The fame shame warrior ethic was extremely important to ancient civilizations. It was how a man was supposed to act in order to become a hero and appreciated in the society.
Sean Schaefer
The fame shame warrior ethic was extremely important to ancient civilizations. It was how a man was supposed to act in order to become a hero and appreciated in the society. One was not to run away during a war or battle. It was better to them to die fighting and not running away. To retreat would be an ultimate embarrassment. A man would much rather die fighting than to face the humiliation of defeat or weakness. To be known as a hero is the ultimate goal of a man. It is the only way for them to become immortal, and have their legacy live on forever. We see the fame shame warrior ethic in both “Beowulf” and “The Song of Roland” in similar and contrasting values.
In “Beowulf” the warrior fame shame ethic is very evident with the main character Beowulf himself. Beowulf is the strongest and most fearless warrior known. Beowulf is called upon to kill a dragon named Grendel who is terrorizing a city. Beowulf expresses his warrior ethic and strength by saying in a speech he will defeat the dragon with his bare hands and not use a sword or any other weapons. “I do not consider myself to be a fighter inferior either in strength or in experience to Grendel himself; so I shall not kill him with the sword. Although I could do it in that way, that is not how I propose to rid him of his life. He knows nothing of the art of cutting and thrusting, although his exploits are bold enough. Tonight we will do without weapons, if he really dares to risk a combat without them. God in His wisdom must allot the victory as He thinks fit.” (page 42-3). Again this demonstrates how Beowulf believes in the fame shame warrior ethic. He will not fight Grendel with a sword because he believes it would be an unfair fight. Instead Beowulf with use his bare hands in combat with the dragon for he will never fight a fight he deems unfair. Beowulf wants to be immortal and life forever. He would much rather die in battle than die an old man, and he would never retreat in battle. A hero only becomes so through the retelling of his exploits. A man does not become a hero on his own, rather his heroism is realistically based upon his fame and how his society reacts to his actions. In the battle with Grendel's mother, Beowulf relates this obsession with the retention of heroism through actions: "A man must act so / when he means in a fight to frame himself / a long-lasting glory; it is not life he thinks of" (99). To the true hero, his heroism is his life, if he loses his physical life, he will still live on in his heroic form. But if he loses his heroic title, as in the case of Heremod, life as he knows it ends, his physical life being only one of tragedy and remorse. The quality of the hero is further related through the objects Beowulf chooses to bring with him back home from the fight with Grendel's mother: "that richly ornamented hilt, / and the head of Grendel" (102). Deliberately he passes over all the riches because wealth is not a hero's object. Instead what he brings with him are symbolic of his actions and will enhance the only wealth a hero knows - the stories told about him. The downfall of the hero, however, is his unthinking optimism, as Hrothgar warns, and his confidence in his strength. Beowulf is aged and has lost most of his strength when he fights the dragon Worm. Only Wiglaf stayed behind to help Beowulf, while the others ran back and retreated. In his last dying effort Beowulf killed Worm with aid from Wiglaf to finally preserve his warrior ethic and die in battle.
