Journal 1

Beowulf is the archetype of the dragon slayer, the hero who faces death in order to save a community. In many ways, Beowulf is representative of the fictional character Superman. In the story, it is seen that neither Grendel nor Grendel’s mother can penetrate the chain armor Beowulf is wearing. This is similar to how swords, knives, and bullets cannot penetrate Superman, “The Man of Steel.” Superman, however, does have one weakness, kryptonite. Beowulf does not seem to demonstrate any forms of weakness.  Another similarity between Beowulf and Superman is the extraordinary strength both characters posses. Beowulf single handily defeats both Grendel and Grendel’s mom by using his brute superhuman strength, while Superman uses his incredible strength to fight evil foes threatening his community. The final similarity these two characters possess is the allusion to magic. Beowulf is said to have enchanted armor that cannot be penetrated by anything, while Superman can fly (a fantasy humans have constantly dreamed about). When all the qualities and characteristics of both Superman and Beowulf are compared, it demonstrates how similar the characters correlate to each other.