What type of archetype is beowulf

In Beowulf himself the archetypal hero of literature is personified. He endures great hardship but is willing to sacrifice everything, even his life, for the greater good.

Beowulf also acts as an archetypal mentor to his men, guiding them and sharing his wisdom with them. During the character's quest, weather they were headed to the Lonely Mountains or to the Cracks of Doom, they always experienced a form of heroism. In the story The Hobbit, we see heroic deeds being accomplished by the main character Bilbo.

Both display great acts of heroism and they are both great stories to follow and enjoy. We see the characters develop throughout the works. We see the ways they handle tough situations, almost wriggling out of them by the skin of the teeth.

Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. Beowulf has multiple archetype that can be defined as figures, character types, settings, and story patterns that are universally shared by people across cultures. Three that stick out the most are character archetypes, symbolic archetypes, and situational archetypes. The reason these stick out the most to me is because Beowulf goes on an adventure driven by his desire to help.

Also Beowulf is the main hero of the novel and is constantly saving the day. Cause Beowulf is depicted as a hero it is easy to say that this show character archetypes.

Situational archetypes are situations that appear over and over in stories, literature and films. There are thirteen parts of Situational archetypes. The way the quest is seen in Beowulf is when Beowulf is heading on his journey he is determined to find glory in his heroic attempts. The task can be seen as the three different fights in Beowulf because it is tasks that he must do to achieve his desired glory.

The reason behind that is in many myths, its common for the hero in this case Beowulf must accomplish many …show more content… The Character archetypes in Beowulf can be seen over and over again through the three battles Beowulf fights in which can also represent good vs evil.

Symbolic archetypes represent Light Vs Evil. The Villain — Grendel, the main monster Beowulf is determined to kill, is the villain in this epic. Grendel was the first and by far the worst out of all the three. He found them sprawled in sleep, suspecting nothing, their dreams undisturbed. Although, no one else was brave enough to take on this task, Beowulf attempted and also achieved his duty of saving the Danes from the monsters that threatened them.

None of the wise ones regretting his going, much as he was loved by the Geats: the omens were good, and they urged the adventure on. So Beowulf chose the mightiest men he could find, the bravest and best of the Geats, fourteen in all, and led them down to their boat; he knew the sea, would point the prow straight to that distant Danish shore. What the hero must accomplish in order to bring fertility back to the wasteland, usually a search for some talisman, which will restore peace, order, and normalcy to a troubled land.

The nearly super human feat the hero must perform in order to accomplish his quest. The actual ceremonies the initiate experiences that will mark his right of passage into another state. Obviously, a battle between two primal forces. Either a physical or psychological wound that cannot be fully healed.

The hero is a protagonist who's life is a series of well marked adventures. The initiates are young heroes who are heroines who must go through some training and ceremony before undertaking their quest.

The mentor is an older, wiser teacher to his initiates. Test the heroes courage and worthiness to begin the journey.

In this relationship, the tension is built due to separation from childhood or some other source when the two meat as men. These are loyal companions willing to face hardship and or deal in order to stay together.

The retainers duty is to reflect the nobility and power of the hero. A worthy opponent with whom the hero must struggle in a fight to the end. Grendel Grendel's mom Dragon. A monster usually summoned from the deepest, darkest part of the human psyche to threaten the lives of the hero.

Grendel Grendel's mom. An animal, or more usually a human, whose death in a public ceremony expiates some taunt or sin of a community. The character banished from a social group for some real or imagined crime against his fellow man, usually destined to wander from place to place. Light uses suggests hope, renewal, or intellectual, illumination; darkness implies an unknown, ignorance, or despair.

Some characters exhibit wisdom and understanding of situations instinctively as oppose to those supposedly in charge. Fire represents knowledge, light, life, and rebirth, while ice, like the desert, represents ignorance, darkness, sterility, and death.

Gateway to a new world which a hero must enter to change and grow. A place of death or metaphorically an encounter with the dark side of the self. Places of safety contrast sharply against a dangerous wilderness.