Beowulf vs Harry
Potter
Beowulf is the
archetype of the dragon slayer, the hero that faces death to save a threatened
community, and as the martyr, he has something in common with the fictional protagonist
of the famous children’s novels Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. Both Beowulf and
Harry are martyrs, though they view their responsibilities differently. They
grew up in entirely different worlds, and their reason for becoming martyrs are
different, as well as the outcome of their stories, but they both slay their
respective dragons and save their communities.
In the epic Beowulf,
Beowulf is a Scandinavian hero that comes to help the king of Danes defend his
mead-hall from the hell-thane Grendel. Beowulf slays him, then Grendel’s mother
attacks, trying to get revenge, but is also defeated. Beowulf returns home
victorious and becomes King of Geats, but, fifty years later, Beowulf defeats a
dragon and is fatally wounded. Beowulf faces death multiple times and finally
dies in battle, facing a threat to his community. Beowulf is proud of his duty
and responsibility as hero and as king and gladly goes into battle for his
people. Beowulf is proud because he has grown up in a society where heroes are
exalted and people believe in concepts like lof, so he has no problem with
dying in battle as he thinks he should. He dies protecting his people and is
buried in a grand fashion, and his story is told forever more, just as he
wished it.
The protagonist of
Harry Potter, on the other time, is nowhere near as proud. In the Potter
series, Harry is a young British wizard that is burdened with being the Chosen
One, the one who is to defeat the Dark Lord, Voldemort. Harry spends his seven
years at Hogwarts facing Voldemort and the many other threats that stem from
Voldemort, and is killed in the final battle, the Battle of Hogwarts, but
returns to life. Harry faces death throughout his life and dies in battle,
protecting his wizarding community from the threat of the Dark Lord. Harry
doesn’t really like his duty as the Chosen One, and he would much rather be a
regular wizard than the one destined to kill Voldemort, and shies away from the
fame that having this responsibility gives him. This is because Harry did not
grow up in anything remotely like his home-away-from-home, Hogwarts; instead,
he was abused and neglected by his hateful muggle family. Though Harry does die protecting his
new-found community, he comes back to life, unlike Beowulf.
Harry Potter and
Beowulf’s similarities seem to end with their martyrdom. While both Harry and
Beowulf die in battle protecting their people from their archetypal dragons,
Harry revives himself, whereas Beowulf is buried. Both Harry and Beowulf are
exalted by their people for their deeds, and both are just as legendary. While
Harry doesn’t really like his responsibilities, Beowulf is proud of it. These differences
are results of the way they grew up. While Beowulf grew up learning that doing
this and becoming the hero was one of, if not the highest honor, Harry grew up
being abused for what his was and wasn’t even aware of it until he was eleven
years old. While Beowulf willingly accepted his duties and become a martyr,
Harry had no choice, and disliked his responsibilities. Regardless of these differences, Beowulf and
the archetype he represents reminded me of Harry Potter and his battle with
Voldemort.
Despite the
differences between Harry and Beowulf, they both follow the same archetype of
facing danger and slaying an evil to save their community. Even though the two
of them are different in age, maturity, ethnicity, location, as well as in
beliefs, values, acceptance of their duties, and outcomes of their battles,
they both follow the archetype with Beowulf killing Grendel, Grendel’s mother,
and the dragon to save the Scandinavians, and Harry defeating Voldemort to save
the Wizarding World. These two heroes will both be remembered for their deeds
and the characteristics they share and differ on.
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