Beowulf: A Journey for Glory
Beowulf is a heroic narrative highlighting the deeds of a Scandinavian prince called Beowulf. He undertakes a journey in the search of glory. A journey full of heroic deeds with controlled emotions. His courage is demonstrated through the tales of accomplishment in battles. He is considered the greatest of all warriors. However, he lives a life of solitary without great consideration of family. Instead, he spends almost all his time with other soldiers. He desires to be famous and popular by creating his own legacy through heroic actions that bring praise to him (Chambers 343). In his single-minded quest for glory, Beowulf is reminiscent of a specific group of modern executives in that they place their careers above all other aspects of their lives as he placed his quest for glory above all other aspects of his life.
Quest for glory
The poem starts with a narration of how Grendel was attacking the Danes every time they had a feast and killing the soldiers. Beowulf hears of this and sails to Denmark vowing to kill the monster. In his quest for glory, Beowulf’s is not afraid to face Grendel, the mighty monster. He moves to Denmark to assist King Hrothgar to eradicate the monster alongside fourteen other hand-picked horsemen. The King resides and feasts at Heorot where Grendel ambushes and slaughters his men at night. Upon meeting King Hrothgar, Beowulf advices him to feast as usual in order to attract Grendel. In comparison to the modern executives, he risks his everything including his life and his men to fight the monster (Tague 12). He plucks the dragon’s arm making him leave the hall wounded. Courageously, he and his fellow men follow Grendel’s trail of blood that leads them to the lake which was his home. This is reminiscent of modern executives who are always ready to face potential risks in a bid to be successful and famous. Grendel dies and a great feast is held in honor of Beowulf and his men (Chambers 343). The Danes were happy and praise him for killing their threat. He has achieved the fame and glory he sought for.
Grendel's Mother and the Search for Glory
Grendel mother is angered and seeks to avenge the death of her son. Hrothgar informs Beowulf of this threat. In his quest for more glory, Beowulf follows Grendel’s mother to her residence in the lake. This illustrates that he places his life at even greater risk in the quest for fame. Despite Beowulf noticing that no weapon could help him win the battle against Grendel’s mother, he still continued to wrestle without his sword with the belief that “fame comes to the men who win it and care about nothing else” (Raffel 500-505). His life is saved by the woven mail shirt on his chest. Beowulf wins the battle after discovering the heavy massive sword hanging on the wall which he uses to strike Grendel’s mother with hence ending her life (Raffel 540-545). He proves the other soldiers wrong after emerging from the lake unharmed and carrying with him Grendel’s head and the ring-marked sword. Beowulf acquires his much-wanted glory and for the greats too. Like modern Executives, he does not give up and fights to the end and finally emerging victorious. Many young executives are in a hurry of being successful and hence stretching their limits (Symons 218)
A Last Battle for Glory
Upon returning home he becomes King and rules for the next fifty years. This is before his last battle for glory with a dragon. Like modern executives who disregard their health and age statuses to pursue success and fame, Beowulf dares to fight the dragon despite his old age. He says, “In endless battles. I am old now but I will fight again, seek fame still,” (Raffel 625-630). He dares to attack the dragon oblivious of its shooting flames and is willing to accept fate. He is boastful that no other man could face the dragon but claims that all the treasures and gold in the creature would be his if he does not die. This shows his lack of limits in the search for fame and treasures (Symons 221). The flames emitted by the dragon melts his sword but he still pursues with fate against him.
Solitary Life: The Cost of Glory
In his pursuit of greatness, Beowulf is not emotionally connected to his followers. This is evidenced when he idly watches his men get into the battle with Grendel which leads to most of them dying (Raffel 830-850). During his final battle with the Dragon, his followers and fellow warriors never offered any help to him apart from his cousin Wiglaf. They ran for their lives and hid in the woods having forsaken their King. In most of his life, Beowulf lives a life of solitude with most of his time devoted to leadership, battles and military search for glory. He even lacks friends among the soldiers to stand with him when almost losing the battle to the dragon apart from Higlaf. He does not have a wife nor children. He, therefore, lacks a next of kin and heir for the treasures he has been running after (Tague 15).
In his last words, he speaks in a bitter tone and in hate beholding the treasures he gained for having killed the dragon. He leaves the treasures to Wiglaf including his necklace, rings, helmet, and his mail shirt. He Regretfully laments, “you are the last of our far-flung family. Fate has swept our race away” (Raffel 835-840). He leaves his throne to Higlaf to lead his people. Similarly, Modern executives can be defined by this incident. Most of them neglect their families and never take time to develop their family and social life. At the very end, they achieve all the riches, treasures and success they followed but are filled with sorrow and regret having no close relatives to support them in their last breaths nor to be heirs of their success (Tague 22).
Military Life and the Pursuit of Glory
Beowulf’s military life is seen right from his journey to Denmark whereby he chose fourteen of the bravest men and led them to the Danish shore (Raffel 120). They were prepared with gleaming armor and were ready for whatever came their way. This can be likened to the readiness portrayed by the modern executives when tackling new challenges uncertain of the future but ready for whatever comes their way. Once at the shore, Beowulf and his companions are confronted by Hrothgar’s soldiers (Raffel 150-165). The lieutenant explains their role in keeping the shore free from pirates and invaders. He goes ahead to relay his astonishment in their landing on the shore without any sign nor password. He also commends their weapons saying that no commoner carries such weapons (Raffel 165-170).
Beowulf declares his will to help the Danes end their suffering forever. He honors Higlac in a military way and follows his orders. He explains to Hrothgar that he traveled all the way as a duty laid before him by his people to show the Danes his prowess. He quotes his earlier achievements of chasing great giants from the earth, hunting and killing monsters from the ocean. This illustrates a military mission of helping aggrieved communities from their anguish boasting that he will finish the monster with his bare hands. (Raffel 230-265). His fearless attack on the monster also proved a lot of courage portrayed in the military life. When tasked to kill Grendel’s mother, He places his Lord Higlac before himself. He says that if he died in the quest, his precious gifts which he briefly relished should be sent to him. This shows his loyalty to his Lord and his commitment to his career (Raffell 450-460). Beowulf also lived and carried out missions together with the other soldiers. Before his death, he mentions that death had taken away fellow warriors and acknowledged his solidarity to follow them as he died in the line of duty.
Comparison with a Specific Group of Modern Young Executives
Most modern and young Executives are in a great rush to gain riches, success, and fame. They are ready to use all they have to their own advantage. In comparison, after the confrontation with Hrothgar’s Lieutenant at the shore, Beowulf identifies the team as the greats. He says, “we are the greats, Men who follow Higlac,” (Raffel 170-175). He goes ahead to identify with his father, “ my father was a famous soldier, known far and wide as a leader of men. His name was Edgetho…” (Raffel 175-180). This portrays his confidence in himself as well as his companions, he also shows a lot of pride in relation to his father and sees his father as a gateway to his acceptance and success in his upcoming mission on the Danish soil. Similarly, Modern executives are ready to use anything and anyone provided it is of benefit to them (Symons 228). They sometimes rely on connections and relationships as a way of accessing opportunities. They seek to acquire success in the quickest way possible (Tague 19)
Additionally, just like the modern executives, Beowulf was timeless and tireless. He lacked time for his social life and for his family. Beowulf lived a detached life and just like today's young executives, he classified his career and search for glory above all other facets of life. He ended up facing a lonely death having neglected his opportunity to nurture a devoted relationship with any other person. In the same case, modern executives relentlessly pursue monetary success and fame at the cost of other social and family responsibilities which they alienate themselves from (Tague 31). Executives also consider company values more important than their personal values. Beowulf insists on facing the fiery dragon alone despite the fact that he would not only putting himself in jeopardy but also the emotions of others. However, he goes ahead to face it in consideration of his reputation. Likewise, the special group of executives in this context also takes no consideration of the emotions and future of the people relying on them or emotionally attached to them (Symons 229). This can be termed as selfish on their part.
Beowulf is celebrated and praised during his life and after his death. A monument is constructed in his honor. However, all the treasures he had to acquire during his battles is buried in the sand and is useless to the people. This is symbolic of the success and fame acquired by Modern Executives that ends up being useless to self and others too. Nevertheless, Beowulf acquired all the fame and glory he sought after in all the battles that he fought. He is accorded a lot of respect after his death. This is as a result of the commitment he had in his quest for the glory which was also advantageous to all the people but risked and placed aside all other aspects of his life (Chambers 344). Another comparison is the ability of the modern executives to mentor a person to take after them in their roles and ensure the continuity of their ideas, company, and achievements. For instance, Beowulf was able to mentor Higlaf to be the leader of the Greats (Tague 35).
Conclusion
Beowulf can be likened to the specific group of Modern young executives who place more priority on the success of their careers as opposed to all other aspects of their lives. This includes the forsaking of their social lives with friends and acquaintances. They also lack time for building and associating with their families such as Beowulf’s lack of a wife nor children and hence ends up noting to Higlaf that their family has been swept away by fate. Their achievement, however, cannot be ignored and in their memory, they suggest of physical things, monuments, companies and other artificial structures in their name. The poem illustrated success and failure as individual choices driven by character. Similarly, Modern young executives both lead a route of both success and failure with success being in pursuit of destiny and reputation at the expense of all other aspects of a human’s life. Beowulf displayed loyalty to his fellow warriors as well to his career, in the end, this is seen as communal neglect in the indulgence for personal fulfillment and satisfaction (Symons 237). His death is a mark of uncertainty for the community’s future which is the same case upon the death of the specific group of executives who leave their loved ones and community with uncertainties of the next step in life (Tague 39).
Works Cited
Chambers, R W. Beowulf; an introduction to the study of the poem with a discussion of the stories of Offa and Finn,. Whitefish: Kessinger Publishing, 2011. print.
Raffel, Burton. Prentice Hal Literature. Beowulf. Boston: Upper Saddle River, n.d. print.
Symons, Victoria. "Monsters and heroes in Beowulf." Discovering Literature: Medieval
(2018): 214-240. document.
Tague, Gregory F. "Modest Heroism: Beowulf and Competitive Altruism." Association for the study of Ethical behavior and evolutionary Biology in Literature
(2013): 2-45. document.
