Two Versions of a Tale
A prominent story called Beowulf and The 13th Warrior have various amount differences and similarities both of which are conspicuously noticeable. The differences when watching the movie are the main plot, the battles that took place, the conclusions, and how Grendel was perceived. The similarities are main characters, how Beowulf is valued and the battle events. These result in the majority of differences and similarities between the two. Ultimately, the main idea of the tale was fairly similar to that of the movie whilst having some differences.
The principal difference is the story line, The Thirteenth Warrior has an Arab as a warrior chosen to travel with Beowulf and the others because of what an oracle said.
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She said that “The thirteenth man must be no northman” (The 13th Warrior). The oracle is the one who announces the news of 13 warriors, while in the tale, the council's request the bravest warriors to help protect the city “Of his council debated remedies, sat in secret sessions, talking about ... what the bravest of warriors could do” (Raffel 43). Beowulf being a hero and hearing about this accepts the king's request and comes to the Danish Shore. Moreover, King Hrothgar’s throne is protected by god “King Hrothgar's throne was protected by God” while in the movie, the King Hrothgar was not protected. (Raffel 43). Even though the movie and the epic have some major differences, they also have key similarities as well.
The main character of the epic is Beowulf. He is the sole character in solving moments of despair. He is the one to help them get out of that situation. Similarly, Beowulf is the essential character in the epic, he was the bravest of them all. The first night when everybody was sleeping waiting for Grendel to come, Beowulf did not sleep because he was so anxious upon Grendels arrival. This goes to show how much he cared and wanted to protect the city. There is a similarity, the king and the warriors look up to Beowulf as a reliable leader in both the movie and the epic. Due to this, both Beowulf characters end up dying as a …show more content…
king. In addition, a second difference was Grendel.
In the movie, the enemy was not a single demon, it was a whole community of them. This community of Wendels terrorize the town in which the great King lives and they come in hundreds and ride horses. Divergent to the epic, Grendel was one single entity, it terrorized alone. The battle events of The Thirteenth Warrior and Beowulf are not proportional because in the movie, Beowulf tries to kill Wendol but fails when Wendol and his followers attack the city. Beowulf then kills the mother of Wendol before he kills Wendol himself. This is opposite of Beowulf does in the epic. When Grendel attacks Beowulf and the others, Grendel ends up getting killed by Beowulf. Beowulf and the warriors then sneak into the hideout of Grendel's mother and kill
her. The conclusions of both the tale and the movie were in contrast of each other. The movie had an ending where the Wendol was the chief target in order to regain the freedom and peace of the community. This ending was disparate from the epic and also the monster that needed to be defeated in order to regain peace was different. In the epic, Beowulf had to kill two enemies in order reclaim peace of the town. First Beowulf had to kill Grendel's mother, the aftermath were decades of peace. The new threat was now a dragon whose anger consisted of a burglar who tried to steal its treasure. Furthermore, the deaths of the heroes were different. In the poem, Beowulf’s final hours were with Wiglaf and the fire-breathing dragon. Beowulf dies from a slash to the throat by the dragon while in the movie Buliwyf died by poison from Wendol’s mother. Overall, despite the few differences listed, the characters used their strengths and weaknesses to take down their enemy Grendel. The movie gives a moderate view of the tale if it was put into action even though some of the parts are different. Essentially, the the main idea of the tale was fairly similar to that of the movie whilst having some differences.
After reading the epic poem Beowulf and watching the movie The 13th Warrior, I find that the differences greatly outnumber the similarities. However, the theme of good versus evil reflects the values of the Anglo-Saxon people in both the poem and the movie. Numerous differences exist in the poem and the movie including the characters, the bloody battles, and the deaths of the heroes.
The 13th Warrior is told on the viewpoint of Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan. In the epic poem the story is told from Beowulf`s point of view. The movie explains the risk the warriors went through in the battle. It shows Ahmed saving two kids who were running from the attack and his big heart for those who were suffering. The film shows the better side of Beowulf, the more gentleman side. It shows Beowulf fighting to protect people. The characters in the film and the poem have totally different personalities and do all the task in a different ways. Throughout The 13th Warrior and Beowulf the warriors show off their attributes and physical talents. The main characters are different, but they have similar goals with just different reasons for doing
For them it was Beowulf that they admired and thought of him as a hero. Equivalent to Beowulf The 13th Warriors were also known to be epic heroes. One of the significant illustration that both Beowulf and The 13th Warriors show is the importance of strength in battles. Both Beowulf and the 13th warrior present multiple physical strength throughout their battles. Beowulf is known to be the strongest of all men.
When compared the Movie and the Epic have the same story arc (Beowulf and Grendel, Beowulf and Grendel’s Mother and Beowulf and the Dragon). Starting out similarly with Grendel's slaughter of the Danes through Beowulf’s defeat of Grendel. However, turning in the opposite direction when Grendel’s Mother is introduced. Thus interpreting and changing the finer details of said story.
The second comparison is how they are both get rewarded for doing the right thing. After Beowulf destroys the monster he gets a boat load of treasure to bring back to his people. The soldiers get rewards for helping out like a lot of money for joining, they get their college education paid for, and they get better jobs later on in their life.
Although Beowulf might have been a great warrior, usually people do not think that he is the greatest warrior from a story. Beowulf had the strength and the tactics to take down tons and tons of men on his own, but did not have the wisdom of other warrior figures. Beowulf was mainly strength and toughness, and sometimes a warrior needs to have some type of knowledge to ever be able to fight. A great example to Beowulf would be Luke Skywalker. Luke is in a story that is not the same type of story but, has the same concept. The only main difference would have to be the setting and the type of movie. Beowulf is a warrior that is considered super human and doesn't really belong anywhere, because he is not truly con...
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.
The first and most notable similarity is drinking. King Hrothgar built a giant mead-hall, namely Heorot, to accommodate his celebrations. Throughout Beowulf it can be seen that celebrations of any kind are always accompanied by drinking. Drinking is just present today as it was thousands of years ago. People today always include drinking in their celebrations, whether it be a birthday, anniversary, or marriage. Heorot is nothing more than a tremendous bar. The festivities of the warriors in Beowulf’s time can be seen every night in any local bar or pub.
The epic poem Beowulf tells the story of a man by the name of Beowulf that goes through events that prove how heroic he is. Throughout the poem, Beowulf endures three battles. In the first, he battles the monster Grendel. In the second, he battles Grendel's mother. In the end he battles an enraged dragon. With each battle, Beowulf finds increasing difficulty in his opponent, but prevails and saves both the Danes and the Geats from all being killed by monsters. In each battle, Beowulf proves that he is worthy of having the title of a hero.
The story of “Beowulf” begins at a time where a great hero is needed. This is where Beowulf’s character takes the initial place of an epic hero. In the first story of “Beowulf,” Beowulf takes on the responsibility of destroying the great threat, Grendel. This immediately shows the courage, honor and bravery of Beowulf. When Beowulf sailed to the Danes to kill Grendel, he was not searching for money, he was simply putting the Geats lives before his own. Beowulf was not yet
A soldier and Beowulf are similar in many ways, for instance, they are both strong and brave. A soldier shows strength and bravery when he/she fights for the safety of our country by going to war against countries that mean us harm. Beowulf showed strength and bravery when he fought Grendel, a demonic monster who killed many of the Danes’ people. Unarmed and with the strength of just one hand, Beowulf was able to defeat Grendel. Throughout the poem, Beowulf fought in two more major battles; Grendel’s mother and a great dragon. Another similarity is that both, a soldier and Beowulf, are/were passionate about serving and protecting their people. Soldiers are dedicated to protecting those around them on the battlefield, as well as our society as a whole. Beowulf was not only dedicated to protecting his own people, but also those who had done right by his father.
At the start of both stories, the protagonists are quite similar. The Beowulf from the epic boasts with every new person he introduces himself. This shows that he is very confident and arrogant. This Beowulf is willing to slay beasts in the name of glory without deciding for himself
An epic hero is a main character who embodies the ideals of a certain culture. The character is named Beowulf and he represents the ideals of the Anglo-Saxon culture which were bravery, skillfulness, and generosity. Beowulf showed his braveness multiple times throughout the story. After he heard of a monster named Grendel who, for twelve years had been attacking King Hrothgar's mead hall Heorot, Beowulf traveled to the Danish islands to defeat him. Even though Beowulf didn't know anything about Grendel he went on a long voyage to reach the islands so that the Hrothgar's people need not live in fear. Then, after Beowulf Grendel, Grendel's mother came after the people of Heorot to avenge her son's death. To reach her, Beowulf had to dive into dark dangerous waters, facing unknown peril. He swam down through the shadowy lake by himself fighting off monsters the whole way. Once he did arrive at her lair a vicious fight ensued, but the courageous Beowulf came out victorious once again. Later in Beowulf's life, a dragon destroys his village and the large mead hall he had built for his men. Even though he knew he was no longer as agile and strong, Beowulf went straight to the dragon and gave a defiant shout of challenge.
As Grendel drifts through the night he comes across Hrothgar's mead hall and is angered by the Warriors singing during their celebration. As the Warriors all began to sleep Grendel crept into the hall to kill 30 Warriors by snatching them up. "The monster's thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws: he slipped through the door and there in the silence snatched up thirty men, smashed them” (Unknown 36-39). The evil deed makes Grendel the antagonist based on what the author said. This allows the reader to suggest that Grendel is the evil character and will introduce the good character soon. The cynical deed Grendel had done spreaded around like wildfire and Beowulf heard about what the beast had done and then decides to kill the beast and others.
Beowulf’s first accomplishment as an epic hero was his battle with Grendel. Grendel was a huge beast, a descendent of Cain, who ruthlessly murdered innocent Danes because he felt pity for himself. Upon hearing of the Dane’s problem, Beowulf set off to help the Danish without having been called upon. Even though Beowulf had men backing him, He drew battle with Grendel alone and without armor or weapons. Yet, Beowulf emerged victorious with the arm of Grendel as his trophy. Beowulf then went on to kill Grendel’s vengeful mother and a huge fire-breathing dragon who thought it had been done wrong by the Geats. Alas, the killing of the dragon would be Beowulf’s last great battle for the dragon took Beowulf’s life in the struggle for his own.