Umar Ijaz

Hero's Journey

The Hero's Journey, distinctively in a story, is the passage of the hero through three significant stages, the Separation, Initiation, and Return, that in some way change him or her. The Hero's Journey can also pertain to paintings, movies, and real life, as well as written stories. In Beowulf, a Hero's Journey is clearly established in the onset of the story. In the conclusion, there is an indication that Beowulf, the hero, completes a Hero's Journey.

Separation, the first stage of the Hero's Journey, is demonstrated when Beowulf leaves his home in Sweden. The calling, or the cause of this separation, can be visualized as the need to go and assisst Hrothgar in defeating the evil monster Grendel, who has been terrorizing and maliciously feasting on Hrothgar's people. The threshold, or the real beginning stage of the journey, is exhbitied by Beowulf's eagerness and dtermination to go on the journey and not return until Grendel is defeated. After crossing the threshold and traveling to meet with Hrothgar, Beowulf finds and effortlessly defeats Grendel. Grendel's mother is filled with rage after her son is killed. At this point in the story, the overconfidence of Beowulf lures him into Grendel's mother's lake, in the hopes of killing her as well. This is clearly a great depiction of the descent or the journey into the unknown, as Beowulf has no idea what kind of place he is about to enter into. The calling, threshold, and descent show a rift between Beowulf and his homeland, while also describing the onset of a great journey.

The second stage of the Hero's Journey is the initiation, in which the hero finds a mentor and perfroms heroic deeds. When Beowulf defeats Grendel and performs other heroic deeds, such as killing Grendel's mother and in the end the dragon, he then passes the initiation stage. The abyss or the unknown of this intiation is the trip to Herot, because Beowulf is truly clueless about the exil Grendel's power, but is still much determined. The Mentor in Beowulf does not turn out to be a person, but instead a sword that Beowulf finds in Grendel's mother's lake, and uses it to kill her. Throughout his life, in Herot, Beowulf single-handedly slays Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon, and is tranformed, thus this being the transformation of the initiation stage.

The final stage of the Hero's Journey is the Return. In this stage, the Hero returns to his home, gamily, society, etc. At the end of the story, Beowulf doesn't necessarily return to Sweden, but after defeating the dragon, returns to Herot, which has been his home now for many years. Beowulf's people have been made safe and wealthy as a result of this return. This can be conceived to be the creation segment of the Return, but Grendel's defeat and the establishment of a much safer Herot for Hrothgar and his people best fits the picture.

As the story of Beowulf concludes, Beowulf dies a hero to the people of Horthgar and to his own soldiers as well. This death signifies Beowulf's completion of a Hero's Journey. The story of Beowulf is one of many examples where the Hero's Journey can be found.