Compare Achilles, Apollonius and Beowulf

Compare Achilles, Apollonius and Beowulf

Description
“Compare and contrast at least three individuals that have been ‘idealized’ in the literature that we have read thus far in the semester. To what extent is it possible to say that in different cultural settings across the ancient and medieval period the ‘ideal individual’ is a ‘heroic’ individual?”
Write a 5-6 page essay on the topic described in the prompt above. For the purpose of this essay, you must compare/contrast:
Achilles from The Iliad by Homer
Apollonius from Life of Apollonius by Philostratus
Beowulf from Beowulf
Please note that this paper will require that you work very carefully within a specific definition of not only ‘heroic’ and ‘ideal’, but also any characteristics (such as ‘holiness’ or ‘leadership’) that you might ascribe to heroism or idealism. Similarly, you should note that within each group, characteristics that mark an individual as ‘ideal’ or ‘heroic’ may vary widely, or have subtle similarities (for example, as seen when comparing Achilles and Aeneas, or Apollonius and Antony). Similarly, note that some characters such as Achilles and Antony remained famous as exemplary individuals well beyond the period in which they initially appeared in literature, even when the exemplars produced by subsequent periods might have been vastly different. Here, the “To what extent” portion of the prompt has particular significance. Stronger papers will avoid gross generalizations that imply any given period (as represented by the groups) are static in terms of how they formulate the heroic or ideal.

The essay should be typed, double-spaced, unjustified on the right-hand column, paginated and include in-text citations (parenthetical) of sources. Citations from primary sources may be given as page numbers (Beowulf, p. 45) or as chapter numbers (Life of Alfred the Great 30), although the citation format for each source should be consistent throughout the paper. The paper should be argumentative, having a clear thesis and being well-supported by your own analysis of evidence, rather than an expository survey of the material. Your analysis should draw as much as possible from the primary source readings, but quotations or paraphrase of narrative from the text should not overwhelm your own analysis; rather, analysis should explain how your quoted or paraphrased examples support your thesis