Posted: February 26th, 2022

Beowulf and Spider-Man Compare and Contrast

Beowulf is an ancient hero who became a king in pursuit of doing his majestic role in protecting the people against monsters that might harm them. On the other hand, Spider-Man is a modern-day hero, who not more than a newspaper photographer in a person of Peter Parker, who, in performing his goal of saving lives and protecting the people wear a costume in order to hide his real identity. That is not in the case of Beowulf. He does have to wear a costume nor hide his real identity.
With all his valor, he faces the enemy with courage using his bare hands or classical lethal weapons like sword and shield. The same courage can be found in Spider-Man whenever he fights an opponent. But he does not use a sword nor shield to do so.
What he is using is his special ability to crawl on walls and buildings like a spider. Within long distances, he is also aided with the highly sophisticated web-shooter that he uses to swing from one building to another. He also uses it to capture or disarm the enemy.

Beowulf kills his enemy but Spider-Man does not have the intention to do so. As a modern-day hero, he tends to be a protector of life, with the desire of only capturing the enemy without killing. What he wants is to stop the enemy from doing troubles and harm to the citizen and to finally deliver the nuisance to the authority.
In the case of Beowulf, since his enemy are not humans, with the real intention of just putting people to death and destruction, that neither human laws nor authority can stop, what he does is to fight them to death.
You can imagine the scenario when Spider-Man would just capture or disarm an enemy while Beowulf is swinging his sword during his bloody heroic encounters, breaking the monster’s limbs, or beheading them.
You can find almost the same courage in them, but their fighting principle would just differ in terms of how they treat their opponents. During modern-day, it would be more rational to put the social nuisance and the enemy of the citizen in the hand of the police or government.
Beowulf would not look for soldiers nor authorities to turn over the capture. He would kill it. The people would be happier if as a hero they may find him putting an end to the life of those monsters and dragons.
That might be the difference why Spider does not decide to kill his opponent’s life. He took the idea of a hero that maintains peace and order, an extended arm of the authority and a helper to the society, without the goal of putting one’s life to death. However, their intention only remains the same, maintenance of peace and order.
Regarding personal characteristics and attributes, Beowulf mingled with people normally first as their hero and later their king whom the people extend awe and respect. Comparatively, Spider-Man do not. His normal life lies on the fact that he has to live as an ordinary photographer, a lover Mary Jane, a nephew to his aunt and will soon become a superhero only during times of troubles. People know that they live with Peter Parker every day and every night, but they did not have a slight idea that that clumsy Peter Parker is the ever clever Spider-Man.
Both of them uses the most advanced technology of their time. Sword and shield for Beowulf, scientifically accumulated spider skills and sophisticated web shooter for Spider-Man. In comparison, they perform their deeds using the best of their time.
In contrast, Beowulf intends the sword and shield to kill the enemy, but Spider-Man use his spider senses and web shooter merely to defend himself from the attack and to induce a non-fatal attack against any person that might bring the citizen to unsecured danger.