The epic poem Beowulf is an exciting literary work to read and watch, but both the movie version and textbook version of Beowulf have opposing viewpoints revolving around the legacy of Beowulf. Both versions have their ups and downs. The movie started thrilling, died down and then built its excitement back up. The textbook gradually became more interesting as the story went on. The textbook was very detailed, and the movie was very explicit. The movie was very graphic, and seemed to be realistic. Both the movie version and textbook version of
Beowulf have opposing viewpoints such as Grendel’s description, the battle of Beowulf versus
Grendel, and the battle of Beowulf versus Grendel’s mother.
In the textbook Grendel was a descendant of Cain,
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In the movie Grendel was able to talk unlike the way they portrayed him in the book. Grendel’s mother was made of gold in the movie. Grendel attacked while they were rejoicing in the movie, but attacked while they were sleep in the book. And the book stated that Grendel did not know God.
For the most part the battle between Beowulf and Grendel in the movie was different compared to the battle between Beowulf and Grendel in the textbook. In the movie Grendel’s first attack was while they were rejoicing. In the book Grendel’s first attack was while they were sleeping. In the movie Beowulf broke Grendel’s arm, but that was not the case in the movie.
Also in the movie they burned Grendel’s arm after breaking it. And in the movie Grendel made it home before dying, and it the book Grendel died in the mead hall.
Above all in the movie Beowulf did not kill Grendel’s mother, but Beowulf did kill her in the textbook. In the movie there were no Beowulf versus Grendel’s mother battle, instead
Beowulf cheated with her. Also because of there being no Beowulf versus Grendel battle in the movie, Beowulf did not fight any other monsters like he did in the book. In the movie the
Another difference in the poem and movie is the bloody battles. In the poem, Beowulf has supernatural powers when he is at battle. In the movie, Boulvine battles with human strengths and power. In the poem Beowulf fights all of his battles alone. In the movie Boulvine battles with several men. One of the famous warriors is the 13th warrior, played by Antonio Banderes. He helps Boulvine fight the Ven. In the poem Beowulf does not fight his third battle until 50 years later. In the movie Boulvine fights his third battle immediately after the second.
Beowulf wants to fight Grendel, a monster wreaking havoc, and is boasting that he is more powerful and courageous.
Even though, the values of Beowulf and Grendel are similar to the ones that I and my entire generation have grown up learning, both of the epic and movie have qualities that make me unable to come to a conclusion as to which of the works recounts the story of Beowulf and Grendel in a more exceptional way. Therefore, I give the forthcoming generations the responsibility of making that
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.
Beowulf’s characteristics seen on screen are very different compared to Beowulf’s characteristics in the Anglo-Saxon poem. Beowulf in the film Beowulf
The main unexpected part in the film was Grendel being the son of Hrothgar, as the dragon was the son of Beowulf. It makes sense as to why that is, it explains why Grendel and the dragon exists and belong in the whole story of Beowulf. Grendel is the curse of Hrothgar, which explains why he is beyond relieved when Beowulf brings back the head of Grendel as proof of his death. The dragon is the sin of Beowulf, who comes when one of the people takes the horn form the swamp where she lives. In the attempt of killing the dragon, Beowulf puts himself in danger by severing his own arm to reach the heart. Both the dragon and Beowulf fall, and are on the shore when the dragon morphs into a gold humanlike form before being washed away into the sea.
This demonstrates a great difference between the two characters. Had Beowulf’s attack not been unexpected, Grendal surely would have used a weapon. Beowulf’s defeat against Grendal sets one of the first stepping stones to his long legacy of heroic deeds.
In the movie, this version of Beowulf does what the other Beowulf would have never done for a monster he just finished slaying. He builds a memorial in honor of Grendel. This shows Beowulf's remorse for killing him. An emotion the Beowulf from the epic didn't seem to have. Beowulf also shows mercy on Grendel's son when Beowulf decides not to kill him. This mercy is something that was not present at all in the epic's portrayal of Beowulf. If a deed would bring glory to the name of Beowulf, then he wouldn't hesitate to do it.
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. ...
During the Anglo-Saxon period, which was around 500 A.D., there was a popularity in epic poems. Most often, these stories were told orally; however, some of them were later written down. One of the epic poems that was written was called Beowulf, and after some time, that story was made into a movie called Beowulf and Grendel. Although the poem and movie are both based off the same storyline, they have many differences that alter the way a viewer or reader feels about the story and its’ characters.
In the end of the movie, Beowulf is sent out on a burning boat with tons of treasures. At the last moment of the movie, Grendals mother appears out of the water looking at Wiglaf the new king signaling that he’ll be
Journal of Popular Culture said, “It is in this light that the filmic interpolations and adaptations of Zemeckis' Beowulf can be read, in which both heroes and villains are problematized and, in many ways, made
He then takes Grendel’s head back to the kingdom and tells them all he slayed the mother in the cave. The story jumps on for Beowulf 50 years later to where he is an old king and faces off against a dragon that kills him. The movie also has this but like stated before Hollywood adds their flare to it. The dragon in the movie is Beowulf’s son from when he laid with Grendel’s mother 50 years
The movie also implies that Hrothgar is the father of Grendel, while there is no evidence of this in the poem. Grendel himself is very different in the movie. In the poem, Grendel is an evil, terrifying creature who sneaks into Herot at night and murders Hrothgar’s men because he hates happiness; however, in the movie it is implied that Grendel kills the men solely because the noise from their celebration hurts his ears. Grendel’s mother is described as an evil hag in the poem, whereas she is a beautiful seductress in the movie adaptation. Almost every character found in the written