Comparing Beowulf and Michael Crichton's The 13th Warrior
Michael Crichton intertwined some aspects of Beowulf with his own thoughts to produce the drama, “The 13th Warrior.” Beowulf, written down by an unnamed Christian monk in the 8th century, served as a framework for the plot of “The 13th Warrior.” Beowulf and “The 13th Warrior” have many differences but the similarities that they share are more abundant through out the two pieces.
Instead of doing a direct translation of Beowulf, the writer of the “The 13th Warrior” used his creativity to fabricate a new story. To start off, “The 13th Warrior” is seen through the eyes of Antonio Banderas’ character, Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, while Beowulf told the story of Beowulf from a third person point of view. The protagonists, Beowulf (Beowulf), and Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan (“The 13th Warrior”) are of different ethnic groups; Beowulf is Swedish and Ahmed is Arabic. In “The 13th Warrior” groups of men fight the evil which is in the form of men dressed up as bears, possibly to seem more frightening, and their mother, who is an evil witch. Beowulf generally fights the evil, which is represented by Grendel and his mother, who are both monsters, descendants of Cain, alone. The warriors of “The 13th Warrior” and Beowulf, clearly, had incongruous reasons for fighting the bear men. Beowulf wanted to be famous and with fame comes fortune.
Beowulf was supercilious unlike the men in “The 13th Warrior.” Ahmed and his comrades were not offered money or ...
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.
To compare the movie Brave with Anglo-Saxon in the Brave her father lost his leg and it became a legend. Just like when Beowulf attacked Grendel the and cropped off his arm. With that arm they used it as a trophy and in the movie in the dinning room they have a stuffed bear that could resemble like the arm from Grendel. Fergus is like the king in the story Beowulf because they both want to protect the people of their kingdom. At the very beginning of the movie a bear tries to attack Fergus’s family and him and his army attack the bear to protect his family. In Beowulf the king send out Beowulf to protect his kingdom because Grendel was sneaking in at night and killing off his people. And the king’s purpose is to protect his people of the
In the poem Beowulf, which Seamus Heaney translates to modern English, the character Beowulf bravely conquers all enemies thrown at him, including sea monsters and other perilous creatures. This allows him to gain fame throughout Geatish and Danish lands. His righteous deeds cause the previous heir, Hygelac, to appoint Beowulf to king before he dies, and Beowulf bravely leads his country until he perishes protecting it. On the other hand, in The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell, the Danes capture a young English boy by the name of Uhtred, and integrate him into their war driven society. Uhtred learns various battle tactics by general Ubba, whose ruthlessness in battle grants him fame and riches. When Uhtred goes back to the English,
A hero is someone you look up to, someone who has done something to inspire you, someone who is your role model. In our society, there are many different types of heroes—family, friends, teachers, firefighters, and police officers to name a few. But a hero that stands out to me is a U.S. soldier. Soldiers risk their lives every day just so we can have our freedom.
Most of us have heard of modern day heroes such as Spiderman, Superman, and the Hulk. Each is a hero to many children. Heroes are introduced to people early on in life usually as fictional characters, but as children grow older their perceptions of heroes alter. The characteristics of a hero are usually based around the ideas of a society or culture. In the epic Beowulf, the main character is thought of as a hero. Beowulf, a pagan warrior and the main character of the epic, shows certain characteristics such as bravery, loyalty, and generosity, which portray him as a hero. It is interesting how modern day heroes show the much of the same qualities as Beowulf.
The leader of the 13 warriors is named Buliwyf (Beowulf), and he is played by Vladimir Kulich, who later played Leif in the History Channel “Vikings” program, and could certainly be typecast as a stereotypical Viking hero. The monstrous enemy faction is called the Wendol – a name much like Beowulf’s troll-like adversary Grendel. The King who enlists the warriors is named Hrothgar, which is also the name of the King that Beowulf assists in his legend. Buliwyf even fights the Wendol’s matriarch and beheads her, just as Beowulf did to Grendel’s mother, though the outcome is slightly different and Buliwyf gets dealt a fatal poison blow. Clearly, there are parallels between the film’s plot and the plot of
There are many similarities and differences between the movie 13th Warrior and the epic poem Beowulf. Beowulf was created around the time of the medieval age and the movie 13th Warrior is a present day interpretation of the epic poem. Throughout both the movie and the poem, the archetypes that the two mainly focus on are the monsters, the fight with evil, and with the superhuman heroes.
Old English Saxon society and writing, to be a saint was to be a warrior. A saint must be solid, smart, and gutsy. Warriors must will to confront any chances, and battle until the very end for their superbness and individuals. The Anglo-Saxon legend could be these and still be modest and kind. In writing Beowulf is, maybe, the ideal sample of an Anglo-Saxon saint. In The thirteenth Warrior, Ibn Fadlan (played by Antonio Banderas) additionally indicates a large number of the attributes that recognize an Anglo-Saxon saint. In the meantime, Fadlan and everyone around him show a number of the characteristics which characterize today's saints. The Anglo-Saxon saint is unmistakably appeared and characterized in Beowulf, "The Wanderer," "The Dream of The Rood," and even Crichton's The thirteenth Warrior.
When deciphering between what it considered to be heroic or monstrous, it is important to keep in mind the angle in which a story is being told. While reading Beowulf, the protagonist of the epic poem could be considered either heroic or monstrous through the eyes of different characters. Beowulf can be classified as a hero according to The Hero’s Journey through the eyes of Hrothgar and Hygelac. On the other hand, Beowulf could be viewed as being monstrous according to Monster Theory through the eyes of Unferth and Grendel’s Mother.
For centuries, children stories have been a valuable tool in teaching lessons and morals. Like most stories that one was read as a child, there lies a life lesson that the author is trying to portray. Whether it was told orally like the story Beowulf or written by an author like Chaucer who wrote The Canterbury Tales, there are life lessons that are being taught through the characters and their challenges that they endure.
This essay is the comparison between Beowulf and a modern day hero. I consider any American soldier to be my modern day hero. In this essay I will explain in three paragraphs of how my modern day hero is like Beowulf. With in these three paragraphs I will go over how they are both fighting for a good cause, how they are both rewarded for what they do, and how they are both treated with much respect.
In the stories of Beowulf and A Knight's Tale, there are many different themes. One of the major themes is the religion that runs through both of them, yet both stories have a very different view of religion. In Beowulf, it seems as if God has chosen where our life will end and where it will begin, everything happens by the will of God in a fair and just way. In The Knight's Tale, we see Greek gods playing with the characters and when they "play" with them, there is no real pattern to how they choose things. Each vies is different and this affects the stories in different ways.
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 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.
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.