Adam Jorgensen
English IV
Cindy Froiland
1 April 2011
Compare and Contrast essay
There are various reoccurring themes throughout history; both fiction and nonfiction, for
example historically three well know people were assassinated for standing up to civil rights for African
Americans. The first of these three famous people being Abraham Lincoln, who strongly fought against
the slavery of all African Americans; thus, this action led to the downfall of his life by murder. Secondly
to fight against the civil rights for African American men in America by promising an end to racial
discrimination, was in fact John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, by truly
an unknown man, but theories suggest it was John Wilkes Booth. Martin Luther King Jr., being third of
these heroic men to stand up for the civil rights of American Americans, was shot in his hotel called, the
Loraine Motel, in Memphis, Tennessee (Wikipedia.com). In fictional literature, historically there are
characters that have fought for others and put themselves in harm’s way for their own beliefs; well
known characters in Beowulf, Macbeth, and Paradise Lost, also go through the same struggles in their
own unique ways.
The epic Beowulf has the strong and powerful Beowulf fighting many foes in his life and
overcoming various obstacles that he has encountered through his journeys. Grendel, being the first of
his challenges, was a giant mystery to the people of Hrothgar, who he would attack almost every night in
their Mead Hall. These men would fight back with all the might they could find deep down in their soul
and armor, but Grendel would prevail. Until one day, Hrothgar called upon the greatest of men to set
voyage to his land; seeking help, his prayers were answered by the appearance of the one they called
Beowulf. Beowulf didn’t fight “evil” because he wanted to, but it was because he was dedicated to
helping others and acquiring more fame until he was well known far and wide. After defeating Grendel
from the request of the king Hroathgar, the people were saved from terror and fright and Beowulf was
ordered to have a Mead Hall built in his name, along with gaining fine treasure and good company.
The Next of his worries, being Grendel’s mother, was a stronger opponent than her son. Upon
defeating Grendel, Beowulf was arrogant and cocky over his victory to save the people of Hrothgar;
thus, it lead to him not seeing what left he had ahead, for the worst wasn’t over. Beowulf and Grendel’s
mother fought a valiant war that lasted over a long period of time for a non-stop fight. When the end of
the fight was near, Beowulf prevailed and defeated, yet again, another one of Hrothgar’s people’s
problems and became very well known and appreciated, for he was handed the crown of the land after
the great battle.
Though now he was fully satisfied with what he had done with his life, the years passed before
his eyes as he ruled the land that Hrothgar once had. Towards the end of his journey, a couple of
treacherous men went into a cave where they shouldn’t have, and stole some treasure from a malicious
and vindictive dragon whose powers outmatched those of Beowulf. Beowulf knew this would be his last
fight, for deep down he felt his strength slipping away. Therefore, he grabbed a handful of valiant men
and took off to stop the dragon that was terrorizing the people under Beowulf. As he got to the cave, he
found the dragon and after a sequence of fighting with him, he was struck down by the might of the
dragon, and hence forth came the calling of Wiglaf, who stepped in front of Beowulf as the only person
to not run away cowardly from the monster. As he tried valiantly to save Beowulf’s life, he was also
knocked down and Beowulf used his last humanly strength to “pop” up from the ground and sliced the
dragons head clean off of the body. As his final moments came to end, Beowulf gave to his riches, glory,
and kingship to the mighty Wiglaf, who came to rescue in his darkest hour. So in the end, Beowulf
sacrificed himself for his people because he knew that this battle would be his last.
In the epic similar to Beowulf, Paradise Lost also has battles of good versus evil and good always
triumphs. It begins when Satan turns against God and is out-casted to rule in Hell for the rest of eternity.
Being upset with decision by God, Satan and his followers decide to go to Earth and torment humans
into making bad decisions and sending them to hell; thus, further frustrating God into sending Christ to
battle Satan. After a numerous amounts of fighting between Satan and Christ, Christ always prevailed.
This went on for a very long period of time, until Christ was forced to make a decision between letting
everyone be sent to hell for their sins or sacrificing himself to be nailed to a cross and save mankind
from their sins. He chose to be unselfish and sacrifice himself for the good of mankind.
In the play Macbeth, Macbeth starts out as a good, noble man, fighting for King Duncan and
obeying every command his king gave to him. As the plot thickens in the play, Macbeth hears that he
will not be king after all the hard work he has done to protect himself and his countrymen. Being very
upset, he and his wife, Lady Macbeth, come up with a scheme to overthrow Duncan and become king of
the land for their own benefit. Although Macbeth was getting “cold feet” before he had to murder
Duncan, his wife used words against Macbeth to convince him that if he didn’t kill Duncan he wouldn’t
be manly enough for her; therefore, Macbeth goes through the murder on Duncan, and blames it on
Duncan’s guards.
After Macbeth becomes king of the land due to Duncan’s death, he and his wife start getting
arrogant like Beowulf and greedy for more riches and power, unlike the epics Beowulf and Paradise Lost.
They decide to assassinate Fleance and his son Banquo so no one will get in the way of his kingship as
long as he lives. While all the pieces are moving into place for Macbeth, he gets news that the assigned
people to murder Fleance and his son did not get the job done completely the way he wanted because
Fleance still lived. Being angered by this, he forgets about it as he tried to move forward with his
kingship.
Becoming very war mongering, he sets his disdained eyes upon Macduff’s family while he is out
of the country. After successfully murdering Macduff’s wife and child, he becomes further in trouble
with the country folk because they now lose hope in what Macbeth is trying to do for himself rather
than the country in whole. So Macduff returns from England with an army of men and overthrows
Macbeth; however, upon killing Macbeth with a swift blow from a sword, Malcom takes reign over the
country as the new king and takes back what was rightfully his.
In conclusion, Paradise Lost, Beowulf, and Macbeth are all similar in many different ways. They
all have good defeating evil and paying the ultimate sacrifice to do it, which is their life. However, they
also have differences, like when Macbeth becomes greedy and decides to take over the country his own
way and not for the good of the country itself. Thus proving that throughout history, these mysterious
writers have plagiarized each other in some way or form without even knowing that they were doing it
and creating tales that would be told throughout the history of mankind.