Are You A Hero?

What do you think of when you hear the word “hero”? Do you think of Superman, and Spiderman? Or do you think of firefighters and policemen? Everyone’s vision of a hero is different. Question 14 on the Beowulf Socratic Seminar asks “What does the poem teach about the qualities of a hero? Of a villain?” In Beowulf, a hero is someone who does great deeds for their people. Now, this sounds like our society, but when they say “great deeds” they don’t mean saving a cat from a tree or helping an old woman across the street. They mean battling a creature like Grendel, fighting a dragon, and swimming an ocean with just one arm. These are superhuman deeds that the writers and storytellers of Beowulf see as qualifications of a hero. And the heroes know it, too. They have no problem gloating about all their heroic deeds. If someone did that in today’s society, they would no longer be seen as a hero, but as egotistical. In today’s society, heroes can still be seen as the superheroes that we see in movies, but since they are fictional, there are many more qualifications for being a hero that are much more realistic. For example, firefighters and policemen are often seen as heroes. They risk their lives every day to ensure the safety of their people, just like Beowulf. But today, heroic deeds don’t have to be as intense like in the poem. Movies today are starting to make heroes out to be just like everyday people. This way, little kids are able to see them and think “I can be a hero too!” Personally, I don’t think heroes have to be policemen or firemen. I think anyone can be a hero. If someone does a good deed, that could make them a hero. To me, heroes are brave, humble, thoughtful, caring, and honestly just a good person.
Now villains. In Beowulf, the villains are the enemies. They are Grendel, Grendel’s mother, the dragon, basically anyone trying to hurt Beowulf or his people. Today, villains are still kind of seen in the same way. They are hurtful, evil, etc. Terrorists, murderers, and criminals are the villains of today’s world. I see villains in the same way; people who hurt others and try to ruin our society, like the terrorists on 9/11, the shooter at Sandy Hook, etc. Those people are the ones I, and most of society, see as villains.