In 2007 Robert Zemeckis produced an adaptation to the classical Anglo Saxon poem Beowulf. Zemeckis film utilized Heaney's translation of the Beowulf manuscript as a broad guideline, however, he implemented numerous creative liberties throughout the film. Many of these creative liberties were minor changes such as Wealtheow taking on a more serious and judgmental role. Some of the creative liberties were more bold and featured significant changes. One such instance occurs in the outcome of the fight between Beowulf and Grendel's mom. The differences between that fight in Heaney's Beowulf and Zemeckis' film offer a new interpretation of the hero character, specifically Beowulf as a humanized and flawed hero.
The conclusion of the fight between
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In Heaney's Beowulf the description of the end of the fight is stated as "and severed it entirely, toppling the doomed / house of her flesh; she fell to the floor" (Heaney, ll. 1567, 1568). This scene specifically continues the poems understanding of Beowulf as an epic hero. The most apparent deduction available is the incredible strength of Beowulf. In this specific instance, Beowulf beheads Grendel's mom with the ancient giant's sword he is wielding. If one considers the force required to wield such a weapon and behead a monster, then they conclude that Beowulf symbolizes God-like strength. Beowulf even later states in his recollection of the fight "But the Lord of Men allowed me to behold [the giant's sword]" (Heaney, ll. 1661). This claim further illuminates the presentation of Beowulf as an epic hero. In addition, the act of beheading Grendel's mom not only depicts Beowulf's power, but also illustrates the heroism of Beowulf. The head of a being is arguable the center piece of its existence. The head of a being controls the rest of the body. By severing her head Beowulf is severing her control over her body which is symbolic of his
Grendel represents Paganism. The killing of Grendel and his mother, represents the ending of Paganism and the beginning of Christianity. The cause of Beowulf’s pride and self-centered personality may come from the belief in the afterlife. Literary critic, Alfred Bammesberger supports this claim by stating, “The poem focuses on the royal glory… on the heroic achievements of Beowulf” (Bammesberger). All glory would carry over into the afterlife, meaning that the deeds that he performs will follow him into the afterlife. All the conflicts come back to those beliefs. In addition, Beowulf displays characteristics of pure pride, as well as carelessness, while battling the external conflicts which leads to his death. To conclude, “Beowulf” has many distinct conflicts and even more hidden meanings and
Beowulf was a true hero, in the eyes of many, through said traits. He fought a number of battles and was triumphant in all, except his last battle. Beowulf possessed the skills and power necessary to kill Grendel, the monster who had been terrorizing the Danes for over a decade, with his bare hands. While fighting, Beowulf detached Grendel’s arm from his shoulder, which was later hung up as a trophy. Beowulf eventually put an end to Grendel’s life, and naturally, Grendel’s mother had pursued Beowulf. Although Grendel’s mother was an even deadlier monster than her son, Beowulf once again proved his abilities by slaying her, as well. He slashed her neck with a sword that carried unbearable weight. Afterwards, he carried her head with only his own arms, while it took the a...
Another difference in the poem and movie is the bloody battles. In the poem, Beowulf has supernatural powers when he is at battle. In the movie, Boulvine battles with human strengths and power. In the poem Beowulf fights all of his battles alone. In the movie Boulvine battles with several men. One of the famous warriors is the 13th warrior, played by Antonio Banderes. He helps Boulvine fight the Ven. In the poem Beowulf does not fight his third battle until 50 years later. In the movie Boulvine fights his third battle immediately after the second.
The passage that I analyzed spans the action when Beowulf returns to the halls of Heorot after a harsh battle with Grendel’s mother. He returns to king Hrothgar in the great hall of Heorot to say that he has successfully completed his boast and killed Grendel’s mother. Beowulf states that it has been a very difficult underwater battle and that he has barely escaped with his life, “The fight would have been ended straightway if God had not guarded me” (Donaldson, 29). Beowulf mentions this due to the fact that the sword given to him by Unferth, called Hrunting, was powerless against Grendel’s Mother. Hrunting is useless against Grendel’s mother due to the fact that she has the same charm upon her as Grendel did, which is that no normal sword can pierce her skin. Then, by chance, Beowulf finds an ancient sword on a wall during the battle and uses it against the monster. This sword, which was crafted by the giants, is able to pierce the monster's skin and after one swing, the monster was cut in half. After using this ancient sword to murder the monster, Beowulf watches the blade of the sword melt away due to the toxicity of the monster's blood, until only the hilt was left. A hilt is the handle of a weapon or tool. The hilt is decorated with runic symbols and was given to King Hrothgar of the Danes as proof of Beowulf’s exploits. The King is also given the severed head of Grendel as further reassurance that their troubles at the great hall of Heorot is over.
Even though, the values of Beowulf and Grendel are similar to the ones that I and my entire generation have grown up learning, both of the epic and movie have qualities that make me unable to come to a conclusion as to which of the works recounts the story of Beowulf and Grendel in a more exceptional way. Therefore, I give the forthcoming generations the responsibility of making that
Beowulf sees Grendel's mother in a cave. He tries to hit her with his sword, Unferth's Hrunting, but it fails to pierce her skin. So he throws the sword away and attacks the mother with his bare hands. He trusts "in his strength, his mighty hand-grip." Beowulf manages to throw Grendel's mother down; however, she quickly retaliates and is soon sitting on top of him. She tries to kill him with a dagger, but Beowulf's armor protects him this time. Beowulf managed to throw her off of himself and sees a sword of enormous size, which he immediately grabs.
Beowulf is a hero that shows honor respect and courage. In lines 710-1007 is where the battle with Grendel happened. Thinking of the destruction that he will get, Grendel bursts into Heorot. Grendel tears the door from its hinges with his hands and quickly becomes a Geatish warrior while Beowulf carefully looks around. When Grendel reaches out to pick Beowulf up, he is surprised to find his arm gripped with a strength than he never knew could even happen. Confused and frightened Grendel doesn’t want to run back to the safety of the swamplands. He tries to escape, but Beowulf wrestles him down to the ground. The crash around the hall, making noise on the walls and smashing the mead-benches. Grendel begins to panic in pain and fear; the sound
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’s characteristics seen on screen are very different compared to Beowulf’s characteristics in the Anglo-Saxon poem. Beowulf in the film Beowulf
as men. She has been sleeping down in her dark and dingy cave below the world
The capability of a hero to possess superior physical strength is the quality that sets him apart from the other warriors. In the beginning of Beowulf, Beowulf is described as the, “follower and the strongest of the Geats, greater and stronger that anyone anywhere in this world” (lines 110-111). This represents Beowulf’s strength by stating he is the strongest man in the world. In addition, Beowulf demonstrates physical strength when defeating Grendel. During the battle, “[Grendel] twisted in pain, and the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder snapped, muscle and bone split and broke” (lines 390-392). This quote describes the part of the battle when Beowulf rips off Grendel’s arm with his bare hands. Obviously, Beowulf demonstrates super strength because he is able to mutilate Grendel without any weapons. Furthermore, the most prominent event in the poem that signifies Beowulf’s super strength is when he is able to use the large sword to kill Grendel’s mother. The sword was, “but so massive that no other ordinary man could lift its carved and decorated length. He drew it from its scabbard, broke the chain on its hilt” (533-535). Due to the fact that Beowulf had the ability to break the sword off of its chain and pick it up with ease proves that he possesses super strength. Emphatically, Beowulf exemplifies undeniable super strength of an
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.
In the beginning of the story, a mythical monster named Grendel who is attacking King Hrothgar’s mead hall Herot. When Beowulf hears of this tragedy, he volunteers to go and fight the mythical beast. The author wrote, “So Beowulf chose the mightiest men he could find the bravest and the best of the Geats, fourteen In all.” Once Beowulf arrives, he is given a feast and then decides to stay in Herot overnight to confront Grendel. Grendel then arrives and kills one of the Geats before Beowulf can get into the battle. Beowulf then goes hand-to-hand against Grendel and ends up tearing off Grendel’s shoulder. Grendel then retreats to his lair to die. This is only a mere example of why Beowulf is a hero.
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.