This is perhaps a significant difference between the two characters. While on one hand, Beowulf is undisputedly the leader of his kingdom, Achilles is an unofficial leader, unrecognized in function, but perceived so on the battlefield.
Achilles is also more human in reactions and the relations he ties with the other individuals than Beowulf. There is no mention of any close companion in Beowulf and the reader doesn't perceive that Beowulf has any friends. Part of Achilles' legend, on the other hand, is based on the legendary friendship with Patroclus. The relationship with his friend humanizes Achilles even more, along with the suffering he feels as Patroclus dies in battle.
The heroes' death is also significant in crayoning the two characters. Since we have already discuss the fact that Beowulf seems to transpose the human realm and become a mythological figure himself, it seems natural that his death cannot come from a simple mortal. He is, indeed, killed by a dragon, during his last fight, when he is stabbed by one of the dragon's horns. He does, however, manage to kill the dragon and thus complete the final mythological...
From this point, he seems ready to join the mythological realm of
afterlife, despite the simple burial as a human being.
On the other hand, Achilles dies by mortal hand, being slain by the arrow shot by Paris. There are a couple of worthy mentions to be made here. First of all, despite the fact that Apollo guides the arrow towards Achilles' heel, essentially, it is Paris who shoots the arrow and who is credited for killing Achilles. Second, Paris lives on to fight again and Achilles' death is only revenged by Philoctetes. Finally, Achilles dies as he has lived, as a simple mortal and there is no mythological perspective that might induce the idea that he will live in myth.
The discussion sustains the idea that while both Achilles and Beowulf are heroes, Beowulf fights and lives on a superior level than Achilles. Beowulf's figure approaches more and more, throughout the poem, through his battles and his image, the idea of a mythological figure. On the other hand, Achilles, despite the charisma he has with the troops and the way he does battle, remains to the end an ordinary human being. Even in death, he is killed by a mortal, while it takes another mythological being, a dragon, to actually kill Beowulf.
