Beowulf Essay

All cultures in recorded history have similar stories of the great hero usually more than a man but not quite a god that pursues an epic advantage. In comparison to the modern tales of heroism the ancient myths like Beowulf seem to still exemplify the themes of the society, desirable traits, and arduous challenges. Our times however differ in the way the characters have more dimensions, aren’t infallible, and quest are not as straight forward. A very dynamic character in contrast to Beowulf would be Anakin Skywalker.
Current fiction being written does not have the static one dimensional character of older times. Most characters were fairly unchanging either good or evil with few personal qualities. Like the dark faced soldiers in World War II propaganda the enemy was the enemy he had no soul or goodness whereas ours were the heroes unstoppable and pious. Most chronicles show a huge distinction between good and evil with few anti-heroes. Even when looking at fiction from the 1950’s and before there was this great divide and almost no one ever flipped sides or was seen borderline they fell into one category. In the prequels we see Anakin completely pure of heart yet he grows darker and wicked as he is exposed to the disguised Sith Lord and puppet master Palpatine.
The possibility of failure for our heroes makes them seem weaker but is necessary to the development of many plots. Being faced with seemingly unconquerable foes that even defeat the protagonist multiple times builds the suspense of the final battle. Older tales generally show the invincible warrior who cannot lose making the stories repetitive as the main character walks to another easy win. Not only on the battlefield but in their relationships characters lose friends and lovers due to their own mistakes. This is much more prevalent in today’s books that the character has a percentage of error caused by their own failure and not the ambiguous fate or gods. In Star Wars there is a large amount of mishaps on both sides in the whole saga. Anakin viewed his greatest in not saving his wife and allowing himself to blindly follow the Emperor. So by episode 6 he betrays his master and leaves the dark side to help Luke before he dies.
Choices for the main proponents have also shifted from the black and white to the vivid colors we experience now. In “Revenge of the Sith” for example Anakin has the route to becoming Darth Vader or killing the Sith Lord. The dark side offers him a chance to save his wife while the Jedi try to keep him on the right path but his mind is blurred by deception. If someone only saw the original trilogy they may think that everything is black and white. Why are Darth Vader and the Emperor evil? They always were and will be. However with the newer films we see a different perspective on how the characters evolved and shifted. Unless there is some prequel to some of these legends where they’re very different people then this was uncommon especially for the monomyth.
To sum it up the fables of the past were told and retold in the same way with static characters, no mistakes, and few hard decisions. Back then the heroes were always brave and willing to do the task at hand. Many characters possessed some form of divinity like demi god etc. that prevented them from bad judgment. And the most they needed to contemplate was simply should I take on this challenge or chicken out and lose all I’ve ever fought for. As humanity advanced so did our vantage point of heroes and desire for a complex series.