Beowulf Comparison Essay
At a young age, during my sleep, I was rudely awakened with the pressure of force on my chest and the feeling of being struck. In the same way, the feeling shared the connection of Grendel having the tendency to kill at night. Although the movie and the poem of Beowulf share many similarities, the different portrayls of Grendel, Beowulf, and the role of women reflect both Anglo Saxon and modern society. Till this day, the story of Beowulf is considered to be one of the most oldest poems, that continuosly seems to be chanigng overtime.
According to the movie and poem, Grendel played a big role in the starting of both stories. The major change would be Grendel himself. In the poem, he is described as an evil monster
…show more content…
In the poem, Beowulf was known to be the bravest warrior and the strongest of all. At the time he was reconized to be the hero until he became king. He returned back to the land of the Geats to become king of the uncles kingdom. As for in the movie, he stayed in Denmark and becomes king of Herothagars kingdom. When he became king, he lied about killing Grendels mother, therefore, when Herothagar gave up his kingdom, the curse was then passed to Beowulf. The differences were his actions with women. In the poem, he was more honored by the people and the one they could count on for protection. Although, in the movie he was not only for the fame and glory, he had a weakness for women that played an impotant part of the story. He had a lovely queen Wealhtheow, a bed warmer and Grendels mother. These women ruled part of his life that showed his weakness that eventually lead to his death. In fact, the movie stated that his son was the fire dragon that he fought in the ending of the movie, as to where it was in the ending of the poem. Although, in the movie he had no kids or family, both stories honored him and made sure he was rembered as a …show more content…
The reason the women were not mentioned as much in the poem is because they were considered to be weaker than the men. There were three women that were mostly seen through out the movie that played an important part. Queen Wealhtheow was the wife of Herothagar and played the part in offering everyone a drink from the same goblet, uniting them in the same scent. She were also side by side with the bed warmer putiing them both in the situation of being in love with Beowulf. The bed warmer was a young women who kept Beowulf company at night. In the poem, Queen Wealhtheow and the bed warmer were the lease involved in the story. Although, in the movie, Queen Wealhtheow and the bed warmer were both involed in alot of Beowulf’s life as he grew from a warrior to the king of Herothagars kingdom. And lastly Grendel’s mother who was portrayed as a discusting being and decribes as a monstrous hell-bride. She out of all women could find the weakness of the men playing the bigger role in both the movie and poem. She was filled with promises and a women with powers. In the movie, when she met Beowulf she easily seduced Beowulf and passed the curse, by giving him a chance to be a king as long as the golden horn stayed with her. On the other hand, in the poem, he was less of a threat to Beowulf. As she went on a killing rage over the loss of her son Grendel, Beowulf payed her a
The plot is where the book and the movie totally differ, they have almost nothing in common. A big plot twist in the movie is when Beowulf goes to kill Grendel’s mother; first of all he did not end up killing her and lies about it. Also in the movie, it shows that Grendel’s mother is just angry about Beowulf killing her son, so she makes him stay and give her a new son by making love to her. Another big plot twist is when Hrothgar kills himself and Beowulf does not return back to his kingdom, and becomes King of Dane Land. But in the book Hrothgar lives and stays king of his land and Wiglaf takes the throne after Beowulf dies; “Take what I leave, Wiglaf, lead my people, help them; my time is
The overall theme/message is also different from the book to the movie. For example in the book the book the theme is good vs. evil, Beowulf being good and Grendel being. This however is not the case in the movie, the theme in the movie is more like don’t cheat on your spouse and don’t lie to the people you rule or else it will come back to haunt you. This quite the difference, but I believe the writers of the movie did this to make a point or to send a message to the people watching
In lines 1251-1650 in Beowulf, the story focuses on Beowulf's encounter with Grendel's mother after he defeats Grendel. In this section of the poem, Beowulf enters the underwater cave to engage in a battle against Grendel’s mother, which he is overpowered and nearly defeated. Throughout this episode, the perception of female characters in Beowulf is complex because Grendel's mother is portrayed as a powerful and fearsome opponent, in contrast to traditional gender roles and
There are two sides to every story. The events may be the same, but the tone in which the story is told shapes the reader’s understanding of the events. This idea is never more evident than through the disparity between Burton Raffel’s translation of Beowulf and John Gardner’s Grendel. Both novels are based on the idea of Beowulf killing Grendel. However, the two different points of view telling the story create vastly different novels. Beowulf highlights the heroic and positive world in which Beowulf lives. Whereas Grendel elucidates on the miserable life that Grendel is circumscribed to. The consistent variance in tone skews the events in two completely different directions. The tone between Beowulf and Grendel differ in
Both the epic poem Beowulf and the novel Grendel depict the same storyline, but from different point of views. Grendel’s personality tends to be much more evil than he himself depicts in the novel. Since Grendel is the narrator of the novel, the audience only gets to know what the story is like from his point of view, which he stretches the truth on numerous occasions. But, in Beowulf, the poem has a narrator and is in the third person omniscient, this means the audience knows how all the characters and feeling, thinking, or saying. Also, the theme nature vs. nurture appears a lot in Grendel which means his viewpoints on certain things are either
The Old-English epic poem of Beowulf, officially written down somewhere around the year 1066 by the Beowulf poet, is one where you are persistently kept of the edge of your seat due to its superior use of vivid phrases and imagery. In the Anglo-Saxon period in which the story takes place bravery, heroic deeds, and loyalty to one another is paramount. Beowulf, a tenacious scandinavian warrior, is the savior of a neighboring kingdom due to his aptness to slay the treacherous monsters such as the nefarious Grendel and his mother. A truly remarkable feat is how the words and actions of this poem are put to life in the movie. Though remarkable, the cinema didn’t exactly correlate with the poem. In fact the integrity of the poem almost seems diminished
There are many similarities and differences between the movie "Beowulf and Grendel", to the poem. Major differences between the movie and the poem would be Grendel himself. In the poem, he is described as an evil monster born from two demons. In the movie, Grendel is actually human, but known as a troll to the warriors and Danes. The poem doesn’t give the background of Grendel or show how the Danes killed his father and the possible reason of his revenge, like in the movie. If the witch, Selma, was not included in the storyline of the movie, the audience would not have known key information that she was used to show from more flashbacks. The witch gives more of an idea about Grendel’s past life that could have been the possibility to
Beowulf was originally written in song form but was then translated and put into a poem, while Grendel is written as a story. Despite these large differences, the purpose is the same, it speaks of the inherent nature of people, and monsters when looking at the two main characters. Beowulf is a picture perfect hero, that is represented in almost all forms of literature. He is a hero, inherently good, fighting for liberty and family honor. He is introduced and is mentioned by his father’s name, as “Beowulf, Ecgtheow’s son” (Heaney 37), many times throughout the book.
The book Grendel, written by John Gardner, and the poem Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney, both have very distinct opinions on what role each character plays. The translator of Beowulf and the writer of Grendel follow the idea that everyone has a story. A story is the writer’s perspective on a character’s personality, the way people in the story see and treat the character, and the way it ties the ideas together. There are many examples in these two writings of this concept, but the main instances connect with the lives of Grendel, Beowulf, and Unferth.
The film Beowulf had its similarities and differences to the Poem. To begin with, Grendel’s appearance was unexpected in the film. The epic made him out to be a massive monster that could grab multiple men in one hand, but in the film he was much smaller than expected. Grendel looked more of a human than a monster, being able to talk and function just as a human. The poem describes Beowulf ripping of Grendel's arm with his bare hands, although his arm was pulled off with a door and chain in the film.
Behavior of a hero similarities and differences between the movie and the poem, is that the similarities are. In the movie/poem Beowulf . Beowulf himself cut’s Grendel’s arm off when grendel came storming in the mead hall and kept the arm for glory. Another similarity is that Beowulf
this makes it sound as if she is a terrible and vicious monster with sharp claws. While in the movie, she is shown to be like a siren, beautiful and seductive. Beowulf killed Grendel’s mother in the book by using the sword he found in her lair which had been forged by giants, swinging it so it “caught her in the neck and cut it through, broken bones and all.” (1566-1567) but the movie had a completely different take on this scene. Beowulf goes to Grendel’s mother’s lair but when she shows herself to him, she looks human except for her hair that appears to also serve as a tail and instead of having on clothes, she is just covered in gold with the rest of her skin exposed.
There are many, many differences between the writings of Beowulf and the theatrical interpretation of Beowulf. Included in the differences between the poem and the movie is the scenery around Grendel’s mother’s cave. In the poem the cave is protected by sea monsters and Beowulf slayed a monster to gain entry and the other sea monsters are scared off with the trumpets of Thane. In the movie the entrance to the cave is deserted and Beowulf carefully enters the cave with ease. The huge difference between the poem and the movie completely changes the outcome and moral of Beowulf. In the movie there is no forewarning of life’s delicate state by Hrothgar and much of the moral that Beowulf learns is lost within the way the movie focuses on Grendel’s mother’s beauty rather than her
Beowulf is known for displaying the importance of male heroism via Beowulf, but what about the significance of the women in the poem? The significance of women in Beowulf is overshadowed by the great heroism of the character Beowulf, but the women each have a reason for participating in the epic. The ideal woman was someone who was a noble, a mistress and loyal. An ideal woman is described in Maxim I: “at mead drinking she must at all times and places approach the protector of princes first, in front of the companions, quickly pass the first cup to her lord’s hand”. The significance of women in Beuwolf is a minor detail in the epic, but proves to be vital to Beuwolf. The epic of "Beowulf" illustrates three major roles for the women in the society: the hostess, the peacemaker, and the monster. Five women in Beowulf play the major roles throughout the epic: Wealhtheow, Freawaru, Thyrth, Grendel's Mother, and Hildeburh. These women entertain, bring peace, and contradict societal expectations of the female gender, either directly or indirectly.
The poem Beowulf, written by an unknown Anglo-Saxon poet and the movie script, written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary. The story is about a Man named Beowulf, who becomes a hero to his town Heorot, by defeating a monster named Grendel. He is later named King of Geats, because of his braveness and loyalty to his people. After about fifty years of ruling, a dragon threatens the town’s people. Beowulf and his servant, Wiglaf, set off to defeat this dragon. While he did succeed to kill it, sadly Beowulf dies in the process. In the poem versus the movie, Beowulf shows different character traits throughout the story. Heroism, loyalty, and bravery all differ from the poem to the movie. The audience will perceive Beowulf as a completely different person if only looking at one of the two pieces.