Heros just do not save others lives, they go beyond the ordinary and push for the extreme to care for others and that is what makes them stand out from the rest. In the movie and poem Beowulf, there were many differences and similarities that stood out to me. Usually when a book or poem gets made into a movie there are many different and or connected situations. I enjoyed the poem a lot more than the movie in my opinion. The movie seemed unreal and not believable in comparison to the poem. One difference between the poem and the movie was that the poem explained the actual story of Beowulf and his journey in much more detail. The reason behind why it was interesting was to be able to read the poem come to life descriptively as it is always …show more content…
Grendel tries to escape the battle between him and Beowulf but dashed out of the mead hall as soon as he had a chance. Grendel could not believe there was someone that had hands that was harder than his own and his mind was flooded with fear. In the movie Hrothgar claims for Grendel to slash him but instead Grendel looks him in the eye and walks out not attempting to kill Hrothgar. Beowulf rushes to the door to leave Grendel with a terrorizing statement, Beowulf was boasting about his accomplishments and how Grendel should never return to the mead hall ever. Grendel did not fight or try to kill hrothgar because that was Grendel’s father. “ Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend/Grendel who haunted the moors, the wild/Marshes, and made his home in a hell./Not hell but hell on earth. He was spawned in that slime/Of Cain, murderous creatures banished/ By God, punished forever for the crime/ Of Abel's death." (Page …show more content…
Grendel, a horrible demon who lives in the swamplands of Hrothgar’s kingdom. Grendel terrorizes the Danes every night, killing them and defeating their efforts to fight back. The Danes suffer many years of fear, danger, and death at the hands of Grendel. Eventually, however, a young warrior named Beowulf hears of Hrothgar’s condition and makes it easier and safer for the others. Inspired by the challenge, Beowulf sails to Denmark with a small company of men, determined to defeat Grendel and other unexpected creatures. Giving up weapons shows how little Beowulf fears death in his quest for fame and great deeds. “Accept the challenges so that you may feel the thrill of victory.” I am saying this because when I get thrown obstacles in life I do not let it take me down, I challenge myself to do better and not be on the same level. I love the challenge and others should realize to never give up because we have so much potential to strive for what we want as
In both works, Beowulf and Grendel, Grendel himself is generally given the same connotations. He is given kennings, called names, referred to as the evil spawn of Cain, and even viewed as a monster; but why? Why in both books is he a wicked, horrible, person who is harshly excluded from everyone? After stumbling upon John Gardner's book, it was halfway expected that some excuse would be made for Grendel; that he wasn't really the inexorable monster the thanes in Beowulf portrayed him as. But all it really did was make him worse. What is the message we are being sent about Grendel?
When compared the Movie and the Epic have the same story arc (Beowulf and Grendel, Beowulf and Grendel’s Mother and Beowulf and the Dragon). Starting out similarly with Grendel's slaughter of the Danes through Beowulf’s defeat of Grendel. However, turning in the opposite direction when Grendel’s Mother is introduced. Thus interpreting and changing the finer details of said story.
Grendel in the novel Grendel by John Gardner, and Grendel in the poem Beowulf, which has an unknown author, presents two different views of the same character due to the perception differences of Gardner and the unknown author. Grendel in Beowulf and the story of his namesake both have notable similarities and differences that make each distinctive from one another.
He does not act like the blood hungry beast he is seen as in Beowulf. In
Ordinarily, Beowulf’s first steps in his quest begin with his brawls with Grendel and Grendel’s Mother. Grendel is the first challenge for the mighty hero to encounter; he is a giant beast with incredible brute strength, and cunning. The many assaults he waged on the mead hall caused atrocious pain to the Danes. Heaney writes, “So Grendel waged his lonely war, inflicting constant cruelties on the people, atrocious hurt. He took over Heorot, haunted the glittering hall after dark” (Heaney 164-67). These acts of evil are enough to get Beowulf to sail to Denmark. Nevertheless, the good in him needs to erase this inherit evil from the face of the earth. Grendel is a spawn of something stronger and more evil, he is a child of hell. This is Beowulf’s first encounter with such a sinister power. He fights the monster in the mead hall and prevails, Heaney concludes, “Before morning he [Grendel] would rip life from limb and devour them, feed on their flesh; but his
The character Beowulf, “a man of great strength and bravery” (Magill 388), is a hero in the way he defends his neighboring country, Denmark. When the word that a hostile creature, known as Grendel, was killing tons in Denmark, Beowulf set sail to help defend the people and rid them of the hideous monster.
Grendel made his way inside the mead-hall, looking hungry with evil upon the young warriors who were resting in that hall. The first Geat, Grendel had come upon, he had killed the warrior and drank his blood. Grendel then met Beowulf, seizing him in his claws, but it was Beowulf, who broke free from the monster’s grasp. Beowulf had shown his strength, that Grendel had met no other man on earth with the strength Beowulf had displayed. Grendel was afraid of Beowulf and his thoughts were of fleeing back to where he had come. Beowulf grasped Grendel from fleeing and had held the monster’s claws in his hands, trapping the beast. Beowulf’s warriors had raised their swords, ready to fight, not knowing that the monster’s skin could not be scratched by their weapons. Grendel, losing strength was groaning, Beowulf, twisting with his bare hands, twisting the monster’s arm with all his strength! Beowulf tore the monster’s arm off from its body. Beowulf had gained a new glory and the monster fled to Hell. Beowulf had liberated Hrothgar’s kingdom, they Danes, along with Beowulf and his warriors had celebrated, not a single Dane doubted Beowulf. He then hung the monster’s arm from the rafters of the mead-hall, for all to see. Beowulf showed strength, courage and bravery by fighting Grendel, a monster no one could kill and everyone was terrified of. Beowulf with his own hands,
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
In the beginning of the novel, Beowulf takes interest in the plight of Hrothgar, King of Denmark, and wants to help him fight Grendel. Grendel is a large monster that has been harassing members in the mead-hall of the Heorot. Beowulf owes Hrothgar a favor, due to the fact that Hrothgar saved his father in years past. Hrothgar is honored to have Beowulf attempt to fight the swamp monster, and decides to hold a feast in his name. When Grendel shows up to the feast, Beowulf illustrates his bravery by fighting Grendel without any armor. When Beowulf wins the battle by ripping Grendel’s arm off, everyone in the mead-hall praises Beowulf for his acts of courage. In this scene, Beowulf proves that he is a hero by fighting off a monster that everyone else was afraid of. This made him look
The story of Beowulf contrasted a mix of characters that range from good to evil. Throughout the story Beowulf, the focus was heroism. He was young and heroic representing the “good” in every one of his endeavors. Beowulf was the knight and shining and armor by showing leadership, bravery, and respectful to all. His first renowned battle was with a creature that goes by the name of Grendel. Grendel embodied the darker side of humanity specifically because Grendel is a decedent from the Biblical Cain. The authors used Grendel as a metaphor which is why he displayed so corruptly, he is portrayed as the “evil”. Both Beowulf and Grendel embodied what they were destined for in the book. It vividly highlighted their role in the story readers know that Beowulf is good and Grendel is bad. While Beowulf and Grendel seem to cut from two different clothes they share similarities.
Grendel was the very first monster that Beowulf had to face. The poet makes Grendel out to be a human, but also incorporated animal like features into Grendel’s appearance. By doing this, the poet made Grendel look very fierce, strong, and frightening. In which scared all the people of Dane into banishing him from the kingdom forever. Grendel then finds a home in the marshes, where water flows down into an underground cave. With trees, that have twisting roots to block the sunlight, which surrounds the cave. This led Beowulf
During the battle of Beowulf vs. Grendel, we witness firsthand the contradictory factors surrounding a person’s fate. “The monster wrenched and wrestled with him
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.
Grendal, a descendant of Cain, is one of the main antagonist of the poem Beowulf. He lives under an inherited curse and is denied God’s presence. Throughout the story Grendal causes enormous grief and fear to the people of Herot. After so much pain and agony the king of Herot, Hrothgar, sends for the protagonist of the poem, Beowulf. He is a Geat and the epic hero of the poem. The wide variety of distinctions between Grendal and Beowulf is what develops the climax of the composition. Beowulf kills Grendal, so he is honored by the people of Herot for his heroic act. Since Grendal and Beowulf play opposite roles in the poem, Beowulf, they let the reader know how contrasting characters can develop the plot of the story.
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.