Wiglaf- The Unrecognized Hero

At the end of the play, Beowulf is battling a dragon on his own as the men he has collected stand idly watching. There is a point when the men realize that Beowulf may have met his match against this dragon and instead of helping him as they promised they would, the men decide to flee the scene. All but one man run. Wiglaf berates them for leaving and decides to risk his own life for his loyalty to the king. Without Wiglaf, there is no way that Beowulf would have been able to slay the dragon. Although he is just as much of a hero as Beowulf, if not more so, he is not treated the same way. He is not seen as the great hero that he is because he was not the one to officially kill the dragon. This shows that strength and is more respected than other qualities such as loyalty in this society. In my opinion, loyalty is a more favorable quality and Wiglaf is more of a hero than Beowulf.

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