The times have changed. As well as the storylines. Movies and books could be titled the same thing but the storyline can be completely different and that is how Beowulf is when portraying the character of Grendel’s mother. Looking at how the storyline has changed when you look at the presentation and actions of Grendel’s mother you can see that reading something you can get an image in your head and then it is taken from you when you see them film. Grendel’s mother has been portrayed very different through the two mediums, the cantos and the 2007 film Beowulf. We have taken a look at and how the storyline is written while focusing on the motivation, physical characteristics as well as the mental characteristics.
From the cantos to the movie we can already tell that Grendel’s mother has a different motivation and as well as where the fight is taken place at. We can tell as soon as we see Grendel’s mother for the first time in the film her intention was to have a child with Beowulf and not to fight, she is more calm and reserved than vicious as we read in the
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cantos. The motivation of Grendel’s mother in the cantos was to get revenge for the death of her son. This quote clearly states the motivation of Grendel’s mother in the canto “ his mother’s sad heart, and her greed drove her from her den on the dangerous pathway of revenge…” (Ringler 19). The biggest and most drastic change from the cantos to the film, Grendel’s mother and her physical characteristics.
“Grendel’s mother/ a monstrous female” (Ringler 19) you would never believe she would look like a model in the movie after reading this quote from the cantos. The author really got into the readers head while reading with the descriptive, and easily believing words that were used. Grendel’s mother was not approachable at all in the cantos, she was a monster with claws as stated: “Snatching up a thane/ with her slashing claws” (Ringer 19). In the film she was a normal looking human being with no monstrous physical characteristics at all. The storyline has been changed to give the viewers a different perspective or opinion of Grendel’s mother and potentially believe she is not a monster. How someone or something looks can have a huge affect on how readers/viewers interpret what a monster
is. Mental Characteristics seemed to be easier to sense in the cantos than the film but you can tell with how the storyline was that there was a ton of differences with how Grendel’s mother mentally was and how her mood changed from the two different mediums. Seeing an evil and unhappy monster from the cantos to a calm and reserved human being in the film there was a fine line of what she was always thinking. For example “who mourned and raged / in her foul den” (Ringler 19) gives readers a great sense of how she is on the inside and what she is was waiting to do. The cantos gives readers a better presentation of how Grendel’s mother was feeling and thinking throughout the whole thing unlike the film just because of the fact that it is hard to tell what was going through her head the whole time. Motivation, mental and physical characteristics are all talked in the above paragraphs giving readers a better understanding of how storylines from two different mediums can make a huge difference of how there are different perceptions and how a character can be viewed from one medium to another. Grendel’s mother has been portrayed very different through the two mediums we have looked at and how the storyline is written in the motivations, physical characteristics, and their mental characteristics. What really changes between a film and a book or cantos in this situation is how the story presented the character of Grendel’s mother. Watching and reading something that has a character that does not act or look the same makes a reader really look at all the differences and evaluate everything differently. Watch and read closely and evaluate a character because you will see so many characteristics of them.
Though they are very different, they both fit aspects of Cohen’s 5th theory- “The Monster Polices the Borders of the Possible.” In the modern version when Grendel is killed by Beowulf, Grendel’s mother kills 20 of Hrothgar’s men for revenge “twenty dead Thanes in all, their bodies ripped into pieces, are hanging by their feet from the rafters” (Film Script 60). When Beowulf adventures to Grendel’s mother’s cave for revenge, the story has a complete twist. Once Beowulf gets into her cave, he finally meets the monster. In the older version of Beowulf, Grendel’s mother is not given many physical characteristics. In the modern version, Grendel's mother is beautiful, “Her long hair is now silken, her skin like golden milk…she has transformed into beautiful goddess of shimmering golden flesh” (Film Script 70). Beowulf pledged that he would slay Grendel’s mother for what she has done, but he is unable to kill her. Grendel’s mother is a seductress; She brings out the greed in men. “Beowulf is intrigued...seduced” (Film Script 69) then “Fear has paralyzed the great warrior. All he can do is stare into the eyes of his enemy... She has hold of him” (Film Script 71). Grendel’s mother offers Beowulf royalty as long as she can have a son in return. Beowulf’s mind is taken over by greed and desire for women, money, and royalty. He accepts the deal with Grendel’s mother. Beowulf has ventured
as men. She has been sleeping down in her dark and dingy cave below the world
Beowulf sees Grendel's mother in a cave. He tries to hit her with his sword, Unferth's Hrunting, but it fails to pierce her skin. So he throws the sword away and attacks the mother with his bare hands. He trusts "in his strength, his mighty hand-grip." Beowulf manages to throw Grendel's mother down; however, she quickly retaliates and is soon sitting on top of him. She tries to kill him with a dagger, but Beowulf's armor protects him this time. Beowulf managed to throw her off of himself and sees a sword of enormous size, which he immediately grabs.
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 is told by the King that Grendel's mother has "avenged the feud" (Abrams, 44). The king, once again, asks Beowulf to help him. Beowulf, upon seeing the king's condition, says:
In the Anglo-Saxon poem Grendel’s mom is described as a giant swamp like monster and could not be penetrated by a regular sword. According to Beowulf the Anglo-Saxon, “it was then he saw the size of this water-hag, damned thing of the deep…He dashed out his weapon, not strinting the stroke, and with such strength and violence that the circled sword screamed on her head a strident battle-song. But the stranger saw his battle-flame refuse to bite or hurt her at all; the edge failed his lord in his need.”(Ln.1517) In the movie Beowulf Grendel’s mother is a very seductive monster that appears to be very beautiful, Beowulf’s sword goes right through her skin. They then engage in sexual intercourse. One could assume Grendel’s mom is anything but a “hag.” According to Beowulf Gets a Modern Makeover. “In the film, Angelina Jolie plays Grendel 's monster mom as a babe, not a hag.” In the movie Beowulf Grendel’s mother kills Beowulf’s men before he fights the dragon. However in the poem it never happened because she was dead. According to Georgette Lewis-Brown, “The wrath of Grendel’s mother is more pronounced in the movie as she slaughters many of the men while Beowulf sleeps and has a nightmare about
The fact there is no mentioning of Grendel’s mother’s name implies that she is valuable insofar as her son is alive. This is could not further away from the truth because Grendel’s mother saved his life, and she is more powerful (Hala 39). Grendel acknowledges when he mentions “a shriek tens as loud as mine came blaring off the cliff. It was my mother!” (Gardner 27). While Grendel situates himself in danger, his mother comes along to save him from the situation that he placed himself into. Even though she has her own identity and persona, the novel never mentions her as something other than him. She is more powerful and dominant than Grendel physically, but because of the nature of her role, she becomes as subservient mother whose only function in life is to serve her son. She does not know anything besides her role as a mother, implying that mothers have no other role in life even they are talented or powerful. The novel is eroding the worth and value that comes from a mother because she has played an important role in raising Grendel. Because the book Grendel is trying to mimic the same world from when Beowulf is written, there are apparent contradictions when Gardner writes the mother “had forgotten all language long ago, or maybe never had never known any. I’d never heard her speak to the other shapes.” The mother is powerful and influential, but Grendel’s mother is continually portrayed is an unintelligent, useless being that has no independent worth beyond her
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
In the poem “Beowulf,” Grendel’s mother, a monstrous creature, is one of the three antagonists Beowulf, the main character, fights against. The battle against Grendel’s mother appears to be the strangest of the three battles. The main reason for its strangeness is that Grendel’s mother is the mother of the monster Grendel, who was killed by Beowulf in the first battle. Another reason for its strangeness is that Grendel’s mother is the only female-type creature. An alternative reason for this strangeness in the battle is due to the fact that Grendel’s mother is not a true monster, aside from her physical form. Through the explanation of kinship, the understanding of the missing words from the original text, and the comparison of Grendel’s mother to other mothers in the poem, specifically Welthow and Hildeburh, it can be established that the intentions of Grendel’s mother are not monstrous even though she has the appearance of a monster.
...atiently waits because she knows that the same person who slew her son would be coming after her as well. Beowulf’s pursuit of the mother is nothing more than another way to build his reputation because if he had slain Grendel and it got him such recognition, slaying both ogre’s would raise his reputation tremendously thus bringing him even closer to his name being secured on the cover of the history book. Him going after Grendel’s mother has nothing or very little to do with the fact that she is a woman, it however has everything to do with the fame he would get and the respect that would be associated with his name.
... campaign was against a Welsh king who killed a Mercian abbot. The sole reason she sought to kill this king was to avenge the abbot from her people. This greatly relates to Grendel’s mother in the sense that she became a warrior as well as someone who seeks revenge.
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.
During the film, Grendel shows fear and pain, making the observer feel sympathy for the character even though he is the villain. As stated by Asma, “monsters can stand as symbols of human vulnerability” (62). The monster Grendel is portrayed such that the viewer could place himself in the position of the monster and think how he would react in the same situation. For instance, he attacked the mead hall due to the distress caused him by the boisterous celebrations, this was shown as Grendel’s cause for his attacks (Zemeckis, Beowulf). Also showing Grendel’s interactions with his mother, causes the viewer to see him in a childlike state, her stroking his face, speaking softly while asking him questions, such as if he harmed Hrothgar in his attacks (Zemeckis, Beowulf). Bringing Grendel as a sympathetic character in the film, causes the viewer to feel sympathy for him instead as only viewing him as the demon from
...t. She had snatched their trophy, Grendel’s bloody hand” (lines 1303-1304). It is extremely apparent that Grendel’s Mother is an awfully hideous creature, but her reaction to her son’s brutal death brings out the nature of a true mother. She plays her role as mother very well.
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.