Hero

            What characteristics must one possess to be considered a hero? Is it the courage, the strength, and the knowledge that makes a hero? According to Joseph Campbell, " a hero or heroine who has found or done something beyond the normal range of achievement and experience. A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself" (Campbell 151). A typical hero is said to be someone who has the physique resembling someone strong, courageous and brave. A non-typical hero is one whose appearance contradict with one's strength and physical ability. Beowulf is a non-typical hero because of his appearance, his attitude, and his method of fighting.
             Beowulf's appearance creates a look of a typical, average person. " Beowulf was below average size, he looked taller sitting down than standing up, because his broad chest and shoulders were out of proportion to his legs, which were short" (Nye 22). Not only does he not look at all like a hero, he also has a disability. Beowulf's eyes aren't strong due to the stinging of his eye-lids by bees when he was young. Yet, this setback didn't stop him. He was said to be "the rare kind of person who makes strength of his own weakneses" (23). By doing so, " his real strength lay in the balance of his person-which is, perhaps, another way of saying that he was strong because he was good, and good because he had the strength to accept things in him that were bad" (24). .
             Beowulf's attitude accounts for his being a non-typical hero. He resorts to his physical strength to fight his battles, rather than using weapons. During the fight with Grendel, Beowulf was without a sword for he "left his sword stuck on the top of the mound" (27). Yet, his bare " mortal fingers were like ten red-hot nails driven into his skin. Grendel had never known strength like this" (40). When Beowulf fought against Grendel's mother, he was again without weapon and he carried only his strong hands.