Diversity of Heroes and Antiheroes

They Are Different Heroes

Everyone has a different perception of what heroism is tothem but over time the idea of heroes has also changed. Heroes are a part ofeveryone’s life and no matter what every person has come in contact with somekind of hero, they can be characters from a movie or a storybook, a comic booksuperhero, a living person. Heroes have been in this world for centuries, goingback to the times of Ancient Greece. But they were not always like Batman and Superman,the concept of heroes has changed quite a bit over the decades. Heroes are arepresentation of the traits and the characteristics that are valued by theirsociety, although these characteristics have changed immensely over the timeperiod.

The Difference Between Modern Heroes and the Ancients

Modern heroes are a far cry from Ancient Greek and Anglo-Saxon heroes.Although they fight to protect and improve their societies but their motivationvaries and so do their methods. In short a “Hero” is a person who is extremelycourageous and brave, he steps out intentionally to do deeds to benefit otherswithout any kind of reward and does brilliant feats. No matter what era it is,there are always heroes who are willing to save the society, the nation and theinnocent people.First of all I will compare a Modern hero like Ironman withan Anglo-Saxon hero such as Beowulf, both try their best to help improve thesociety but the methods of both are not quite similar. A similarity that can beseen between the heroes of these times is that both want to better theirsociety. Anglo-Saxon hero such as Beowulf use their physical strength to wintheir battles. While the modern heroes as such Paul David Hewson; mostly knowby his stage name Bono, Ironman and Batman use their intelligence, mind andmoney to win their battles, thus can be considered to be more strategic heroes.Bono for example has founded and organized many foundations that help save thelives of people, and like Ironman is more content in making and creating andproviding those to the government rather than fight himself. Anglo-Saxon heroesprefer to dive head-first into battle while modern heroes prefer to observe thesituation and then make a strategic move. Another comparison between these two heroes can be theirsource of motivation or their reasons to fight their battles. In accordancewith the Anglo-Saxon heroic code which basically states that Anglo-Saxon heroesare constantly seeking fortune and riches. This can also be seen in Beowulfwhere there are many mentions about how he hunts for riches and wealth. Moderntime heroes on the other hand are the exact opposite of the Anglo-Saxon heroes,as they don’t seek any kind reward for their good deeds in return. Ironmansaved the lives of many innocent people without any kind of reward, Batman gavemoney to charities as well, Bono’s foundations are all non-profit and all thefunds they get and earn are given to countless charities. In today’s society itis considered greedy and materialistic for a hero or a celebrity to seekfortune, while during the Anglo-Saxon era it was perfectly normal and putativefor the heroes to seek treasure and bounty.Another huge difference between the modern heroes andAnglo-Saxon heroes, is that being boastful and conceited was considered to becommon and esteemed for Anglo-Saxon Heroes.

Conclusion

Modern heroes like Bono, Batman andIronman never bragged about all the good deeds they had done, or the money theymake. While Anglo-Saxon heroes can be seen boasting, like in the poem Beowulfconstantly keeps bragging about his power, riches and ancestors. In the modernera heroes are not considered to heroes if they brag and boast, it is not saidto be well-respected or even common for heroes to be conceited. Modern heroesprefer to stay in the shadows and save the world without their identities beingfound, while Anglo-Saxon heroes desire fame and fortune rather than beingunknown.