Does the Hero Ride Alone?
It’s the iconic image — the hero riding off into the sunset, alone again after saving the day.
But no one truly rides alone.
No one is an island unto themselves. Just ask the great hero Beowulf...
If you have an image of Beowulf in your mind, it’s probably of him fighting the monster Grendel or the dragon that killed him. But the epic poem about him, which is the reason we know his story, is over 3000 lines long. Only a few hundred are devoted to those combats.
All the rest shows us Beowulf in his context. And if politics in 6th century pre-Viking Scandinavia seems on the surface to be very different from the 21st century global village, think again...
Keep a close eye on your neighbours
The Swedes live to the east of Beowulf’s people the Geats, and they’ve tried many times to conquer them. Beowulf is right not to trust them.
The good guys don’t always have good leadership
Except for Beowulf, almost every king in the poem has a fatal character flaw that causes grief and hardship for his people.
Social media can be used to spread lies: ‘Social media’ in those days meant boasting in the hall. Beowulf seems to be constantly setting the record straight about his character and his exploits.
Good luck with your succession planning
You can have too many heirs or not enough of them. Either way, you’ll never know what happens once you’re gone. Sadly, Beowulf guesses right – with no heirs of his own, the Swedes swoop in and take it all.
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Painting: Lynd Ward, "Beowulf" (1939)
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