Will Rogers once said that, "We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by." His statement not only divides society into two distinct classes, but exemplifies that without the support of the crowd the hero would no longer exist and vice versa. Throughout history, it has been human nature to place the embodiment of absolute good upon a pedestal and in contrast, deem absolute evil undesirable and unwelcome. We've accepted these facts for centuries, but few have ever stopped to ask why. Instead, they simply find a suitable spot along the curb to sit. In posing the question of why, the mind implies that there must be deeper reasoning other than society's say-so, and in the case of heroism, all truth can be found in the individual. The Germanic heroic code that upheld loyalty, courtesy, and pride, was applauded by ninth century society, and portrayed by their heroes. Similarly, tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table were also believed to be heroic epics that followed the same ideals. In knowing that the primitive values of society have not faltered greatly over thousands of years, it is interesting to observe some of literature's original, fictional heroes and their struggles against good and evil. In contention, the heroic epics of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and their intrinsically gallant characteristics varied only slightly over the five hundred seventy-five-year period between which they were written. This can be proven through the heroes' feats of strength in body and mind and their unwavering bravery.
             Youth and age divide Beowulf's heroic epic, and with this division, he also makes an exchange of his insurmountable physical strength for an expanded sense of knowledge. When the reader is first introduced to Beowulf, he is a brawny warrior who has embarked upon a journey to defeat Grendel, the invincible ogre. With great confide...