Beowulf, the great Geatish warrior, lives a very adventurous life filled with many

voyages, battles, and victories. Through all of these events, he meets various people who
are considered to be heroes like himself. These heroes, however, are unable to have the
same abilities and characteristics of Beowulf. His great achievements cannot be matched
by anything that they have done in their lives. Beowulf is a superior hero to Hrothgar,
Unferth, and Wiglaf in the epic of Beowulf because he kills every monster that he fights,
becomes a widely feared warrior and king, and dies in battle completing his final heroic
act.

Beowulf is superior to Hrothgar, Unferth, and Wiglaf because he kills every monster that
he faces. When Herot was ravaged by Grendel and his mother, Hrothgar lacked both the
strength and the courage to defend his people. Hrothgar was hindered by his old age and
lacked the vitality of his youth that would have made him capable of slaying the
monsters. However, when Beowulf grows old and becomes king, he is not affected by the
factor of old age. Beowulf’s kingdom is attacked by a great dragon just like Hrothgars
kingdom was attacked by Grendel. The difference is that Beowulf in his old age still had
the strength and courage, unlike Hrothgar, to protect his kingdom. Unferth was
considered to be the hero of Herot, but yet when monsters attacked the people that he was
suppost to protect, he did nothing to stop it. Grendels reign of terror started many years
before Beowulf came, so Unferth had plenty of time to at least make an attempt at
stopping him. But because of Unferths lack of action, Beowulf has to take on the task of
slaying Grendel. By killing Grendel and his mother, Beowulf succeeds where Unferth has
failed. Wiglaf and Beowulf both fought the dragon, but Beowulf is the one who actually
killed it. Wiglaf was in full strength and was unhurt but all that he could do was stab the
dragon. Beowulf, however, was badly wounded, but still managed to provide the fatal
slice to kill the dragon. Hrothgar, Unferth, and Wiglaf all relied on Beowulf to kill the
monsters that they could not kill themselves. This makes Beowulf superior to them
because he obtained the strength, courage, and will that they all lacked.