In the poems Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, compare and contrast the speeches of the two heroes in lines 407-55 (Heaney translation)...

In the Old English poem Beowulf and
the middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the two
heroes have opportunities, early in their respective works, to address important persons
and discuss important topics.  Their speeches can be compared and contrasted with regard
to audiences, topics, and tones in some of the following
ways:

• Audience:
  Beowulf addresses Hrothgar, a powerful king (407). Gawain addresses Arthur, another
  powerful king (343). However, Hrothgar is not Beowulf’s own king, whereas Arthur is
  indeed Gawain’s king.


• Tone:
  Gawain’s tone is very elaborate, eloquent, and self-consciously courtly, as when he says
  to Arthur,

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Would you grant me the grace . .
.

To be gone from this bench and stand by you
there,

If I without discourtesy might quit this
board,

And if my liege lady misliked it
not,

I would come to your counsel before your court noble.
(343-47)

Gawain is almost
pretentiously humble here; later, of course, he will learn true humility as a result of
his encounter with the Green Knight.  By contrast, Beowulf seems genuinely humble right
from the start, even though he does refer to his “awesome strength” and even though he
does mention having “battled and bound five beasts” (418, 420). Beowulf mentions these
facts, however, to prove his fitness for the task he seeks to undertake, and he both
opens and closes his speech by making clear his loyalty to his earthly king, Hygelac.
Most significantly, Beowulf makes clear his humility in relying on God’s providence,
whereas Gawain never mentions God. Ironically, Gawain, despite his flowery protestations
of humility, seems less truly humble than the forthright
Beowulf.

• Topic: In
  both cases, the heroes are requesting permission from kings to undertake heroic tasks.
  Beowulf seeks to undertake a task that has been twelve years in the making, whereas
  Gawain responds to a task that has arisen very suddenly and very recently. Both men show
  courage in their willingness to risk their lives on behalf of others, but Beowulf,
  despite his youth, seems more mature at this point in his career than does the also
  youthful Gawain.