During Grendels first encounter in the poem, Grendel slayed the Danes of Heorot in the night, while they were sleeping. In the movie, it shows how Grendel breaks into Heorot during the night, but while the Danes are having a celebration for Beowulf and his warrior’s arrival from his across the journey at sea. During the only fight of Grendel and Beowulf, the poem describes Beowulf ripping Grendels arm off with his bare hands after breaking into Heorot, vs. the movie showing Grendel tied up with a chain trying to escape Heorot as Beowulf slams the door on his arm, cutting it off. Grendel’s mother, a swamp hag who lives in a deserted lake, comes to Heorot looking for payback in the death of her son. When she arrives in Heorot, she notices her son’s severed arm hanging high and seeks revenge by killing Aeschere, who is one of Hrothgar’s most trusted advisors. The movie, however, …show more content…
In the movie, the dragon gets angered after a slave finds Hothgars one and only dragon cup and brings it back to the village Heorot. During the scene of Beowulf attempting to slay the dragon in the poem, Beowulf doesn’t get the chance to kill the dragon, since Wiglaf gets the killing blow. This scene in the movie shows Beowulf riding the dragon all the way to the city where the dragon destroys some of Heorot as Beowulf lures down a chain wrapped upon the dragon. Beowulf locates a soft spot in the dragon and rips out its heart as Beowulf goes down with the dragon, hitting the ground and becoming extremely injured. As the poem ends, Beowulf is getting burned while people making are making a monument to honor him. In the end of the movie, Beowulf is sent out on a burning boat with tons of treasures. At the last moment of the movie, Grendals mother appears out of the water looking at Wiglaf the new king signaling that he’ll be
Whereas Hrothgar declares Beowulf his heir to the Danish throne and then commits suicide. Thus leaving Beowulf with a new life, new wife and a whole sorts of problems, not to mention bringing a dark twist to Beowulf's ascension. Another example would be when Beowulf faces the Dragon, in the book, he brings eleven men but only one, Wiglaf, stays to fight with him. Whilst in the movie Beowulf faces the Dragon alone, but is met by a group of bowmen when he attacks Heorot. During Beowulf's conflict with the Dragon, in the book, he initially fails but only succeeds with the help of Wiglaf. In the movie Beowulf slays the Dragon on his own, due to its weak spot on the neck. However Beowulf's ending is similar in both ending with his
Towards the end of the story, Beowulf travels to fight a dragon who is protecting a large treasure. He wants to prove to his kingdom that he is still the brave and strong man he used to be, but his main motivation is the treasure he will get after his victory. "And Beowulf uttered his final boast: 'I've never known fear, as a youth I fought In endless battles. I am old, now, But I will fight again, seek fame still, If the dragon hiding in his tower dares To face me'" (606-610). On the other side, the dragon has the same motivation. He is willing protect the treasure if it takes his life. This makes the fight one to the death. "When he comes to me I mean to stand, not to run from his shooting Flames, stand still till fate decides Which of us wins" (619-622). Beowulf feels that if he cannot have this victory, that this is the proper way to
Which is to slay the dragon that continues to attack the villages and farms of Geatland.“ Beowulf spoke, made a formal boast for the last time:” I risked my life often when I was young. Now I am old, but as king of the people I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning, if the evil one will only abandon his earth-fort and face me in the open.” (lines 2510-2515), being his final words to his people before he sets out to slay the dragon. While battling the dragon Beowulf gets burned and injured badly. All his men are frightened by this and run off besides Wiglaf. “ The nobel son of Weohstan saw the king in danger at his side and displayed his inborn bravery and strength(lines 2694-2626).... Once again the king gathered his strength and drew a stabbing knife he carried on his belt, sharpened in battle , He stuck it deep into the dragon’s flank. Beowulf dealt it a deadly wound. They had killed the enemy, courage quelled his life; that pair of kinsmen, partners in nobility, had destroyed the foe. So every man should act, be at hand when needed;”( lines 2702-2710). Even though beowulf and wiglaf slay the dragon king Beowulf dies from his injuries. “ The dragon from underearth, his nightmarish destroyed as well.” (lines 2824-2826). After this tragic loss Wiglaf orders seven men to collect the dragon 's treasure. What remained after was placed in the barrow as a memorial
Knowing that the sword is powerful enough to cut the skin of Grendel’s mother, Beowulf slays her and brings the sword and the head of the mother to Hrothgar, and he rewards Beowulf with more gifts and another feast. Once Beowulf returns home, he then tells his lord about his adventures and gives him all of the rewards that he received from Hrothgar for successfully defeating Grendel and his mother. His lord, then gave him rewards such as a new golden sword that belonged to Beowulf's father and grandfather, and some land and houses. In addition, Beowulf was to have the crown after the death of his lord and the lord’s son. Fifty years after Beowulf first became king, in Geatland a dragon was awakened by a slave who discovered the path to his tower by accident.
Beowulf returns to the great Heorot Hall after slaying Grendel’s mother in an underwater battle. The death of Grendel and Grendel’s mother is a sign of the victory of good over evil. Grendel and his mother are vicious evil monsters. All the happy Geats listen as Beowulf recounts his underwater battle with Grendel’s mother. Beowulf credits God for his victory, saying, "The fight would have ended straightway if God had not guarded me" (Norton, 48). Beowulf offers the hilt to Hrothgar who carefully examines the melted sword, a work of giants, and "on which was written the origin of ancient strife, when the flood, rushing water, slew the race of giants"(48).
While engaging the Dragon in combat, Beowulf runs into complications with it and realizes that his sword can do no damage. Beowulf finds himself in defeat for the first time. However, Wiglaf, one of Beowulf’s kinsmen, comes to his aid and together with the combination of courage and strength delivers a deathblow to the Dragon. Although Beowulf is mortally wounded and is about to die, he passes the throne to Wiglaf and gives thanks to God for the treasure they receive from the Dragon’s hoard. This ends Beowulf’s third and final heroic battle in this case with the
Grendel appears the night when Beowulf arrives at Heorot. Beowulf wrestles the monster barehanded. He tears off the monster's arm but Grendel escapes. He dies soon afterward at the bottom of his mere, or swamp. Hrothgar rewards Beowulf with a great store of treasures. Another banquet is held for the warriors of both the Geats and the Danes.
King Hrothgar once again looks toward Beowulf to take care of another monster. To get ready for this battle Beowulf wears armor and uses the Horting sword which has never lost in battle. Once again Beowulf shows his courage by deciding to go to the bottom of the monster filled swamp and fight alone. Fighting off monsters on his way down, Beowulf reached the bottom where he was met by Grendel 's mother. He tried to cut her head off with Horting, but she is too strong. Beowulf takes a sword made for giants off the wall, and uses his super strength to cut the mother 's head off. As a trophy of this battle Beowulf finds the body of Grendel in a corner and decides to take his head back to the mead hall. Hrothgar celebrates another victory by once again throwing a large celebration where they gave more gifts to Beowulf and the Geats. After two battles, Beowulf decides it is time for him and his men to head back to their homeland. Continuing to show courage, honor, and strength Beowulf states that if the Danes ever have anymore problems with monsters he will help protect
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.
In both John Gardner’s Grendel, and the poem Beowulf, there are significant differences between characters, and the way they are portrayed in each of the tellings. The interpretation of a hero is usually altered in order to fit the audience, such as, Saddam Hussein in America is made out to be this monster whereas, in his home country Iraq, he is looked at as a hero and idolized by some. In each telling, Grendel and Beowulf have many similarities in how they are described in each writing, but each character is also shown in a different light in each of the writings.
Beowulf is told by the King that Grendel's mother has "avenged the feud" (Abrams, 44). The king, once again, asks Beowulf to help him. Beowulf, upon seeing the king's condition, says:
Beowulf looked over on the wall next to them and saw a magnificent sword hanging on the wall adorned with beautiful carvings, it was blessed with magic. No normal man could ever have lifted that sword, but Beowulf was no normal being. He waited for the right moment to go and retrieve the sword, and when he found the perfect opportunity and he ran straight towards the wall. He pulled the sword down with great force and began running towards Grendel’s mother. Beowulf took in a deep breath as he leaned back and heaved the sword forward. Beowulf had sliced straight through Grendel’s mother’s scaly neck, blood began to pour everywhere and he heard her bones cracking as the sword passed through her.
There are many similarities and differences between the movie "Beowulf and Grendel", to the poem. Major differences between the movie and the poem would be Grendel himself. In the poem, he is described as an evil monster born from two demons. In the movie, Grendel is actually human, but known as a troll to the warriors and Danes. The poem doesn’t give the background of Grendel or show how the Danes killed his father and the possible reason of his revenge, like in the movie. If the witch, Selma, was not included in the storyline of the movie, the audience would not have known key information that she was used to show from more flashbacks. The witch gives more of an idea about Grendel’s past life that could have been the possibility to reasons for his actions. Some major similarities are the battles. Both epics include the battles between Beowulf and Grendel, as well as Beowulf and Grendel’s mother. The end results are the same, leading to their death, but the journey and process to the two tales are different.
When they arrive in the land of Danes they are confronted by Hrothgar’s coast guard who tells them that fighting Grendel is like fighting the sea, you can never win. On this advice Beowulf left his sword embedded in a hill on his way to Heorot because as he said “Who ever heard of a man bringing a sword to kill the ocean?” When Grendel comes Beowulf grabs his arm and all the purity within him burns Grendel like a white-hot iron. Beowulf defeats Grendel by ripping his arm off and leaving Grendel to bleed out in his den. Unferth is outraged by the killing of Grendel because Unferth is 100% insane and thought that Grendel was beautiful and that Beowulf was a murderer by killing him.
The story of Beowulf is a heroic epic chronicling the illustrious deeds of the great Geatish warrior Beowulf, who voyages across the seas to rid the Danes of an evil monster, Grendel, who has been wreaking havoc and terrorizing the kingdom. Beowulf is glorified for his heroic deeds of ridding the land of a fiendish monster and halting its scourge of evil while the monster is portrayed as a repugnant creature who deserves to die because of its evil actions. In the epic poem, Beowulf the authors portrays Grendel as a cold-hearted beast who thrives on the pain of others. Many have disagreed with such a simplistic and biased representation of Grendel and his role in the epic poem. John Gardner in his book, Grendel set out to change the reader’s perception of Grendel and his role in Beowulf by narrating the story through Grendel’s point of view. John Gardner transforms the perceived terrible evil fiend who is Grendel into a lonely but intelligent outcast who bears a striking resemblance to his human adversaries. In Grendel, John Gardner portrays Grendel as an intelligent being capable of rational thought as well as displaying outbursts of emotion. He portrays Grendel as a hurt individual and as a victim of oppression ostracized from civilization. The author of Beowulf portrays Grendel as the typical monster archetype as compared to John Gardner’s representation of Grendel as an outcast archetype.