Wednesday, September 11, 2013
The Difference Between a King and a Warrior
Today's discussion was great! I really enjoyed discussing the topic..pride. Also, I liked discussing how Beowulf was a very prideful character. However, what really caught my attention was talking about the difference between a warrior and a king. I found out that a warrior is basically a follower compared to a king who is a leader. The warrior usually obeys the king's demands, but Beowulf did not follow the demands of Hrothgar. Beowulf had a lot of pride (well, too much pride) and decided to kill Grendel on his own terms. He did not listen to Hrothgar's speech about pride hence the reason why he went on to fight the dragon (again, too much pride)! In addition, my group noticed that most of the warriors in Beowulf were not named. However, the kings were named. This shows the authority level between kings and warriors. Death also plays a major role between a king and a warrior. The death of a king is far more important than the death of a warrior; any warrior can die and they would be replaced with another one. On the other hand, when Beowulf became king his death was very tragic. When the geats found out Beowulf was dead, you would have thought the world was coming to an end! I feel as though if Beowulf would have decreased his pride just a little and realized he needed backup to fight the dragon...he could have lived...just MAYBE!
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I think it's also worth noting the possibility that the warriors were not named not only because of that, but because they acted disgracefully in their own right. Wiglaf is the only one in Beowulf's entourage that's named, and that's only because he acted honorably when his liege was being beaten up by the dragon.
ReplyDeleteAny warrior can die and be replaced with another, but it's those who go beyond the call of duty who end up being remembered.
Oh wow! I never noticed that! Thanks for pointing that out to me!! :)
DeleteI think this is interesting because when I read this in high school, and after reading it in this class, the conclusion that being prideful was not necessarily a tragic flaw. In fact, being prideful actually seemed like a staple of a successful warrior/man. However, I've never seen anyone point out that if Beowulf gave up just a bit of his pride, then maybe he would've lived (not that I haven't thought about it myself). Good job!
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