Cultural Paradigms In Beowulf

Cultural Paradigms: The Discrepancy Between Beowulf the Epic

and Beowulf and Grendel, the Movie

Beowulf (Heaney) is a three part poem about a man, if one can call him a man, with superhuman strength, the ability to swim for eight days straight, breathe underwater, and contest with nightmarish monsters in hand-to-hand combat, just to name a few. He, notably, combats Grendel, a spawn of Cain himself , “Grendel was the name of this grim demon… he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain's clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel...Cain got no good from committing that murder...and out of the curse of his exile there sprang ogres and elves and evil phantoms and the giants…”

Narrator, 102-113, Grendel’s mother, who tries to avenge her son’s death, and a dragon of a near extinct race. At the end of the book, Beowulf’s life comes to an end due to the poison in the fatal bite delivered by said dragon. And then there is Beowulf and Grendel: (Gunnerson) A movie released about 1300 years after Beowulf is estimated to have been written. So it should be pretty different right? Grendel has a father, there is no dragon, and Beowulf lives. Beowulf has great abilities but not the fabled abilities that are described in the Epic. This movie is nothing like the Epic Poem, and those examples are just to name a few. Why do we feel the need to change themes, characters, and change the story greatly from the original? What is the purpose of this? One needs to directly compare the major differences to fully understand the contrast of these two different cultures, as our culture values reason and compassion, while 1300 years ago this was a different story.
One of the biggest changes and a noticeable differences between the movie and the epic and the cultures is the ending, and more specifically the death of Beowulf in the Epic versus the ending in Beowulf and Grendel. Beowulf’s final opponent in the poem is a ferocious enraged dragon who had a vessel stolen from his treasure mound. Beowulf, with the help of Wiglaf, slays the dragon, but not before the dragon deals a death blow to his assassin. While bleeding profusely, Beowulf lives just long enough to digress one last time. In the movie, however, Beowulf doesn’t die. Instead, it seems like he sails back to Geatland after lighting a funeral pyre for Grendel. There isn’t even a dragon to speak of in the movie. Beowulf: The Epic had a lot of death, gory imagery, and the protagonist dies a bloody death. However, in the movie, there are borderline PG/PG-13 deaths, no blood to speak of, and Beowulf sails away to his homeland. Why is that? The most obvious answer is to have an open ending where the protagonist lives. The ending, along with several other differences that this movie has, are changed in favor of pleasing the audience rather than sticking to the original text. The culture in Beowulf is more fatalistic, as even Beowulf himself said he would accept death whenever it was his time to go. “He wished good luck to the Geats who had shared his hearth and his gold. He was sad at heart, unsettled yet ready, sensing his death. His fate hovered near, unknowable but certain: it would soon claim his coffered soul, part life from limb…” Beowulf, 2318-2323. Another reason why the dragon was probably not included in the movie is because of the title, “Beowulf and Grendel”. It makes sense to center it around Grendel and his mother, but not so much the dragon. Also, in Beowulf: The Epic he rules the Geats for 50 years before contesting with the dragon. This, honestly would have been unrealistic due to the average life expectancy in The Middle Ages. “Anglo-Saxons back in the Early Middle Ages lived short lives and were buried in cemeteries, much like Englishmen today. Field workers unearthed 65 burials (400 to 1000 A.D.) from Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in England and found none who lived past 45.” (WonderQuest). Our culture is less fatalistic, and more realistic.
There is little to no information given about Grendel’s father in Beowulf.

The only credit given to Grendel’s origin is when the narrator states that he is a spawn of Cain himself. In the movie, however, Grendel’s father is seen in the very beginning of the film with baby Grendel. Grendel’s father is killed by the Danes while Grendel watches. Hrothgar raises his sword at baby Grendel, but drops it, and decides not to kill him out of mercy. Hrothgar would later regret not killing Grendel, but the important part is: Why is Grendel introduced with a father and why is he killed five minutes into the movie? Later on in the film it is revealed that the reason for Grendel’s father’s death was because he stole a fish from the Danes. The most logical explanation on why Grendel needed a father in the movie is to probably give Grendel a reason to terrorize and pillage the Danes. On the other hand, in Beowulf:The Epic, Grendel doesn’t really have a reason to be evil; he just is. As stated earlier, Grendel is a spawn of The First Murderer himself. A descendant of Cain is good enough reason for Grendel to be the evil monster he is. He attacks the legendary mead hall because the sounds of their festivities, music, and drinking, annoys him. “Then a powerful demon, a prowler through the dark (Grendel)...It harrowed him to hear the din of the loud banquet every day in the hall, the harp being struck and the clear song of a skilled poet telling with mastery of man's beginnings, how the

Almighty had made the earth” Narrator, 86-92 He did not attack because they murdered his father in cold blood many years ago. It is safe to assume that it was easier to explain Grendel’s motive with a short introduction and death of his father, than a simple “He’s a spawn of Cain, so he’s evil.” The culture in Beowulf strongly believes in Simplistic Duality, or where someone or something is either good or evil. Anything that was not human, or useful to humans, was wicked. In our culture, however, we are more reasonable and compassionate; This is reflected in Beowulf and Grendel.
There are a good 1300 years between Beowulf and Beowulf and Grendel.

Whether one watches the movie and then reads the poem, or does the opposite, it is almost too easy to spot the differences in the story and the two cultures. Beowulf is very descriptive but at the same time leaves a lot to the reader to imagine. It can also be considered, in some ways, a tall tale, as no human being can swim while carrying 30 pieces of armour. “But Beowulf's prodigious gifts as a swimmer guaranteed his safety: he arrived at the shore, shouldering thirty battle-dresses, the booty he had won.” Narrator, 2359-2362. The Beowulf in the poem is also materialistic, greedy, and ruthless. The Beowulf in Beowulf and Grendel isn’t slaying monsters for the gold and fame. He is also sympathetic to Grendel when he realized that he, to, had feelings and a family. At the end of the movie he lights a funeral pyre for Grendel as Grendel’s son watches from a distance. The story was more than likely changed to fit the likes of today’s audience, as we can relate more to compassion and realism than we can heartlessness and

fatalism.