Beowulf, an Epic Hero essays

Beowulf, an Epic Hero essays An epic hero is defined as a larger than life hero who embodies the values of a particular society. Commonly epic heroes have superior strength, have strong love for their people, are fearless of death, and are very ethical people. The epic poem Beowulf describes the most heroic man of the Anglo-Saxon times. The hero, Beowulf, is a seemingly invincible person with all the extraordinary traits required of an epic hero. Beowulf is a perfect example of an epic hero who is a representative of his time because of his super-human strength, his strong love for the people, his fearless of death, and his ethical personality including his strong moral characteristics common of his time. It is obvious that Beowulf has super-human strength because he kills Grendel with his own bare hands. Grendel had been terrorizing the Danes for twelve years and none of them could defeat Grenadel with weapons! During the battle with Grendel, Grendel notices Beowulfs extraordinary strength: [Grendel] Knew at once that nowhere on earth Had he met a man whose hands were harder; His mind was flooded with fear- but nothing could take his talons and himself from that tight Hard grip (p. 33, 433-437). To proclaim his victory and triumph over evil, Beowulf hangs an arm of Grendels, which he savagely ripped from the beast, from the ceiling. Later, Beowulf goes on to kill the Grendels mother, who is even more viscous than Grenadel. In the battle with Grendels mother there is yet another example of Beowulfs super-human strength when Beowulf lifts a huge, massive sword and kills Grendels mother with it. It is said that the sword was so massive that no ordinary man would have the strength to lift it. Beowulf also boasts of his strength many times throughout the poem. For example, in his argument with Unferth, But the truth is simple: No man swims in sea as I can, no strength is a match for mine (p. 28,...

Case 3 Ben and Jerrys Essays

Case 3 Ben and Jerrys Essays Case 3 Ben and Jerrys Essay Case 3 Ben and Jerrys Essay In this case we are introduced to an ice cream company named Ben Jerry’s. Founded in 1978 in Vermont, this once small time ice cream shop has developed into one of the world’s largest ice cream producers with sales in excess of $237 million as of 2000. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield’s unique relationship has proved successful for the past 30 years in part because of their social consciousness and their down-to-earth attitudes. This article is divided mainly into two parts; first the author summarizes the social consciousness of Ben Jerry’s Homemade and how it has led to their success in their industry. Secondly the author goes into detail about the offers that have been made for the ice cream giant by numerous companies and investment firms that were in the running to buy out Ben Jerry’s Homemade. We begin by discussing the social responsibility that Ben Jerry’s has been known for over 30 years now. Their three-part mission statement focuses on their product as well as the economic and social impact of their company, not only locally but also nationally and internationally. It becomes apparent that founders Cohen and Greenfield worry about more than just their bottom line. In an interview Cohen was quoted as being indifferent about the company’s stock prices and how the market had treated Ben Jerry’s as a whole: â€Å"I think the stock market goes up and down, unrelated to how a company is doing† (Bruner 43). This laid back attitude describes Cohen and Greenfield’s philosophy in a nutshell. It seems that they believe if you run a business efficiently and ethically, profits and success will soon follow. This has certainly been the case in spite of all the money the company donates and gives back to the respective communities in which the businesses thrive. They use cause-related marketing to show consumers that what they are doing during the production of their product is helping reduce their impact on the environment. It is one thing to â€Å"greenwash† and act as if the company really values these environmental issues, but according to this article Ben Jerry’s Homemade has really taken these issues to heart. The second part of the article focuses on the tender offers made to purchase Ben Jerry’s Homemade. The article describes four main players in the potential purchase of the ice cream company. Included are Dreyer’s-Grand, Unilever, Meadowbrook Lane Capital and Chartwell Investments. Althought the article does not say if any of these proposed deals panned out, it did go into detail about some of the numbers in the deals. At the time of the offers Ben Jerry’s Homemade was selling for about $21/share. Offers ranged from a $31/share stock purchase to a $36/share cash buyout, both well over the $21/share that the shares were selling for before the offer announcement. We are left with a scene of Henry Morgan, a member of the board of Ben Jerry’s Homemade, during his flight to Vermont for a board meeting to discuss the future of the company. In the meeting the board of directors would undoubtedly decide the fate of the independent company and try to figure out if accepting one of these offers would in fact create shareholder value which the company had not previously been doing according to their average return on shareholder’s equity.