Journal 8 Beowulf and a small comparrison with Gilgamesh

I got so caught up writing my background paper I neglected reading for about a week and because of that I got very behind with reading Beowulf. Since we are watching the 13th warrior in class I got a chance to catch up with my reading this weekend and I’m glad I did. Finally, another story with a lot of action and fighting, egos, and all the other things I enjoy as a guy that have somewhat been left out since Gilgamesh. First we have a perfectly fine city that dreads the most gangsta evil villain they had ever seen. He came through the Danish people’s spot repeatedly slaying folks left and right. They say Grendel was made of barbwire and couldn’t be harmed by any weapon just to prove his evil authority. But of course the mighty, powerful, all-knowing Beowulf gets the word from thousands of miles away and comes to the rescue like a true hero should. Beowulf’s name lives on from his father which gives him the respect to walk right into Hrothgar’s mead-hall and handle business. What I like is how confident Beowulf was about killing Grendel when he came that night, there was no doubt in his mind that he wouldn’t have trouble with the demon or even that he would need to use armor while doing it. Beowulf being the hero he is killed Grendel and hung his arm in the mead-hall where they celebrated the victory for the city. I somewhat think that Beowulf is kind of cocky about his heroics, which isn’t a problem at all because the people still love him. He brags a lot and even reiterates how he would fight Grendel without any armor. He is the biggest and best thing that the Danish have going for them and he lets them know that. Comparably, Gilgamesh was also the best hero of his story and could boast for himself but he did it in a different way. He took charge and bullied the people in his story and didn’t care how they felt about it. They are alike in many ways; they both went on journeys to take on new competitors and make justice. At the same time they are very different, the difference between them is though Gilgamesh did a lot, he wasn’t always loved by his people. Not only do Beowulf’s people love him now Hrothgar and the other Dannish people love and appreciate him as well. Another difference is that Gilgamesh a partner to help him along his journeys, and his friend kind of stole the spot light. Enkidu came into Gilgamesh’s story for the purpose of the people so he was bound to steal the show anyway. Hopefully as I finish up the reading this story Beowulf won’t offend anyone or make a huge group of people hate him because he is a very likeable hero and I don’t want him to blow it like other heroes in past readings.