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Medieval european literature essay
Similarities and differences between movies and books
Similarities between books and films
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The movie version of Beowulf and the textbook version are not alike. However, they have an interesting and intriguing background. It was an epic and heroic story. The movie itself and the book are not alike, however; they both have the same background. The movie and the text are not the same considering that Grendel spoke and Beowulf lying about killing Grendel's mother; however Hrothgar commits suicide and leaves Beowulf in charge. When Hrothgar asks Beowulf about what went down in Grendel's mother's cave, Beowulf lies and tells him he killed her. Grendel's mother actually got into his head and suddenly, they kissed. Beowulf liked Grendel's mother and he thought she was very beautiful. He went down to her layer to fight her but she was very convincing. Therefore, Grendel's mother convinced Beowulf that she wanted him to impregnant her. In the movie, the dragon is the son of Beowulf. When Beowulf went back to Hrothgar, he asked Beowulf did he finish off Grendel's mother and Beowulf gave false information about finishing her off. …show more content…
The soldiers were having an epic time that night in the Danes, until Grendel heard the happy and joyful music. Grendel was very cold-hearted and did not want to see anyone happy. He hated the music they were playing and decided to attack the Danes and kill every soldier he saw. He attacked the soldiers while they were awake. However, the soldiers tried to fight Grendel off as hard as they could, he was just too powerful for them. Beowulf then came to protect the Danes and fight off the demon Grendel. Therefore, Grendel tried to run off and when Beowulf caught him, Grendel spoke before Beowulf ripped his arm
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.
Whether one watches the movie and then reads the poem, or does the opposite, it is almost too easy to spot the differences in the story and the two cultures. Beowulf is very descriptive but at the same time leaves a lot to the reader to imagine. It can also be considered, in some ways, a tall tale, as no human being can swim while carrying 30 pieces of armour. “But Beowulf's prodigious gifts as a swimmer guaranteed his safety: he arrived at the shore, shouldering thirty battle-dresses, the booty he had won.” Narrator, 2359-2362. The Beowulf in the poem is also materialistic, greedy, and ruthless. The Beowulf in Beowulf and Grendel isn’t slaying monsters for the gold and fame. He is also sympathetic to Grendel when he realized that he, to, had feelings and a family. At the end of the movie he lights a funeral pyre for Grendel as Grendel’s son watches from a distance. The story was more than likely changed to fit the likes of today’s audience, as we can relate more to compassion and realism than we can heartlessness and
Do people ever talk about superheroes, and monsters? Especially people into comic books and children. Every child, even adults, have a superhero they look up to, or a role model they want to grow up to be like. Superheroes are everywhere from movies to books. Children even sit in their room playing with toy superheroes, hoping one day they can be just like them. Even hundreds of thousands of years ago there were superheroes! A long time ago in the Anglo-Saxon Period there was a brave and loyal hero! His name was Beowulf, and everyone looked up to him. This hero definitely brought peace to many people, and if it wasn’t for the mighty hero Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxons would have been terrorized forever. Therefore, the times were hard before Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon warriors always stood for three values, and the time was changed without monsters.
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.
What are individuals willing to really do to maintain their reputation? Maurice Friedman ponders this question. In Problematic Rebel, Friedman states, “The hopeful element in the Greek view is that [,] to remain in harmony with this order [,] he must pay the price of the loss of something of his humanity, something of his full possibility of personal existence” (23). It is believed that in order to have an elevated position, something of importance must be sacrificed. Beowulf, Gawain, and Arthur share similar characteristics by being noble and heroic warriors. However, as all noblemen, they are still concerned with their social standings. Each of these characters are readily willing to give up something in order to either keep their lives,
Beowulf begins with a history of the Danish kings. Hrothgar is the present king of the Danes. He builds a hall, called Heorot, to house his army. The Danish soldiers gather under its roof to celebrate and have fellowship with each other. Grendel, who lives at the bottom of a nearby swamp, is awakened and disgusted by the singing of Hrothgar's men. He comes to the hall late one night and kills thirty of the warriors in their sleep. For the next twelve years Grendel stalks the mead hall known as Heorot.
He killed three monsters and then he died. Not a very interesting fate, but it is none the less one that I find myself having to write about regardless of whether or not I want to. Thus it was, the mighty Beowulf of old England that went forth to slay the evils which plagued the lands of his own people as well as those of his neighboring tribes. The second battle was one that was brought about by Beowulf’s willingness to go and help an old friend, and thus he nearly lost his life once more. For those not acquainted with the story of Beowulf, he was said to be the strongest man ever to live, and given this he was fated according to their beliefs to accomplish certain things in his life. Some of these things being to be slaying of great monsters and winning of great wars. And thus that is what he did as he progressed through life. The epic is rather brief in terms of what an epic normally is, but, in this time he manages to travel to a distant land, and slay a monster that has taken over that land, and then after that feat he of course makes that monsters mother mad, you know you can do something to someone without making dear old mom mad. So, then Beowulf must kill the mother and then after they are both sent into hell, the land is free of tyranny and injustice Beowulf returns home a hero. After fifty winters of rule by Beowulf, a dragon attacks his people because of what was done by a thief, so Beowulf knowing in his old age that he would probably not survive this battle to slay the dragon, goes into battle anyway and slays the dragon and he himself is then slain, by injuries sustained by this fight. My focus is fate, and how no matter how Beowulf decided to do it he would eventually die for his people.
Beowulf’s characteristics seen on screen are very different compared to Beowulf’s characteristics in the Anglo-Saxon poem. Beowulf in the film Beowulf
...le, the movie can offend some of the students, and it is possible that the movie could be ridiculing the actual poem. Because of these factors, it distorts the seniors’ perspectives of what Beowulf’s true story line is. Students are not likely to go and research what Beowulf is about due to how they view this movie, which, in turns, restrains their views on epic poetry now and maybe even in the future.
“Beowulf”, the original poem existed in a single manuscript, which was forgotten for nearly 600 years. J.R.R Tolkien then rediscovered the poem in 1939. The film later came out in 2007 as a 3D adult animated epic fantasy. In both genres, the story takes place in Scandinavia during the 5th century. In both versions, Beowulf travels to Denmark to rid the monster, Grendel who has been terrorizing the Danes. However, the movie is different from the book because the characters’ relationships are portrayed differently, as well as the depiction of what an effective leader is, and how women can use their sex to manipulate men.
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.
The main unexpected part in the film was Grendel being the son of Hrothgar, as the dragon was the son of Beowulf. It makes sense as to why that is, it explains why Grendel and the dragon exists and belong in the whole story of Beowulf. Grendel is the curse of Hrothgar, which explains why he is beyond relieved when Beowulf brings back the head of Grendel as proof of his death. The dragon is the sin of Beowulf, who comes when one of the people takes the horn form the swamp where she lives. In the attempt of killing the dragon, Beowulf puts himself in danger by severing his own arm to reach the heart. Both the dragon and Beowulf fall, and are on the shore when the dragon morphs into a gold humanlike form before being washed away into the sea.
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.
Erika Mercado Essay 2 Modern Heroes: Dante vs Beowulf A modern hero is a good-hearted person with these attributes: bravery, strong, and contributes to saving the lives of his homelands. Beowulf demonstrates the characteristics of a modern hero: a leader, fearless, and generous. Beowulf is a young hero whose character exerts powerful strength in battles. Dante the Pilgrim does not display hero attributes in The Inferno.
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.