Grendel And Beowulf Comparison

Monsters

“ Monsters come in all shapes and sizes, some of them are things people are scare of. Some of them are things that look like things people used to be scared of a long time ago. Sometimes monsters are things people should be scared of, but they aren’t.-Neil Gaiman” ( Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane). The epic of Beowulf is an Old English story that has been interpreted for us to read in english, Beowulf is a Geat that went to Hrothgar's rescue when he was in trouble when a treible monster was terrorizing the town at night his name was Grendel. When reading the many different adaptations Grendel was shown many different ways he was always the monster but everyone always showed him differently. Society’s view on a monster today

is portrayed as scarier and sneaky, Grendel uses his motivation as good vs. evil this is shown by his mental and physical characteristics.
Some of the motivations for why he killed where very altered from the readings to the films, for example the motivation in the cantos was because of the loud music and festivals that were going on in the Cantos they really bothered Grendel “Thus Hrothgar’s thanes/revealed in joys/ feasting and drinking/ until their foe started/ his persecutions/ a creature of hell./ Grendel, they called him/ this grim spoiler/ a demon who prowled/ the dark borderlands/ moors and marshes/ a man-eating giant/ who had lived in a lair/ in the land of monsters/ ever since God/ had outlawed him/ along with the rest/ of the line of the Cain.” (Ringler, 1). But when they showed in the Beowulf and Grendel (2005) grendel did just kill anyone that was there he only went in for a specific reason and that was it he only killed that one person, when he killed the guy that spit on his dead dad and stomped all over him he didn't kill anyone else, but in the Beowulf (2007) when he went into the building he killed everyone and everything that got in his way and his only motivation was that they were reveling in festives and playing music,Sometimes he is shown more monstrous than other times.
There was many physical modifications when he was showing his good vs. evil when they are showing it in the cantos he was shown as a great big monster “ Now Grendel came,/grim and joyless/ to the entrance door./ It’s iron, fire-forged/ bolts shattered/ at his bare touch./ Raging and ravenous/ he wrenched open/ the mouth of the building/and his monstrous feet/ trod on its precious/ tile-covered floor;/ in the eerie dark/ his eyes darted/ rays of raging/ red hellfire.” ( Ringler,11). But in Beowulf and Grendel (2005) he was shown very human like and not as must as a physical monster this shows that people can interpret things differently and show a person in many different ways, that a monster can be a monster without looking like a monster but still have the mental state of a monster. In the Grendel interpretation he was shown as a more monstrous creature when they are talking about Grendel “ I hammer the ground with my fists. I hurl a skull-size stone at him. He will not budge. I shake my two hairy fists at the sky and I let out a howl so unspeakable that the water at my feet turns sudden ice and even I myself am left uneasy.” ( Garder, 5). This shows that Grendel is shown as a monster, he has features that make him look like a monster he is hairy and very large. Compared to the cantos they both show him as a monster with physical monster features the same for the Beowulf (2007) film he was shown as a hideous monster he was very large and had scaly slimy skin, just like in the readings he was shown monstrous.
The mental characteristics that are shown by the film Beowulf and Grendel (2005) are quite human like he is very smart in the movie he can communicate and he has set up traps that shows that he is quite smart, also when he doesnt kill just anything he actually only kills what has crossed him and made him mad he only killed that guy because he smashed in his dead dad's head and spit on him, when he was shown in the cantos he didn't seem all that smart at all and he kind of did things just cause he wanted to.

“ Instead the monster/ stalked and slaughtered/ old men and young/ an eerie death-shadow/ lurking at night/ lying ambush/ on the misty moors.” (Ringler, 2), he was shown the same way in the Beowulf (2007) he wasn't very smart and he did things just because he wanted to, in the Grendel reading he was shown as very mentally unstable he wasn't sure about himself and he seemed almost scared of himself, he is also still very smart but maybe a little sad and lonely, “ Ah, sad one, poor old freak! I cry, and hug myself, and laugh, letting out salt tears, he he! Till I fall down gasping and sobbing.(It’s mostly fake.)”(Gardner, 6). I felt that they always grasped the fact that he was kind of intelligent but still he is a monster and he is going to do monstrous

things.
Grendel is shown as a monster but he is quite smart at that, he has motiations that are there and shown but still aren't that significant Grendel is in both the films and the readings they do had different interpretations of Grendel some good and some evil, but they both still do a good job at showing Grendel. Society’s view on a monster today is portrayed as scarier and sneaky, Grendel uses his motivation as good vs. evil this is shown by his mental and physical characteristics. The quote that was used as at the beginning fit because in every different interpretation of Grendel he was shown differently but he was still a monster at the end and no matter what way he was talked about he was still a monster.