Two Different Heroes

... Two Different Heroes: A contrast between the ideals in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf A hero must always possess certain qualities such as bravery and honor, but the nature of heroism can vary greatly. Although superficially, some heroic figures may seem to be very different, these differences are accounted for because of the differences between the societies they lived in. The characters Beowulf, from Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney, and Gawain, from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by Burton Raffel, the differences between Gawain's and Beowulf's heroism lie in the reasons for their bravery, the nature of their struggles, and their heroic codes, yet all of these differences can be explained in terms of their respective societies. In Beowulf, Beowulf makes a show of boasting his past deeds, as a form of self-advertisement. "...all knew of my awesome strength. / They had seen me bolstered in the

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