Essay Question: Explain why Beowulf is a hero of Anglo-Saxon society.
[There is a big underlined "C" in the upper margin of the paper]
Fame. Success. Heroism. We all look for these in our small lives. We try to make out existence as meaningful as possible, maybe earnestly, maybe not, but enough so that when we die, we leave our own hole in the Universe, cut out in out own unique shape. We want people to not only realize that we're gone, but to remember us when we are. The two main characters in the epic Beowulf are no different. Hero or monster, they're both prime examples of humans, just trying to live the Anglo-Saxon dream of fame, "the only thing that lasted", the medium in which the ["the" is circled for some reason] Beowulf and Grendel shaped holes would be cut into and fitted on the great canvas of the Universe.[Comment here: Good!]
Many read this epic poem and automatically label Beowulf as the righteous hero, the defender of good and Grendel as the blood-thirsty fiend, an evil monster; but they don't even believe in their causes, they're merely filling their roles in the "classic battle" of good vs. evil. If you["you" is circled for some reason..she NEVER said we couldn't use 2nd person pronouns, nor did she specify that this was indeed a communistic formal paper] take the time to look deeper, you can see that Beowulf is no different in his actions than Grendel. [comment here: Untrue.] [Author's note: My opinion can be classified as neither true not untrue, thank you very much, you evil Lit teacher from hell!!]
[New page begins. In the upper left margin, she comments: You were to write about the beliefs of the Anglo-Saxons, not about your beliefs.] [Author's note: I should have just copied the damn comments in our Lit books, to make sure none of MY opinions wre accidentally mixed into MY paper. I'm really quite sorry that she doesn't have the decency to respect my thoughts and feelings, and yes, opinions about this book. I forgot that we aren't supposed to think for ourselves, we should leave that up to our computers, or at least to the SOL test makers. Why doesn't she just read the Lit book if she wants the opinions of the stinky Anglo-Saxons!?! Why ask me to waste an hour writing this, if I can't even have a say as to what I'm gonna write about!! *mocking voice* Now remember, children, I'm going to tell you your opinions..then you write a nice little essay, and since they'll all be exactly the same (Consistancy is the hobgoblin of small minds--Emerson), I can only grade a few, give the rest B's, and still be able to do other things at night besides grade papers, since I'm a lazy teacher, whose incompetancy is the very reason SOL's are needed!!]
Evil, power-hungry figures are always the first to be remembered as the tides of history ebb and flow. Grendel, in his murderous pillages, was only reaching for this kind of anti-hero fame that history whould prove to be the everlasting kind.
[Comments in the left border of the following paragraph: Anglo-Saxon traits? Admired by the A-S society, not necessarily by ours!] [Author's note: No damn comment..I'm tired of her snide remarks already. She obviously has a real problem with civil disobedience..]
Good, brave, fighter-for-justice Beowulf decides that his claim to fame is to be the big hero, claiming to avenge the innocent deaths caused by Grendel. Yet, even though he kills Grendel, the supposed bane of all good, Beowulf is no better than him. ["him" is corrected as "he"..like grammar and syntax is soo important in life..(Death is no parenthesis--e.e. cummings)] He did not kill Grendel in unselfishness; the monster was just a stepping stone towards lasting fame.
Grendel and Beowulf were two halves of the same whole. They both saw fame as the one way to real eternal life, and fought each other in the end for this exact reason, on the battle field of good and evil. But only one could succeed, and not becausegood always conquers evil; because of luck or the "market", or just fate, but not because good prevails.
Some people call Beowulf a hero, but he only got there by focusing greedy eyes and power hungry hands oh fame. In that sense, is powerful Bill Gates also a hero, just because he is deemed "successful"? I think that the true heroes are those who fight against the fame-thirsty Beowulves of the world.
[Closing comments: It seems as though you are taking part in a debate. The assignment was simply to explain why Beowulf is a classic example of an epic. In doing so, you must cite the heroic deeds of Beowulf.. You missed the point entirely.]
[Author's closing note: How can I write an essay based on a completely unintelligent question, when I don't agree with the facts already supposedly established by you, the teacher? In order to answer this question, I must first believe that Beowulf IS a true hero, then I would proceed in gathering evidence to support this conclusion. But since I do not agree with the facts already thrown on me with the poorly worded question, I am forced to not answer the question as was wished, and instead prove exactly how and why I disagree with it in the first place. If an essay statement was thus, "Explain why Adolf Hitler is the classic example of a hero," how could I write an essay explaining why he is a hero, and have it based on any sort of evidence at all, when I don't believe that he is a hero, and therefore must have found some inconsistences in the evidence as it is? Then, if I were to answer that question, or the one about Beowulf, I would be lying throughout the whole thing, since I wouldn't actually believe in what I would be writing about. Now, I have lied in my lifetime, as has everyone, but to be forced to lie through my honest teeth simply to get an A on some idiotic paper, wears my morals a wee bit too thin. Even I won't betray my morals, my honesty and my integrity for a moronic A. As if the letter A can accurately describe all there is to myself, or any paper which unravels from my mind. I am proud of my paper, and therefore must be proud of any grade it recieves. And so, no matter how this stupid grade disrupts my goal of an overall A in British Lit class, having this C paper hanging on my fridge is certainly good enough for me. I mean, my favorite essays, such as the ones by Emerson, were certainly not A papers either, simply because they went against the status quo, and by the gods, we can't have that!! So, yeah, next essay, which will be on Wuthering Heights, I still am not going to give in to the corruptness that is my 1st block Lit class, and yeah, I'll get another C more or less, but damnit, I'll have a piece of mind, that I refused to give in...of course my mind will rest even easier while plotting my revenge on my Lit teacher too...*evil grin*]
Thanks for bearing with me there!! Please email me and let me know your thoughts, if you haven't been so brain-washed that any thoughts you have are copyrighted and such...
Go directly home, do not pass Go, do not collect 200 dollars..
