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 ...
“Beowulf,” a heroic epic passed down by word of mouth until the 6th century, tells of a brave soldier who gained glory by defeating different beasts. Beowulf, King of the Geats, chased riches and treasures every chance he got. His pride and desire for glory led him to Denmark to defeat the dreaded Grendel- a demonic beast who seeked vengeance for the intrusion of the Danes. 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
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.
evil. Beowulf's battle with Grendel serves as Beowulf's first battle in the poem. Hearing the news of a monster laying siege on Hrothgar's kingdom, Beowulf travels land and sea to Heorot to defeat Grendel. Upon arriving, Beowulf and the other warriors spend the evening. After all the warriors were asleep, Grendel came into the hall and ate one of Beowulf's fellow warriors. Pretending to be sleep, Beowulf jumps up and begins battling, which leads to Beowulf ripping Grendel's arm off. After Grendel retreats, Beowulf hangs the arm from the ceiling as mentioned in the poem, “The victory, for the proof, hanging high from the rafters where Beowulf hung it, was the monster's arm, claw and shoulder and all” (124-126). With this statement it shows that Beowulf has won this battle. In the movie the plot also takes place in King Hrothgar's kingdom. The 13 warriors arrive and confirm that the monster they are about to fight is Wendol, who comes with a mist to kill and eat human flesh. While the group searches through a destroyed village, they find a figurine of the mother. On their first night, three of the warriors - Hyglak, Ragnar, and Haltaf are killed, similar to what happened in the Poem. During the battle, Buliwyf and the warriors find that the Wendol are human cannibals who look like, and identify with bears. The men consult an ancient woman in the village who tells them to track
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.
sword. "`Now give me my spear.' Then the King got his spear in his hands
British literature has many interesting stories that involve numerous journeys with many different types of characters that span from hero down to a miller. Many of the adventures have unbelievable strengths or happenings like magical events that cause for modern day readers to be skeptical of the truth behind the stories, but one must remember that the stories have been passed along, some for many hundreds of years, before ever being written down to read. Back then, many people could not read nor write, so the way stories were told were by way of mouth. Both Beowulf written by an Unknown author and Sir Gawain and The Green Knight written by the Pearl Poet were stories just alike who have characters whom embark on journeys that are quite
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.
What is hero? A hero, under the Merriam-Webster definition, is a person who is admired for brave/great acts or fine qualities. This is a very broad definition that combines both ancient and modern belief of what --or who-- a hero should be. Beowulf is an epic poem that focuses on an Anglo-Saxon hero. As such he embodies the traits that his culture valued most. Deadpool, on the other hand, portrays the most recent ideas of what traits a hero should embody. With these examples from contrasting periods, we are still able to see similarities and differences that shows how modern and Anglo-Saxon idea of heroism reflects its culture.
Beowulf was written between the 8th century and 10th century in England, however it is set approximately during the 6th century in Scandinavia (“Beowulf”, Gale). As a result of its origins, Beowulf’s pagan mentions are often shrouded by Christian substitutes; yet Beowulf’s pagan ideals are still transferred into the title character’s persona. The protagonist, Beowulf, is an obvious beacon of honour and his boasts of heroism aid his symbolic isolation from his other human counterparts. Unferth, for example, who is first mentioned around line 500 challenges the validity of Beowulf’s boasts; consequentially resulting in Beowulf bragging about his accomplishments further and then compare them to Unferth’s own infamous past (“Beowulf”, Norton). Beowulf’s response gives the reader cause to resent Unferth and again separate Beowulf from the ordinary men of Heorot. Ironically, Unferth’s position on Beowulf changes as he offers his own sword to Beowulf supporting his solo attack on Grendel’s mother (“Beowulf” 1455-1472). This change shows contrast between the characters since Unferth will not risk probable death to protect his fellow people, while the macho Beowulf storms into danger, seeking honour and fame. Fifty years later Beowulf evolves ...
The Anglo-Saxon culture ran on the outline of the heroic code. The warrior pledged allegiance to his lord in exchange for protection (“Beowulf” 38). Through acts of strength and bravery in battle, the warrior rose in levels of nobility and received rewards from his lord for his bravery (“Beowulf” 38). Hrothgar, king of the Danes and lord of the Scyldings, builds a mead hall, Heorot, to honor his warriors and give gifts to them (Beowulf 67-73). A savage demon named Grendel attacks the great hall and kills thirty of Hrothgar’s men (Beowulf 122). Beowulf, a young Geat warrior, leaves his homeland to aid King Hrothgar in purging the Danes of Grendel. Beowulf’s act of allegiance extends past the kingdom of his homeland by ‘rescuing’ the Danish people. His actions not only illustrate courage but the principle of allegiance to his family and himself. Upon arriving on the Danish shore, Beowulf states, “We belong by birth to the Geat people / and owe allegiance to Lord Hygelac. / I come to proffer / my wholehearted help and counsel” (Beowulf 260-1, 277-8). Beowulf declares his allegiance to his lord and is willing to come to the Danes’ aid. Hrothgar knows that Beowulf is only in Denmark to “follow up a...
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.
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.