Similarities Between Beowulf And Grendel

360 Degrees of Beowulf and Grendel:

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Nowadays, movies do not portray a piece exactly the way it was written. For a film to be considered entertaining it must include plenty of drama and romance, or anything the average Joe can relate to. This is a popular dilemma which is evident in the contrast of the film Beowulf and Grendel, by S. Gunnarsson, and it's predecessor Beowulf, by Seamus Heaney. The two societies from each production differ in their cultural values due to the different eras that they were each produced in. Some of the differences in the stories are both of Beowulf’s religious and fatalistic beliefs, both of Grendel’s internal character and the audience’s sympathy for him, and additional

romance and drama scenes added to the film.
First and foremost, in the original storyline of the epic poem, Beowulf is a God-fearing man who honors his Lord and prays to him. Although the great hero, Beowulf, is the opposite of humble and always boasts about his awesome accomplishments, he asks the Almighty to help him defeat the horrific monsters who are causing harm to the people so that he will succeed again and bring peace to his town. In the epic poem it is said that Beowulf was “a boy child born to Shield… a comfort sent by God to that nation.” In the entire story, this hero sent by God knows he got his strength as a gift from The Almighty himself, so he prays to Him for help in all his battles and obstacles. In addition to his religious beliefs, Beowulf also believes in and accepts fate. In the epic poem it states that it is up to God in Heaven to decide to whom the victory goes to in these battles. Only He will decide the strongest and best to win. This means that every result is predetermined, and Beowulf accepts that and keeps a well-built spiritual foundation in himself to succeed in his battles against the many monsters, including Grendel. Also, the strong belief in fatalism and God may be the effect of the culture during the time when the epic poem was first composed. The poem was first written in the Anglo-Saxon time period long ago, when it was common for every member of the society to believe in God. As a result, the author made Beowulf a God-fearing and spiritual man.
Oppositely, in the movie Beowulf and Grendel, the son of Ecgtheow has no spiritual or religious foundation or interest.

The movie was produced in modern times during the 21st century, when it is now acceptable by society to have different beliefs or not have beliefs at all. Having free will is the norm instead of “accepting fate,” which is probably the reason why Beowulf is non-religious. During the movie there are monks and/or priests who try to spread the word of God to the people in Beowulf’s village and to the hero himself, but he rejects the idea and states that there are no such gods. He shoves and yells at Father Brendan, the head priest in the film. He believes that he can take anyone and anything on by himself and win every fight because of his great strength. The entire film includes religious priests and monks with brown gowns and crosses preaching about Jesus Christ, but Beowulf, once again, does not seem to understand or accept their beliefs. Though, towards the end of the movie, some people start to accept Christ into their lives and it makes Beowulf double think. Perhaps these changes were made to the film because more people can relate to the hero’s situation where they are skeptical, but then believe when they are shown and taught about

God.
In addition to the differences of both Beowulfs, the Grendels in the stories have contrasting characters and personalities that have different impacts on the audiences. In the epic poem, Grendel is evil and is said to be a part of “Cain’s clan” and was the “price for the killing of Abel…a fiend out of hell to work his evil in the world,” (Heaney, pg. 9). Grendel is evil simply because he derived from it and was made to be evil without any specific reason. In the plot, the monster causes mass killings in the Danes and disturbs the people from being happy and at peace. All of the land hates Grendel and wants to get rid of him with whatever it takes, and that is where Beowulf volunteers himself to do the ultimate deed and put his life at risk. Grendel fights with Beowulf, but as a result, ends up dead. The Geats are happy that the “Monster from hell,” is gone and destroyed (pg. 9).
However, in Beowulf and Grendel Grendel is portrayed as a troll whose father is initially killed by King Hrothgar of the Danes. Grendel grows up alone in a place of isolation all his life, which results in him wanting to get revenge on Hrothgar’s people who killed his father and left him alone his entire life. Also, unlike the poem, in the film Grendel had human qualities such as being able to speak and have emotions, making him more human-like than in the epic. In the movie Grendel did not come from Cane and is not pure evil, but rather has reasons towards his behavior and actions. He still kills people because of his anger, but this time he has logical reasons for it. This causes the audience to have a sympathy for Grendel instead of calling him the totally abominable antagonist. At the end of Beowulf and Grendel Beowulf understands what Grendel’s situation and makes a monument to him on his grave.
Lastly, the film includes extra characters, scenes, and romance that did not occur in the original epic poem. Because of our modern society, the movie was made to have similar situations that an average person has so that they could relate to them and be more interested in the movie. Many scenes from the movie include a witch named Selma who had a son with Grendel and sexual relations with Beowulf. Also, many monks and religious people appear throughout the whole movie. In the epic poem Beowulf Grendel does not have a son, the witch is only talked about once, and there are no priests or religious people. Hrothgar also does not murder Grendel’s father in the epic poem, but does in the movie. All of the extra drama and characters were added to the film to make it overall more relatable to the civilized world. Also, the dragon that Beowulf battles in the epic poem does not appear on the plot of Beowulf and Grendel because people of this age would not be able to relate to that because there are no fire-spitting dragons.
In conclusion, Beowulf, the epic poem, and Beowulf and Grendel, the movie, differentiate and contrast from each other in many ways from characters to religion to the overall theme and culture, which mostly depend on the time period in which the poem and movie was produced. Beowulf’s religious beliefs and Grendel’s background and internal character differ between each media. Much of the plots and characters differ as well. While the movie teaches us that people can change and we should forgive one another, the book entertains us with a story of a hero who defeats the evil villain. Civilization and the people in it are always changing culturally, and with it their stories change as well.