Driving Force essays

Driving Force essays What is the driving force for a football player to push a little harder to score a touchdown? What drives a body guard to take a bullet for another living being? What pushes a person to go above and beyond the call of duty? All these people and millions around the world have a long term help with day to day life. A force that is unseen by the naked eye, unheard by the keenest of ears, this perceived agent is known as motivation. In the epic poem Beowulf, the hero Beowulf is pushed by this remarkable force a number of times. Beowulf first incounters this driving force when he prepares to fight the fiend Grendel. Fame, greed, death, and an owed debt-all played a major role for Beowulf wanting to battle Grendel. Beowulf is positioned ontop of a pedestel to be the best of the best, so if he slaughtered this "unstopable" beast he would infact be the ultimate warrior. "And end that terror, I shalle greet him with treasures, Gifts to reward his courage in coming to us." {Lines 384-385) Beowulf had pieces of gold, shiny sword, and ancient artifacts in his eyes. He knew if he defeated Grendel he in return would be rewarded with a generous prize. With his king being a "ring-giver" meaning the king would give back a portion of the treasure Beowulf won for him. Edgatho, Beowulf's father, owed a favor to Hrothgar that he had never payed off. Beowulf thought it was left upon him to pay Hrothgar off by ridding his lands of the minace that haunted his lands. Then over all the other motives there is death. If Beowulf would be killed in the battle between himself and Grendel, he in return would be granted entrance to Valhalla. On Beowulf's second brush with evil he is motivated by guilt, greed, fame, and death. Even though he acomplished the task that was set before him another lay in the wake of the aftermath. The slain fiends mother had came to avenge her sons death. If Beowulf would have just sailed back to Swe ...