Quest For Something More

Readers from the Victorian Era seemed to like the idea of a quest, a journey in search of something. The literary characters Ulysses, the Duke of Ferrara and Beowulf are on such quests. Each of them is striving for something.

The quest that these characters take are quite similar in their theme. Ulysses, the Duke of Ferrara and Beowulf are all people of power who seek something more. Ulysses is a king who wants more than a kings life. The Duke of Ferrara wants a wife who appreciates the gifts he gives her above all else. Beowulf is a hero of the Geats but hears of a terrible monster in Denmark and seeks to defeat it. Ulysses recalls that his travels and encounters shaped him into the man he is today and he cherishes his adventures and what he got out of his adventures above everything else in his life, even his "aged wife." ("Ulysses" 3) The Duke wants to be able to control his wife. He wants his new wife to appreciate what he is all to give her wife his "nine-hundred-years-old-name." ("My Last Duchess" 33) Beowulf seeks honor in defeating Grendal bare-handed, a creature no man has been able to kill, and succeeds.

While their quest may be similar at heart, their attitudes, and the goals they seek are not. Beowulf is not looking for any reward for his help he just heard about the terrible plight that the Danes were suffered and offered his help. The Duke is completely dishonorable in the fact the he most likely kill his first wife and is planning on treating his new wife as an object. Ulysses just isn't happy with the way his life as become. He hates doing menial things and would rather his son govern while he travels.

The quests of these three characters of literature are similar in some aspects but as you can see their actions and goals which they seek during their respective quests are completely different.