much more sophisticated in the centuries since the writing of Beowulf, the lessons of heroism remain largely the same. We want to see bravery in our leaders; we want to see strength. However, that strength has gone from needing to be physical to existential, as a character who is willing to persist through adversity has a strength that seems to transcend the ability to pick up a monster and throw him across a mead-hall. Without humility, though, it means nothing to us, because above all we want to see compassion, we want to see that the leader knows just how heroic we consider him to be – and can see through our vision.
Works Cited
Beowulf. Poetry Foundation. 2015. Web. 1 February 2016.
