That hero and anti-hero are opposing terms, one will not argue. However, the definitions of the two, and therefore the qualities they encompass, come straightway with arguments. Beowulf and The Stranger are two works with protagonists that can be argued as lying on either end of the hero spectrum. Beowulf can be said to demonstrate the qualities of the hero and Meursault the anti-hero.
Beowulf takes place in England and was written during a time when Christian views were beginning to permeate contemporary ways but also when pagan views were not wholly discharged. Beowulf, a follower of the Geats’ king, Higlac, and the strongest of the Geats, hears news of a monster that ravaged the land of the famous King Hrothgar of the Danes. He promptly sets forth with men and means to rid the Danes of their nightly woes that came in the form of Grendel, the monster who killed in darkness. This is how the epic poem begins, but Beowulf’s heroic qualities began before the knowledge of Grendel’s presence and continued on after the monster’s death.
Beowulf goes to aid Hrothgar because it was his duty to do so as he proclaims, simply, that he would sail to Hrothgar now when his help was needed. The ability to do what is necessary because of the knowledge that only he alone can accomplish a certain task is a heroic quality. This presents itself time and again in Beowulf. Though Beowulf is surrounded by his willing men in Hall Herot, he fights Grendel alone. Also, when Grendel’s mother showered her wrath at the death of her son, Beowulf dives alone into the abyss of the monstrous fen to kill her.
As Beowulf fights the three creatures in the epic poem, he does not do so without fear. Nevertheless, he faces both monster and fear. In so doing, he portrays another heroic quality – that of having courage, the ability to conquer fear by facing it. In part, to be a hero is to be deemed so by the corresponding society. Beowulf holds the faith and the respect of both the Geats and the Danes. Through every course of action he undertook, he showed his understanding of the fact that, though people honored him and raised him above the common man, it was he who had to serve the people and not the opposite. This quality, arguably, above all, engenders a hero.
Albert Camus‘ The Stranger is about the seemingly inane actions of the protagonist Meursault. Much of the novel takes place in Algiers but begins with the death of Meursault’s mother in Marengo. The novel is written in first person allowing its reader a personal view of Meursault. He is relaying a sequence of events that leads to his shoot of a fellow and his eventual imprisonment and death. In view of all that Meursault does and does not do, one can stake a claim calling him an anti-hero. But what is an anti-hero?
Meursault, though not absolutely honest as cited from his admission that he will agree with people if only to end a conversation, is honest to the reader. The reader knows his actual thoughts, which he relays quite candidly. The reader and those around Meursault come to see that Meursault holds few thoughts or judgments about the actions of others. One would be hard-pressed to argue that these qualities are part of an anti-hero. The reader, however, at once takes note of the almost indifference that Meursault holds for the death of his maman, which is described later by those attending the funeral as a great callousness.
This indifference to certain events is a part of the argument one would take to show that Meursault is an anti-hero. His mother’s death causes him no pain from any warranted mourning. Instead, it is only the lighting in the room where her vigil is held and the sun’s heat the following day that elicits feelings from him and those feelings were annoyance (gathered from a headache) rather than sorrow. One, though, cannot say that Meursault is indifferent to everything. He feels his own definition of joy in prison when the magistrate questioning him pats his back telling him they were done for the day.
Meursault has wants; he has events to which he looks forward. He anticipates the weekends when he knows he will be spending time with Marie. Perhaps the main difference – that which could characterize Meursault as an anti-hero – is that he could live without those wants. He could live without the fulfillment of his anticipations and their absence would cause no protracted pain. Meursault does not do everything he wishes. In prison, he wants to tell Marie how pretty he thinks her to be. He does not, but suffers no extended remorse for not having done so. In fact, he suffers no extended remorse concerning anything he does.
Beowulf and Meursault, though with heroic and anti-heroic qualities, respectively, do have instances of walking the other end of the hero spectrum. As Beowulf fights his last battle with the treasure-guarding dragon, he decides once again to enter the field alone. All but one of his men actually flee at the time of his need, but knowing himself, knowing his age and his current capabilities, Beowulf, as a hero, should have instructed his men at the onset of the battle to fight with him. Perhaps he thought that to be the opposite of what a hero would do, but what was a possible result of that “bravery”? The news of the death of the mighty King Beowulf before the settlement of a feud with the Swedes would certainly bring the force of the Swedes hard upon the Geats in their time of transition.
Meursault’s honesty (true, only to the reader) is a noble quality. It is not a mark of an anti-hero. One may even go so far as to say honesty should be a trait considered when deciding whether or not someone is a hero.
Through twenty-first century ideas, an essay has prevailed: Beowulf is the hero and Meursault the anti-hero, but not without contradicting qualities. Beowulf was written in the seventh century and The Stranger written in the twentieth. It appears that regardless of the times, people have always had their thoughts on what are heroic and anti-heroic qualities. In the end, one does form his or her own concept of the hero and the anti-hero and will strive, sometimes unconsciously, to an end of that spectrum.
Reference:
- Beowulf, Albert Camus’ The Stranger
