Macbeth Versus Beowulf: Comparative Analysis Of Two Characters (Essay Sample)

Name Instructor: Course Date Macbeth versus Beowulf The two classic books are good examples of English literature although written in two very different eras. Beowulf is one of the oldest pieces of literature in the British collection and is said to have been written in the 11th century ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "abstract" : "Discover 'Beowulf' on the British Library website", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "British Library", "given" : "", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "0" ] ] }, "publisher" : "The British Library", "title" : "Beowulf", "type" : "article-journal" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=f5e0e567-4599-36ae-9f60-673f660e450e" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(British Library)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(British Library)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(British Library)" }, "properties" : { }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(British Library). Macbeth, on the other hand, was written by English writer William Shakespeare in the 17th century ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "URL" : "/british/macbeth001.html", "accessed" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2018", "5", "17" ] ] }, "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "TheatreHistory", "given" : "", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "0" ] ] }, "title" : "Macbeth", "type" : "webpage" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=8cb24b1f-b2fe-3a67-853c-333ca20174b8" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(TheatreHistory)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(TheatreHistory)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(TheatreHistory)" }, "properties" : { }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(TheatreHistory). Although they are from different times the books have different similarities and differences in their stories. This paper aims to compare and contrast the different themes in the two books. COMPARISON AND CONTRAST In both Macbeth and Beowulf, heroism is an evident theme. Beowulf is portrayed as an epic hero while Macbeth is an awful hero. Both Beowulf and Macbeth are portrayed as heroic leaders who possess a lot of confidence and seem overconfident when they take up their enemies in a fight. In Beowulf, we see a confident hero fighting the dragon even without any weapon “I’d use no sword, no weapon if this beast could be killed without it crashed to death like Grendel …”, ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "ISBN" : "1473215420", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Gardner", "given" : "John C.", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "0" ] ] }, "number-of-pages" : "160", "title" : "Grendel", "type" : "book" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=191dc3d9-3ce2-3de8-b8ea-f53641fda97d" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Gardner)", "manualFormatting" : "(Gardner, 17)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Gardner)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Gardner)" }, "properties" : { }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Gardner, 17). In Macbeth, the same heroism and confidence are seen when talking to Young Siward and he says he is not fearless even though it is almost his last battle ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "ISBN" : "1775412121", "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Shakespeare", "given" : "William", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "2008" ] ] }, "number-of-pages" : "155", "publisher" : "Floating Press", "title" : "Macbeth", "type" : "book" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=f5f622f3-79b0-3712-ace1-2ccae9db64b2" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Shakespeare)", "manualFormatting" : "(Shakespeare, 155)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Shakespeare)", "previouslyFormattedCitation" : "(Shakespeare)" }, "properties" : { }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Shakespeare, 155). In Beowulf, heroism is evident when he declares he will fight Grendel and he fights him and defeats him and also hunts down Grendel’s mother and kills her too. Macbeth on the other hand when he becomes king is power hungry and survives by becoming king he becomes overconfident. There is a theme of monsters in both Macbeth and Beowulf. In Macbeth, the theme is clearly evident, for example, Macbeth kills Duncan against his better judgment. Lady Macbeth is also portrayed as a monster because she follows and pursues her goals and does some immoral acts to achieve them. She convinces and lures her husband into killing Duncan and urges him to be strong after the murder. In the play also ...