Grendel is a monster in the eyes of the Danes, but it is not until he meets with the dragon that he starts to act like the monster he is supposedly bound to be. Manu Bennett will provide the movements for the digitally produced image of Grendel, but it is more the look that seals this deal. Azog from The Hobbit represents Grendel, as he accepts his fate as a monster against people. Both Grendel and Azog fight for themselves, but are feared by other men. Although Azog is a scary representation of Grendel, there is still a heart of a child within.
The Dragon sees all, and knows all that has happened and all that is to come. He will be vocalized by Morgan Freeman because he has both a mesmerizing voice, and the ability to successfully narrate anything. Grendel is forced by the Dragon to see his true nature, and Morgan Freeman is almost the devil on Grendel’s shoulder during his war with the Danes. While Grendel raided the Danes’ meadhall and was taunting Unferth, he felt “the dragon-scent in the room [growing] stronger, as if [his] teasing was bringing the old beast near” (84). The Dragon’s speech is a constant reminder to Grendel of his true
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nature, being a monster. Morgan Freeman will perform this task brilliantly as he will be able to bring the spirit of the Dragon to life, giving purpose to something that doesn’t believe there is a purpose for anything. The Shaper is the “memory-scraper” that plays beautiful music and creates false perceptions of time and reality in the minds of the Danes. John Lennon was a talented musician and a member of the Beatles. One of the most noteworthy songs that he composed was Yellow Submarine. This song, much like the songs of the Shaper, is a story that creates false perceptions of the future and the past. There is a man that lived in “the land of submarines” who gives false hope to others who dream of living “in a yellow submarine.” However, there is also Imagine, that represents John Lennon’s Shaper-like ability to create a beauty to the bizarre world the Danes live in. John Lennon will play the Shaper as a representation of the false and beautified stories the Shaper sings of the Danes’ past, present success, and future prospects. Beowulf “was as big as a mountain” in Grendel’s eyes, thus he will be played by the strong and powerful Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Additionally, Thor’s strong shoulders resemble Beowulf’s “grotesquely muscled shoulders” in the eyes of Grendel (155). With similar strength and presence of heroic ability, Thor and Beowulf are strikingly indistinguishable. Hrothgar, the “protector of the people,” will be played by Liam Neeson. The role that he will resemble in this film is his role in Taken, but with the hair cut in the picture to the left. Liam Neeson plays a retired CIA agent, and he spends the whole movie trying to protect and save his daughter from her kidnapper. Just as Neeson has already left his profession and is weak and out of practice, Hrothgar has reached that point in his rule as well. Grendel poses a dangerous threat to Hrothgar’s people, but as he ages it is harder for him to live up to his name as the “protector of the people,” of the Danes. Liam Neeson will successfully be able to portray a king yearning for safety for his people, just as he did when he was desperately trying to save his daughter. Grendel’s mother is “old, sick at heart...life-bloated, baffled, long-suffering” and she is growing crazier and crazier as the days go by. (11) Grendel mentioned that “she must have some human in her,” and she lives in the cave because she was somehow cursed to this life. (11) She is isolated and tormented; therefore, she will be played by Kathy Bates as the Bearded Lady from American Horror Story. The Bearded Lady is a part of a circus troupe, and she performs a dance surrounded by beautiful women. Once she is revealed, the crowd laughs because of her build and beard. Just like Grendel’s mother, the Bearded Lady is isolated, taunted, and emotionally alone. Unferth is a wannabe hero who is tortured by Grendel’s mocking and pity.
Grendel is fundamentally stealing Unferth’s chance to be extraordinary. Therefore, he will be played by Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In this show, Xander plays a human living in the shadow of his powerful, witch best friend, and his other friend Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. While they are off saving the world, he puts himself down because he is the only one without a power or ability superior to that of any other human. Unferth is a man saddened by his lack of heroic experiences, and Xander is a human disheartened by his lack of superhuman qualities. Additionally, Unferth lives in the shadow of Beowulf (and is constantly taunted by Grendel), and Xander lives in the shadow of his closest friends and supernatural
beings. Wealtheow was traded to the Danes from the Helmings to balance the trust between the two. Wealtheow gives herself up to the Danes, and ends up playing a life-changing role for them. Grendel observed that “she had secret wells of joy that overflowed to them all.” (104) She will be played by Emma Stone as Skeeter Phelan from The Help. With hair as red as the queen, and a spirit to help others, these two could not be more similar. In The Help, Skeeter risks her social standing and relationships to interview the black women who have toiled away working for the most prominent families in her town. Skeeter creates hope for these woman, inspires them, and gives them someone to talk to and share their stories. Both of these women boldly enter new, and risky situations, and in the end they prove to be positive influences and figureheads for reality. Hrothulf is the nephew of Hrothgar, and he is sent to the Danes when he is left with no father. Hrothulf will be played by Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter. Hrothgar and some other Danes suspect that Hrothulf will, one day, plot something against them; Wealtheow notes that Hrothulf will resent her children once they receive the “gold rings.” Similarly, Draco Malfoy is an evil, scheming character throughout the whole Harry Potter series. His goal is to taunt Harry Potter, and he works with the Dark Lord to complete this task. Draco Malfoy’s cunning abilities resemble Hrothulf’s fate to challenge the Scyldings. Ork is a blind, old man who is the self-proclaimed “eldest and wisest of the priests” (130). He believes that Grendel is the Destroyer, and he believes that the ultimate wisdom is knowing that everything exists the way it is going to be. He believes there is no changing that, only accepting it. He will be played by Wallace Shawn as Cyrus Rose in Gossip Girl because both characters show true understanding of the world, and people. Cyrus Rose is the stepfather of one of the main characters in Gossip Girl, and he is always handing out heaps of advice and wisdom. Therefore, he will portray Ork both spiritually and physically.
Rudd cites various sections of the poem, describing Grendel as a “night-monster of the border lands” (Rudd 3), and the translation of the poem says that Grendel was, “...Conceived by a pair of those monsters born Of Cain, murderous creatures banished By God…” (Raffel 42). Rudd also gives evidence for Grendel being seen as demonic, and reasons that Grendel attacks the Danes out of “...not mere thirst for gore, as we might suspect… but rather… envy of the Danes’ happiness- and envy was a chief characteristic of the medieval devil.” (Ruud 5). He then ties this devilish persona to Grendel’s humanistic aspects, stating Grendel has a heathen soul, and therefore he must be human. Ruud also notes, however, that there are critics who question the validity of portraying Grendel as this three-sided figure, asking questions such as, “How can Grendel be a devil when he has a physical body? How can he be a man when he is so manifestly bestial?” (Ruud 7). Ruud believes that the original poet of Beowulf is doing this for effect rather than consistency, but a more reasonable explanation that encompasses all three characteristics is that Grendel represents the evil in
In both works, Beowulf and Grendel, Grendel himself is generally given the same connotations. He is given kennings, called names, referred to as the evil spawn of Cain, and even viewed as a monster; but why? Why in both books is he a wicked, horrible, person who is harshly excluded from everyone? After stumbling upon John Gardner's book, it was halfway expected that some excuse would be made for Grendel; that he wasn't really the inexorable monster the thanes in Beowulf portrayed him as. But all it really did was make him worse. What is the message we are being sent about Grendel?
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.
Throughout the novel, this monster, Grendel, seems confused as to whether he wants to view life like his existentialistic dragon mentor, or like the ignorantly optimistic humans on which he feeds. At times he is captivated by the romantic songs of the Shaper, and feels no desire to kill, while at others he thrives on the "knowledge" of the dragon, and goes on bloody rampages. At one point during Grendel's insecure state, the dragon tells him something that changes his outlook, and gives him a new feeling of self-worth.
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
Grendel looks like. The only idea the reader has of the sight of Grendel is
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.
Grendel represents everything that an Anglo-Saxon warrior should not be. As he is introduced into the story, he is characterized by having, “…no idea of the
Grendel is the embodiment of all that is evil and dark. He is a descendant of Cain and like Cain is an outcast of society. He is doomed to roam in the shadows. He is always outside looking inside. He is an outside threat to the order of society and all that is good. His whole existence is grounded solely in the moral perversion to hate good simply because it is good.
The character Grendel portrays the fallen self, which will assert itself violently if neglected, and must be overcome throughout life. The monster Grendel mirrors the part of our fallen state. Grendel's ancestry leads to the biblical figure Cain, to which all evil can be attributed. Grendel represents the hidden evil of Beowulf. Rollo May describes this in his metaphor "the dragon or the Sphinx in me will often be clamoring and will sometimes be expressed"(174). Grendel represents Beowulf's Sphinx, that lashes out on others.
Grendel is an intelligent monster who is capable of being just as human as anyone else in John Gardner’s novel. Aside from Grendel’s hideous appearance and his emotional outbursts, there was very little that separated him from the rest of the world. Just like the Danes, Grendel was moved by the words that were being spoken out of the Shaper’s mouth. He was moved by the
Grendal, a descendant of Cain, is one of the main antagonist of the poem Beowulf. He lives under an inherited curse and is denied God’s presence. Throughout the story Grendal causes enormous grief and fear to the people of Herot. After so much pain and agony the king of Herot, Hrothgar, sends for the protagonist of the poem, Beowulf. He is a Geat and the epic hero of the poem. The wide variety of distinctions between Grendal and Beowulf is what develops the climax of the composition. Beowulf kills Grendal, so he is honored by the people of Herot for his heroic act. Since Grendal and Beowulf play opposite roles in the poem, Beowulf, they let the reader know how contrasting characters can develop the plot of the story.
Beowulf and Grendel (Gunnarsson 2005) depicts a very different protagonist than the one in the epic (Heaney 2000). The Beowulf in the film learns how to have mercy as the movie progresses, while the epic Beowulf is very flat. This is due to the fact that the modern culture is very different from that of the epic. Our culture isn't content with such characters. We want our characters to have more lifelike characteristics such as emotions and a change of heart.
The author of Beowulf demonizes Grendel by depicting him as being purely a monster as compare to John Gardner who depicts Grendel not as a savage monster but as an intelligent being who has human like qualities and characteristics. In the traditional story Grendel is depicted as a blood-thirsty fiend driven by his greedy animal instincts. ...
One aspect that was the most apparent was the fact that he was such an outcast. In Beowulf, Grendel was “…living down in the darkness, growl[ing] in pain…” because he knew that he did not belong with the Danes and other human beings at all (Raffel 6). Similarly, in Grendel, as interested as he was with the humans and their way of life, he still found himself “…back[ing] away till the honeysweet lure of the harp no longer mocked [him]” (Gardner 4). Grendel was constantly distancing himself from the human beings because he knew he did not belong and they were not willing to give him the gift of acceptance into their group. However, this outlook carried through with Grendel between the two stories to portray just how monstrous and estranged he