Examples Of Prejudice In Beowulf

Prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. Beowulf (Heaney, 2000) the epic has many examples of prejudice and displays them throughout the entire story. As a result, the concept of prejudice finds its way into the movie Beowulf and Grendel (Gundarsson, 2005) but is dealt with very differently. In the epic version of Beowulf, prejudice results from a simplistic view of good and evil, and this is displayed in the killing of Grendel and his mother. While in the movie version of Beowulf and Grendel prejudice is shown with the trolls that Hrothgar and Beowulf killed. Both of the novels deal with prejudice, but they deal with them in many different ways.

In the epic version of Beowulf prejudice is shown

when they are describing Grendel. The author does not describe Grendel but instead uses the world evil. He uses the world evil to describe what grendel is and why they must kill him. The author makes it seem as if Beowulf only kills evil things. In the epic version, the geats describe all enemies and strange things as evil. If anything evil or different crosses path with Beowulf the mighty warrior kills it. Evil in the epic version of Beowulf is considered anything different or strange just like Grendel. So since he is different and he killed many people, he is evil. The author never stated why Grendel was doing what he was doing, he just said that he was doing it because he was evil. Since he was evil Beowulf saw it as a chance to increase his already amazing reputation. Grendel never had a reason for killing all of those people in the mead hall, he was just killing to kill and that was that. So in the epic the item being prejudiced is grendel because he is different and a descendant of Cain.”And from Cain there sprang misbegotten spirits, among them Grendel,”(Beowulf page 89) this line in the epic states that Grendel is the descendant of Cain. Cain was the first murderer and he was the bringer of evil to the world.
Prejudice in the movie Beowulf and Grendel is displayed with Grendel and his father.

Grendel’s father was a troll and this is what got him killed by the Danes. The danes hated the trolls because they were different and didn't speak like them. The Danes had not seen a troll for a really long time, but when they saw Grendel's dad they were filled with hatred. This led them to track him down and kill him. The troll never did any harm to any of the Danish settlers, and they obviously lived in peace since the Danes did not know that the trolls were there. As soon as one of the Danes saw him or heard him they were disgusted and this led them to kill him. Grendel’s father was prejudiced just because he was a troll. He never harmed any of the Danish and was just trying to raise his family peacefully. So the Danish people were really prejudice towards his father because he was different. This was the only reason that they hated him and wanted to kill him. When Grendel’s father is forced off the cliff Hrothgar sees Grendel and chooses not to kill him. He believed that without its dad the troll would die by itself, so he did not kill him. After the death of Grendel’s dad the Danes did not show any respect by leaving the dead father at the bottom of the cliff. So the Danes were very prejudiced towards the troll just because he was different and this led to the death of Grendel’s father. The movie shows that this is the reason for Grendel killing so many of the Danish. Grendel hates the

danish for killing his dad without any need for it and this causes him to go on a killing spree. Grendel goes out and gets revenge for what the Danish did to his father and goes to the mead hall and kills many of the Danish warriors. After many of the Danish have tried to kill the monster and failed Beowulf decides to show up. Beowulf has know knowledge of why the troll is killing the danes, but he is still going to kill him because he is a troll. The Danes and Geats were very prejudiced towards Grendel and his father. The troll was hunted down by Beowulf and attacked by him, because he was different.
Both of the Beowulf works deal with prejudice in different ways, but they are prejudice to one of the same characters. Grendel is the victim of all of the prejudice happening in both of the works. In both stories he is being hunted down by Danes and being killed by Beowulf because he is evil or different. So in some ways the prejudice going on in the works is the same, but the reason for Grendel killing the Danes is different. The epic version doesn't give a reason for Grendel to be acting the way he is. While the movie gives the audience a reason for killing the Danes which is for revenge. In the epic Grendel was killed for being evil while in the movie he is being killed for taking revenge for his father and being a troll. The Beowulf epic does not give a reason for why the monster is killing the Danes, but the movie Beowulf and Grendel tells the audience why he is killing only Danes. Although the reason for Grendel killing the Danes is different in the two works, the prejudice that led to his death in both of the works was the same.
Prejudice was in both of the works, but Grendel was not the only prejudiced one.
In the epic it was not just Grendel that was being prejudiced against, his mother and the dragon were also prejudiced against for being evil.

After Beowulf kills Grendel he goes after his mother because if Grendel was a descendant of Cain so was she. She did not do anything that was not reasonable. The Danes killed her son so she sought out revenge for killing her son. So the Danes found where the evil witch was living and attacked her. Beowulf killed the witch because she was evil just like Grendel. Since Grendel and his mother were descendants of Cain they were considered evil, and monsters. They were killed for honor and for Beowulf’s reputation. Later on in Beowulf’s life he encounters a fire breathing demon that was awoken by a thief that stole a goblet from the greedy beast. The dragon was seeking revenge on whoever took his goblet and was killed for it. The dragon was ugly and looked different than that of Geats so it was considered evil, and because it was destroying homes Beowulf killed the monster. The dragon was being prejudiced against because it was seeking revenge. It was angered that someone stole from him so it punished anybody and everybody that was nearby. Both Grendel's mom and the dragon were killed because they sought revenge for something that the Geats

caused.
In the movie Grendel’s mother is killed because she killed several Danes and took the arm of her son back to her home. The Geats saw her as a threat so they tracked her down and killed her because she was not a Dane. She was an ugly monster that wasn’t Danish so they killed her. The witch was only seeking revenge for her son who had been murdered by the Geats. After Beowulf kills the mother he learns that Grendel was just seeking revenge for the death of his father. So Beowulf tells Grendel’s son that he should be proud to have such an honorable father. To prevent Grendel's son from becoming like his father he buries Grendel and honors him unlike Hrothgar did when he killed Grendel's father.
Both of the works deal with prejudice against Grendel and his family but in the epic Grendel is killing because he is evil and in the movie he is seeking revenge for his father's death. Grendel is killed in both of the works because he is different and is killing many of the Danes. Beowulf in the epic kills Grendel for the gold and the reputation, and because the monster was evil. Beowulf in the movie learns that Grendel was only killing to revenge the death of his father and honors him for doing so. So Beowulf’s attitude changes when he learns that he is just taking revenge. If Grendel never killed anybody in any of the works he would have lived longer.