Antonio Santos
Dr. Murphy
ENGL 2322 101
3 December 2012
Changing Roles of a Hero During the course of English literature history, the morals and ways of life in the literary works have changed. . Early English writings tell stories about heroes and their morals which was the warrior code. The warrior codes were a set of rules or customs that old pagan warriors would follow. In contrast to later works, chivalric. In this analysis, the stories that are going to be discussed are Beowulf and Shakespeare's Hamlet. Beowulf is an epic about a hero, Beowulf, that goes to Denmark to help the king with a monster that was terrorizing the kingdom. The tragedy, Hamlet, is about a prince who has to take upon himself whether or not to avenge his father's death. The themes between these two texts have similarities, but differ in other aspects, as well do the duties and personalities of the main characters. For example, Beowulf is much more impulsive than Hamlet when it…show more content… The differences in their personal and moral views illustrates the changes of themes and the roles of a hero that occurred through the passing of time in English literature. The principles that was once followed by the warriors of Old English have changed overtime by the reformation of the Christian religion. Beowulf would go into combat, without thinking, to fight for honor. Whereas Hamlet would think about the morality of the deed and ponder the consequences. Despite the dissimilarity, both of the characters portray heroism. Beowulf defended the kingdom from the monsters that attacked, and prevailed keeping intact his honor as well as the honor of the king of the land. Hamlet, though tragically having his life taken, successfully restored his father's honor by killing his uncle, Claudius. The two protagonists sought to finish a task and achieved their goal while maintaining their moral views
