The battle with Grendel’s mother differ from the battle with Grendel because when Beowulf fought with Grendel he used no weapon “my hands alone should fight for me” line 174. On the day of the battle, when Grendel saw Beowulf he was scared for the first time “ Grendel's one thought was to run from Beowulf, flee back to his marsh and hide there.” line 278 But when Beowulf fought with Grendel’s mother, at the beginning Beowulf was fighting for his live “ For the first time in years of being worn to war it would earn no glory” line 484 Beowulf was losing , she was to fast and “no sword could slice her evil skin.” He needed his weapons fight for him, and Grendel’s mother was not scared of his strength as Grendel
When compared the Movie and the Epic have the same story arc (Beowulf and Grendel, Beowulf and Grendel’s Mother and Beowulf and the Dragon). Starting out similarly with Grendel's slaughter of the Danes through Beowulf’s defeat of Grendel. However, turning in the opposite direction when Grendel’s Mother is introduced. Thus interpreting and changing the finer details of said story.
Grendel in the novel Grendel by John Gardner, and Grendel in the poem Beowulf, which has an unknown author, presents two different views of the same character due to the perception differences of Gardner and the unknown author. Grendel in Beowulf and the story of his namesake both have notable similarities and differences that make each distinctive from one another.
He does not act like the blood hungry beast he is seen as in Beowulf. In
In each battle Beowulf acts to avenge what has been done to other people. Beowulf fights Grendel because Grendel attacks the mead-hall and kills the people inside the hall. The only reason Beowulf goes after Grendel’s mother is because Hrothgar pleads with Beowulf to right the death of his friend by killing Grendel’s mother. Lastly, Beowulf goes after the dragon because it has attacked his kingdom and he must protect his people. Beowulf goes into battle to protect and avenge not because he likes it. Beowulf never denies a battle but instead accepts each challenge thrown his way. In every battle Beowulf is able to defeat the monster and become victorious. He manages to rid the people of the threat in every situation and bring peace back to the kingdom. While there are similarities between the battles, each battle has its own
Despite her evil actions, it is evident that there is less malice in her than Grendel and she is less of a symbol of pure evil than he is. For example, her attack on Heorot is somewhat appropriate and could be considered honorable by the standards of warrior culture, as it marks an attempt to avenge one’s son’s death. In fact, the motive for her attack is similar to Beowulf’s motive for his attack on her: avenging the death of a loved one. One of the most interesting aspects of Grendel’s mother’s attachment to this vengeance-demanding code that the warriors follow is that she is depicted as not entirely alien or monstrous. Her behavior is not only comprehensible but also justified. In other ways, however, Grendel and his mother are indeed portrayed as creatures from another world. One aspect of their difference from the humans portrayed in the poem is that Grendel’s strong parental figure is his mother rather
After his battle with Grendel, Beowulf has to battle the more arduous Grendel’s mother. Grendel’s mother comes out of her swamp to avenge her son, and kills one of Hrothgar’s most trusted advisors. As a result, Beowulf and other soldiers travel to the lake to fight Grendel’s mother, which makes the battle against Grendel 's mother more difficult. This is because Beowulf is not on his own turf, and does not have the element of surprise that he had during his fight with Grendel. Before the fight, Beowulf dresses in
When we turn to the second battle, things are a little different. For one thing, Grendel’s mother is not just acting out of hatred. She is seeking justice for her son’s death. She only kills one man – similar to the idea of a blood feud that Beowulf and his contemporaries would understand.
The second encounter occurs when Grendel’s mother comes to avenge her son. While still embodying the quality of evil, she more specifically represents revenge. “His mother moreover, [e]ager and gloomy was anxious to go on [h]er mournful mission, mindful of vengeance [f]or the death of her son” (Beowulf, book 20 lines 26-29.) When Beowulf was swimming down to her lair, Grendel’s mother quickly swam out and attacked him, dragging him deep into her cave. The attack went on for several minutes before Beowulf found a way to successfully defeat the revenge-seeking
Women usually do not play an important role in stories from the Old English period. This was not true in the poem of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Both use women in more than just a minor role. Those roles are marginal nonetheless, but the women still play a big part. Grendel’s Mother in Beowulf shows off the power of a woman by fighting in a major battle with Beowulf himself. She is shown as a supernatural creature that is as powerful as a man. Grendel’s Mother is used as a symbol to promote equality between both sexes.
as men. She has been sleeping down in her dark and dingy cave below the world
In both John Gardner’s Grendel, and the poem Beowulf, there are significant differences between characters, and the way they are portrayed in each of the tellings. The interpretation of a hero is usually altered in order to fit the audience, such as, Saddam Hussein in America is made out to be this monster whereas, in his home country Iraq, he is looked at as a hero and idolized by some. In each telling, Grendel and Beowulf have many similarities in how they are described in each writing, but each character is also shown in a different light in each of the writings.
Grendel’s mother represented a bigger obstacle than Grendel since Grendel’s mother was a more difficult challenge for Beowulf. Beowulf had immense odds against him since Beowulf fought against Grendel’s mother in her own residence. The underground cave made Beowulf more vulnerable since Grendel’s mother knew the directions and passages of the underground cave better than any other (Gordon). Grendel’s mother tried to attack and assault Beowulf, though he was unscathed by her brutal attempts, “She welcomed him in her claws, clutched at him savagely but could not harm him, tried to work her fingers through the tight ring-woven mail on his breast, but tore and scratched in vain,” (Gordon). Beowulf’s immense and almost unrealistic strength represents his connection with God since Beowulf is not injured or hurt by the fierce and violent attacks from Grendel’s mother.
The supernatural has an important role in Beowulf. Because Beowulf exhibits supernatural in some way, but always seems to come back to religion at the end. Beowulf 's society examins its people through their actions; honor, heroism, courage, and evil. As Beowulf faces three adversaries (Grendel, Grendel 's mother and the dragon). He show 's that he can never be defeated because he has enormous strength and Godly power. Though the bible connects Cain to Beowulf, Beowulf 's author establishes Grendel 's mother as definitive evil, which reveals that she could have been Eve in the story.
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 reasons for his actions. Some major similarities are the battles. Both epics include the battles between Beowulf and Grendel, as well as Beowulf and Grendel’s mother. The end results are the same, leading to their death, but the journey and process to the two tales are different.
The story of Beowulf is a heroic epic chronicling the illustrious deeds of the great Geatish warrior Beowulf, who voyages across the seas to rid the Danes of an evil monster, Grendel, who has been wreaking havoc and terrorizing the kingdom. Beowulf is glorified for his heroic deeds of ridding the land of a fiendish monster and halting its scourge of evil while the monster is portrayed as a repugnant creature who deserves to die because of its evil actions. In the epic poem, Beowulf the authors portrays Grendel as a cold-hearted beast who thrives on the pain of others. Many have disagreed with such a simplistic and biased representation of Grendel and his role in the epic poem. John Gardner in his book, Grendel set out to change the reader’s perception of Grendel and his role in Beowulf by narrating the story through Grendel’s point of view. John Gardner transforms the perceived terrible evil fiend who is Grendel into a lonely but intelligent outcast who bears a striking resemblance to his human adversaries. In Grendel, John Gardner portrays Grendel as an intelligent being capable of rational thought as well as displaying outbursts of emotion. He portrays Grendel as a hurt individual and as a victim of oppression ostracized from civilization. The author of Beowulf portrays Grendel as the typical monster archetype as compared to John Gardner’s representation of Grendel as an outcast archetype.