The poem of Beowulf has been told many times for hundreds of years. There have been many versions and variations that differ from the original written tale. There has recently been a movie production of the epic tale that was released in 2007 entailed Beowulf. Although this variation of the story was entertaining it was not an accurate account of the story of Beowulf. This analysis of both narratives will illustrate the differences between the two. In the movie depiction of Beowulf both the Danes and the Geats are Pagan. In the poem however, it reads as to infer that they were of Christian faith. In the poem King Horthgar builds a great mead hall to give glory to God for the blessings he was bestowed upon throughout his life. “With young …show more content…
The Anglo Saxon tale shows Beowulf as a hero’s hero with no moral flaws. Beowulf was regarded at the highest level of respect in the great poem and he always maintained his honor and reputation. In the movie, Beowulf has his share of flaws and human nature. Beowulf lies about killing Grendal’s mother to cover up what really happened at her lair. “I must be the one to finish her.” (“Beowulf” Zemeckis) Beowulf has this dialogue with the queen many years after he said he killed Grendal’s mother. Also at the end of the movie Beowulf tells Wiglaf about the lie he has kept secret for many years. “You killed Grendal’s mother when we were young. They sing of it. Too late for lies, Wiglaf.” (“Beowulf” Zemeckis) Beowulf does more than lie to denounce his honor. Beowulf also engages in an adulterous relationship with a maid in his kingdom. Dialog from the movie shows Beowulf taking to his mistress, “Find a good man and bear him children. But bear him a son. I don’t want anyone else. I want you” (“Beowulf” Zemeckis) The original poem did not portray Beowulf in this manner because that would not be glorifying of the Anglo Saxon
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
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.
Damrosch, David, and David L. Pike. “Beowulf.” The Longman Anthology of World Literature, Compact Edition. New York: Pearson, Longman, 2008. 929-970. Print.
...hem greatly. The Beowulf poet makes sure to include small but meaningful references to the paganistic background of the epic poem. There are too many pagan symbols scattered throughout the work to be ignored, and too many rules of the Christian religion are broken by the characters of the poem for an argument to be made against the paganism of Beowulf. Also, we must not forget that ideas such as fate and revenge, which are shunned in Christianity, are two of the main themes in this story. Consequently, even though the Beowulf poet may have been Christian, as for the poem itself, all signs point towards paganism.
Beowulf is a great tale but as a person, he isn’t that all that people make him out to be. In his older years his need for attention and glory ended up with the death of him. He fought the dragon alone and in return, ended up killing the dragon, but also sacrificed himself. Even as he died he asked for one thing, his people to build him a memorial near the sea so everyone could see the person that he was. His need for attention, lack of planning, and need for glory caused him to be just a prideful man, not a
Beowulf represents what a modern hero truly is rather than Dante the pilgrim, because he displays qualities of courage, pride, and humility. In order to be considered a modern hero the individual must demonstrate these particular qualities, and courage, pride, and humility should be reflected in the actions they make.
The author makes sure to include Beowulf’s traits of bravery, strength, and glory in every situation so that it is reinforced that he truly has these traits. The author would not do this if these attributes were not important to the culture of the time. Beowulf’s characteristics of bravery and strength are still important today, but his trait of glory may be switched with that of humility so that readers could better relate to him. The goal of the author is to create a character that personifies who the reader wants to be, and Beowulf personifies the hero that a person during that time would want to
Throughout the story, Beowulf fights three battles against frightening monsters. Beowulf, the prince of the Geats, was a well known warrior with extreme strength who makes a promise to protect his people under any circumstance. In the poem, his strength is tested, but he uses it to save many people in battles against: Grendel, Grendel 's mother, and a dragon. Before, during, and after each of these battles Beowulf shows many similarities and differences in his actions.
At the beginning of the novel, Beowulf represents a savage warrior, displaying mostly his strength and bravery by defeating Grendel and his mother. However, as Beowulf ages, he begins to change into a different kind of hero. After becoming King of the Geats, Beowulf matured and took on more of a leadership role in the community, as opposed to a warrior. Even though Beowulf was still a hero, he began to lead an army of geats and acted for the good of the people. In both cases however, Beowulf was respected by others for his admirable
The epic poem, Beowulf, coming from the years of 600 to 700 AD has been translated in many different styles. In these excerpts by Burton Raffel and Lucien Dean Pearson, provides a clear understanding of this epic poem. Reading the two different translations, Raffel tends to provide the reader with a better understanding of the evil nature of Grendel and the heroic characteristics of Beowulf.
Beowulf is an epic poem telling the story of Beowulf, a legendary Geatish hero who later becomes king in the aforementioned epic poem. While the story in and of itself is quite interesting, for the purpose of this paper it is important to look at the character more so then his deeds, or rather why he did what he did.
Beowulf is a very brave hero, he has fought and killed many creatures before, but this battle was different. He knew this battle was of great importance to everyone, and that made him that much more nervous. This creature was fierce and had been tormenting their village for as long as they could remember, so her death would be a huge victory for Beowulf and it would be an even bigger relief for the villagers. All of the people in the village were cheering for Beowulf as he walked away headed off to the greatest battle of his life.
There are many similarities and differences between the movie "Beowulf and Grendel", to the poem. Major differences between the movie and the poem would be Grendel himself. In the poem, he is described as an evil monster born from two demons. In the movie, Grendel is actually human, but known as a troll to the warriors and Danes. The poem doesn’t give the background of Grendel or show how the Danes killed his father and the possible reason of his revenge, like in the movie. If the witch, Selma, was not included in the storyline of the movie, the audience would not have known key information that she was used to show from more flashbacks. The witch gives more of an idea about Grendel’s past life that could have been the possibility to reasons for his actions. Some major similarities are the battles. Both epics include the battles between Beowulf and Grendel, as well as Beowulf and Grendel’s mother. The end results are the same, leading to their death, but the journey and process to the two tales are different.
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.
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.