Beowulf Movie vs. Novel
Beowulf is an epic poem that talks a lot about good vs evil and how the two coexist. The movie is based on the epic poem of beowulf. When the reader watches the movie they will have a better idea of the compare and contrasting that is going on. They will also see that there are many differences and similarities that happen in the book and movie. The first similarity is that in the book and movie beowulf arrives on a ship. Both the movie and the book make this very obvious. Beowulf also killed Grendel in both the movie and the book. He ripped her arm off to fulfill a promise to Hrothgar to kill the monster with his bare hands. Beowulf then nails grendel's severed arm to the mead hall rafters and although, Grendel runs away, he is later found in the underwater lair
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This happened because the queen thought her son was unfit to be king. Beowulf refused to be king but served the young king. After Heardred’s death, Beowulf did become king and ruled his people for about fifty years. The final similarity is that in the book and movie Beowulf does not use any weapons to battle grendel. This is a very heroic action beowulf sees using a weapon against a beast that does not use a weapon is considered dishonorable.
Now will come the differences from the movie and the novel. The first difference is how they describe Grendel’s mother. Grendel's mother is never described as covered in gold and looking like Angelina Jolie. She and her son live in a horrid place.
Another difference is in the book he is considered heroic because he defeats monsters, while in the movie he is described as the complete opposite. He lies about the fact that he killed Grendel’s mother. In the movie Beowulf dies battling a dragon. While this is true in the novel the relationship he has with the dragon is different. In the movie the dragon is Beowulf’s son but the dragon symbolizes his failure that's why he decides to murder 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.
The differences and similarities between the traditional version of the Epic Beowulf and the modern version, Beowulf and Grendel, makes passages for characters such as Grendel to be changed due to the time frame in between the film and the epic.There are several characters that stood out from the film, as they are portrayed in the epic as something completely different than in the movie. Grendel is one of the few that stood out the most.
Another difference could be how the story of Beowulf seems like it's more of a sad story
There are numerous similitudes and contrasts between Beowulf the motion picture which was made in the year 2007, and the poem by an obscure Angelo Saxon poet. A large portion of the likenesses and contrasts are clear. The poem was changed into a motion picture and was more advanced and simpler to see then the epic poem itself. The movie happens to be more modern and gives the audience a better understanding of Beowulf and what happened during his life. It also helps the audience visualize it rather than having to picture the occurences while reading the poem.
Beowulf’s characteristics seen on screen are very different compared to Beowulf’s characteristics in the Anglo-Saxon poem. Beowulf in the film Beowulf
To begin, we can examine the physical appearances of the two heroes. From the get go, we see Beowulf as a very powerful man. We see emphasise of this through the drawings of the novel. We see how muscular he is and the overall aura. He is relaxed and in control every step of the way.
In the epic poem Beowulf, the struggle between good and evil reveals its omnipresence in even the oldest of tales. The many allusions and symbols throughout the story relate to Christianity and other Pagan beliefs. By looking at them, it becomes apparent that the author of Beowulf believed that the constant war between good and evil is not only fought by the common man but also in the ranks of their highest esteemed rulers and warriors, and even in their dreaded nightmares where monsters lurk and wait for the death of man. Beowulf was written during the budding of Christianity in England, when it was newly forming. In the story there are obvious references to Christian rituals.
Beowulf must use armor and weapons to kill it. Which it shows how Beowulf is depending into death. This would be one of the main reason he is a monster and not Grendel. Grendel has reasons which people may take him as a monster but not as much as Beowulf. Grendel Is doing what he thinks is best since Beowulf killed his mother for no reason. When Beowulf killed the Dragon, while at it.. Beowulf died as well.
When the story begins, Beowulf has gone to the land of the Danes to kill Grendel for the people, not for the glory. Beowulf brings his own hand picked, group of soldiers with him throughout his battles, and refuses to allow help from others. Beowulf also tells the readers he will not use weapons unless necessary. Before the battle against Grendel, a Denmark officer states, “A chosen warrior who bravely does battle with the creature haunting our people, who survives that horror unhurt, and goes home bearing our love” (ln. 210). Also, when Beowulf’s men abandon him in the battle against the dragon, he does not choose to run in fear, but to continue fighting. In this moment much like in his past, Beowulf shows how honorable he really
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.
In the beginning of the novel, we find that that a mysterious creature attacked Hrothgar, the king of Danes and his army. In response to the situation, Hrothgar decides to call Beowulf who happens to his nephew. In this account of the story Beowulf is the hero to the Danes. He defeats the monster and it's mother. In contrast, in the novel Grendel, Grendel tells the story from his perspective. He describes to the how he wanted to be friends with the humans. In hi attempt to communicate, he is unsuccessful and finds himself being attacked. After trying several more times to befriend the humans, he deices to carry out his plan of being what society ‘wants’ him to be.
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 film and the book contrast against each other greatly and because of this the story's present a different story from each other. While little changes are expected when texts are turned into films the one thing not expected to change is the great battles. These battles are crucial to the adventure and the hero; changing the battles ruins the story, even if it has the same plot. In the first battle Beowulf goes against Grendel, a horrible monster who eats Hrothgar’s men at night.
The second similarity is the illustration of Beowulf’s fight with Grendel. In the film, Beowulf is seen fighting with Grendel and eventually removing his arm. The arm, in both the film and text, establishes Beowulf as an epic hero as it represents the struggle that he has went
Thus, In the movie Beowulf and Beowulf the poem similarities and differences varies in Grendel’s behavior, how a real hero should behave, the role of women, which divulge values of both Anglo-Saxons and Modern Society. First, Similarities and differences I will be focusing on is about