Heroism

The author of Beowulf never leaves any question as to whether the title character is a hero. He is not only a hero, but also he is the archetypal hero embodying all of the necessary traits and displaying them in each of his actions while every other character in the story comes up short throwing his heroism into even higher relief.

Beowulf is not called by King Hrothgar to come and fight Grendel. He decides on his own out of both a sense responsibility to the sorrowing Danes and a desire for glory to travel across the Baltic and take on the monster. This is important because, no matter what material goods he wins from Hrothgar and no matter what allies he secures for his country subsequently his initial intentions are purely honorable.

At a very early point the author hangs a tag on Beowulf that will follow...