Macbeth Vs. Beowulf

Aleccia Wilkerson

To me a good leader is someone who takes care of their people, leads them in a good direction, and keeps them from harm. I will be looking at the difference leadership styles of Macbeth and Beowulf. Macbeth said to be a dictator, evil, and unstable, and in the film, Beowulf said to be kind, caring, and willing to die for his people. I will talk about how each got into power and what they did with it and how much their wives played a role in their accention to the throne.

In the movie, Beowulf traveled far to get to Hrothgar and kill Grendel for him. He was seeking nothing more that glory, and wanted to live on in the heart of men. The only two flaw that Beowulf has are his pride and his weakness for women. Like when he was told to go and kill Grendel’s mother, he ends up sleeping with her with the promise of kingship. When he returns form “killing” Grendel’s mother the king announces that he wants Beowulf to take his place as king and husband to Wealhtheow. Hrothgar then jumps out the window, killing himself. Beowulf accepts place as king and tries to be the best king he can be. He is loved by his people and his people love him. Wealhtheow supports him and the country with pride and does so until the day he dies.

In the beginning, Macbeth is a timid and kind person. That is until the witches come and speak of a prophesy that tells of him being king. Macbeth realizes that this is impossible seeing as how Duncan is still king. He comes up with a plan to get rid of Duncan and his sons to attain the crown. He ends up telling his wife of the plan and tells him that she wants him to be queen too. When Macbeth starts changing his mind about killing the king, his wife steps in and makes him man up. She said she would have done it herself if he hadn’t looked like her father. When Macbeth gets the crown he does any and everything to keep it, going to such great lengths as killing his best friend and attempting to kill his son and killing his people. By ths time, he is crazy and so is his wife, having nightmares of death and being caught. Macbeth and his wife are killed and the rightful ruler returns to the throne.

In the end, both had flaws that truly and greatly set them back from living long lives or achieving greatness. Macbeth could have been a great leader if he had waited to come into power or if he hadn’t had bloodshed on his hands and soul. Beowulf was a great leader, but under false pretenses. Had Grendel’s mother been killed like she was supposed to then maybe he would have stay alive longer. All in all, they ruled and died, passed the kingdom to the next generation.