Madison Dahl Mrs.

Tieman English 12 13 February 2014 Beowulf Versus Superman In the Anglo-Saxon time period, the people had to occupy their time by telling magnificent stories about people who would do incredible, almost non-human kind of events. One of these stories that has been passed down since that time is called Beowulf. The story Beowulf tells about a man who has great strength and the ability to do unrealistic battles. Beowulf uses his abilities to fight for his people against his enemies.This story can be compared to one of our time periods greatest comic book stories called Superman. Superman tells about a man with incredible strength as well, he also fights for the people of Metropolis and for America. Beowulf and Supermans time periods may have been very different but their personalities and their superhuman traits fit one another. In Epic 2, Beowulf heard stories of the horrific monster Grendel and as quick as he could got on a boat and went to Hrothgar to defeat him. Once he got there he set up a plan to lure Grendel to the dining hall to battle him. He twisted in pain, And the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder Snapped, muscle and bone split And broke. The battle was over, Beowulf Had been granted new glory This shows how incredibly strong Beowulf truly was because no one in the lands were able to penetrate Grendel and for him to be able to get a hold on him and rip off his arm at the shoulder would take superhuman strength. After his battle with Grendel, Beowulf had another problem on his hands, Grendels Mother. She wanted revenge for her son's killer. So, Beowulf went to find her down in her layer under the water. He leaped into the lake, would not

wait for anyones Answer; the heaving water covered him Over. For hours he sank through the waves; At last he saw the mud of the bottom. No human can breath underwater for hours especially not coming up for air. He swam all the way to the bottom of the lake, no measurement was given for how deep this lake was, but being an ordinary human its impossible to swim to a bottom of anything without your ears popping or any other medical issues happening. This ability of his proves to be another example of him having superhuman abilities. Like Beowulf, Superman has a lot of unique characteristics as well. Superman is a comic book hero made up in modern times for our children to have a hero to look up to and to teach them from right and wrong. Superman was born on the planet Krypton and was shipped to Earth as an Infant. He was discovered then by a farmer and his wife which ended up raising him. As he grew older he realized his superhuman abilities and wanted to use them to help humanity. With a wide range of powers at his disposal, Superman is a frightening opponent. While he is capable of tossing around buildings, withstanding nuclear blasts and flying at speeds faster than light, Superman's greatest strength is that he is totally incorruptible. He is devoted to promoting truth, justice, and the American way. All of those characteristics separate Superman from any other average person. He even has the superpower ability to fight Thor, the son of Odin, and win. No human would ever be able to go up and fight Thor and expect to win. Superman was an all around amazing superhuman but had his downfall. Kryptonite. The only thing that could harm or kill superman. His strength wasnt enough to aid him in surviving a blow of kryptonite. It had a detrimental effect on him. When he was stabbed with it, his powers soon dwindled to nothing and eventually killing him. Yes he is a superhuman but no one is immortal. Not even Beowulf. His downfall wasnt a mineral made from Krypton or getting shot in the achilles tendon. It was the flames from a dragon. In the final

battle, Beowulf encounters a dragon and soon finds out that he is in a fight for his life. He struggles to keep up with the dragon due to the age he was in and found himself struggling to beat the dragon even though he had the ability to defeat Grendel and his mother. Which were undefeatable monsters by anyone. But a simple dragon became Beowulfs downfall. He went into the dragons lair to get the gold for himself thinking it would be a simple task but when the dragon shot his flames down on him, it melted his shield, burning him to his death. Both of the super characters are portrayed to not have any flaws and are supposed to live long happy lives fighting monsters and solving crimes for the city, but just like any other person in the world or other world, they had their weaknesses. Which in the long run ends up killing them both in a horrific battle to the death. The personality of Superman compared to Beowulf is certainly a big difference. Superman was more for saving the human race from tragic phenomena rather than proving himself to the people of the city. He really did not care for looking good or showing off, he would sit high up in the air and just listen with his super sonic hearing and wait for anything bad to happen, like a radar for police but faster. He could single out a single known voice from within the city, no matter how far away. Beowulf on the other hand was very cocky in what he did. He made sure everybody would hear from miles away and from as far away as the stories would get of how great of a soldier he was. In epic 3 , Beowulf tells Unferth stories of how he killed so many sea creatures that it made a bridge across the water to make sure he would be astonished and go and tell the story to other people in the town. Other monsters crowded around me, Continually attacking. I treated them politely, Offering the edge of my razor-sharp sword. But the feast, I think, did not please them, filled Their evil bellies with no banquet-rich food, Thrashing there at the bottom of the sea; By morning theyd decided to sleep on the shore,

Lying on their backs, their blood spilled out On the sand. Afterwards, sailors could cross That sea-road and feel no fear. Two larger than life characters created for everyones personal entertainment to pass the time, that never die and fights monsters and villains. Beowulf and Superman were created with the same main purpose in mind the two stories were being thought up or drawn up in two completely different time periods, but yet they had similar superhuman traits. These traits were used to embellish these stories to show their cultures values to have another way to teach their children the difference between right and wrong. Use your superhuman abilities to fight for the people of your town or city to keep them safe from danger. No matter what the battle was though the superhero would always come to the rescue and be able to defeat the monster or villain with no problem. All superhero stories are the same at the end, superhuman abilities, unbeatable monster, downfall. But Beowulf and Superman both stand out alone as two of the greatest super characters created. They also have the most influential stories on people of their time and to the people in their future time periods.