Warfare was a common theme in Homer’s Illiad and the old English poem Beowulf. The war styles may have differed, however, in both pieces of literature there was a character who was portrayed as a war hero who achieves great feats. In some ways, Beowulf and Achilles are similar to one another. The reasons each character went to war or a battle are eerily similar. To a certain extent both Achilles and Beowulf went to war for their own glory and honor.
In the case with Achilles, his choice to go fight with the Greeks was solely based on his glory. Achilles did not care about the Greeks as he was not on the greatest terms with king Agamemnon. He would’ve let many Greeks die without intervening in the war, however his mother gave him a prophecy that made him change his mind. Achilles was faced with a challenge when the prophecy was told to him. His mother told him that he would have to choose between being glorious and having a short life or having a long life but not being glorious and not written about in history. The appeal of pride and fame was great enough to convince him to join the war for the Greeks. That says a lot about the character of Achilles and how Homer’s Illiad would be different if the character of Achilles did not want glory.
Achilles being dipped into the river making him immortal
Beowulf, like Achilles, went on a mission of his own. That mission was to kill Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon, for essentially his own glory. We are told that Hrothgar did not seek for his help but that he did it to simply save the people from the beast. We see this as being selfless but we can see that there may have been other motifs. The battle with the dragon may have been the clearest one to see that Beowulf was seeking glory. At that time, Beowulf was king and leaving his people without a king showed how badly he wanted that elusive glory. It may not have been as obvious as Achilles’ intention but Beowulf wanted the honor of doing such a heroic deed. Both characters show that in time of war they place their desire for pride and glory outweigh everything else.
Depiction of the fight between Beowulf and Grendel
All in all, both characters went into war for the incentive of glory and honor. They both knew that death was inevitable but still went into battles wanting the fame and pride that come with it. These epic pieces of literature can be compared and contrasted in many ways, but a main comparison is the need for a heroic character with superhuman features. These characters essentially have the story built around them
