Good and Heroic Code in Beowulf
Fantasy is a primary genre in literature, however there would be no fantasy had it not stemmed from the oldest poem known of, this poem is Beowulf. Beowulf has been used as a stencil for not only the fantasy genre but other themes prevalent throughout the poem as well. In the epic poem Beowulf, the two major themes that are presented in the poem are the theme of good defeating evil and the theme of the heroic code, which are relevant today in society's literature.
There are many genres in literature present in today's society, which all stem from their own ideas. For the genre fantasy, Beowulf was this “idea”. The poem Beowulf has influenced many of society's literature. Stories nowadays mirror certain aspects presented from the poem. For instance the idea of monstrous villains and creatures that were not human was introduced by Beowulf , now it is common for many villains in movies or books to be scary and abnormal physically. The villains is not the only character that is similar in today's fantasy literature, in Beowulf the characters introduced and that are used today are the hero, loyal sidekick, the villain, the mentor, these character types can be easily identified in popular fantasy books such as Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings. Another similar aspect is within the plot, many plots have a hero following a specific quest, Beowulf’s was to defeat the monstrous villains that caused harm. Characters in today's literature often are following their own designated quests.
The Heroic code is one of the main themes that is presented in the epic poem Beowulf . Throughout the poem the heroic code showed to be important to each “good” character, many characters in the poem lived by the heroic code. The quote, “A warrior will sooner die than live a life of shame” (Heaney 2890-2891), proves how the heroes thought it would be more honorable to die in battle rather than run from a battle, this shows how important it was to follow this code. The heroic trait more relative in today's literature mirror that of the theme of the heroic code. In order to be considered a hero that person must follow the heroic code, which included bravery, loyalty, and generosity. In the poem Beowulf this was expected of the kings and warriors. During the Anglo Saxon time, which Beowulf takes place in, “the kings ruled them had courage and greatness” (Heaney 1-3). In today's literature the heroic code is shown more rather than explained, characters that are perceived to be heroic or the “good” guy follow the heroic code and are driven by that mentality. The idea that the hero is all “good” and that the villain is all “bad” is driven by the idea of the heroic code.
The theme in Beowulf that is the most relevant in literature in today’s society is the concept that good will always triumph evil. In Beowulf this is shown through Beowulf defeating both Grendel and his mother, both who slaughter innocent people. Beowulf had, “wrested the hilt for the enemy's hand, avenged the evil done to the Danes; it is what was due” (Heaney 1668-1670). Later this is also shown in Beowulf’s final battle against the dragon, because even though Beowulf was old and weaker than his younger self he was still able to conquer the dragon. This proves that good will always defeat evil no matter the obstacles. However, “after many trials he was destined to face the end of his days in this mortal world, as was the dragon, for all his long leasehold on the treasure” (Heaney 2341-2344). This theme is prevalent in the majority of the endings in film, novels, etc, in today's society. It is seen as a “normal” ending, whereas if the evil conquered the good that would not be this because it was common for the good guys to win.
The epic poem Beowulf established the majority of the key aspects of fantasy literature, Beowulf’s most prevalent themes have been passed down and renewed by artists all around. Not only was the fantasy genre introduced by Beowulf, the themes of good defeats evil and the heroic code that are present in the poem have been recycled in today's society and used to further the plot in many pieces of literature.
