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By examining the characterization of the hero in the poem Beowulf, we learn about the important aspects of culture in the Anglo-Saxon society. The characters that make Beowulf a hero must be crucial to this society. According to the poem, Beowulf is respectful to his ancestors as well as to his father. Moreover, he is honorable and brave “beloved by his people" (54)”. He believes his great victories and good deeds are his avenues to immortality that is the society will remember him. Even though he appears to the reader as arrogant, he sincerely respects others and at the same time he acknowledges the role of fate in the society. The poem also discloses the instability of life in Anglo-Saxon society. The Anglo-Saxon society had no governing system such as the police force and central government. Then kings were not like the kings we think of today. Knights were not known of as we may think of them or as they appear in the myths of King Arthur’s. All in all, there was instability in the Anglo-Saxon was society. On the other hand, twelfth night by William Shakespeare depicts a society that is stratified that is people are placed into ranks. The play scorns Malvolio’s fantasies of climbing the social ladder. When Viola cross-dresses as Cesario, she disguises not only her gender but also her social class “…till I had made mine own occasion mellow, what my estate is. (1.2.45-46)”. The lack of determinacy in the sexual identity of Viola and Cesario illustrates that femaleness and maleness are not absolute somatic characteristics, but rather they are just features of a role that can be acquired through learning. The three interesting literary devices used by
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