Sexism In Beowulf, The Movie, And The Film

710 Words2 Pages

Beowulf the movie released in 2007, is a motion capture animated-fantasy film based on the Old English epic poem, Beowulf. Beowulf is an Old English epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative lines. The poem focuses on Beowulf who sets himself to embark journeys or adventures in dealing with evil. The poem and the movie is about Beowulf who has journeys where he fights evil. The movie Beowulf and the book Beowulf are mostly different in feminist theory and the plot, but tends to have some similarities.
Feminist theory is mostly different from the book than the movie. In the poem there was nothing about sexuality nor sexism. But had the same concept of feminist theory in the portray of social class and equality. In Beowulf the movie there is …show more content…

He defeats Grendel and Grendel’s mother comes to the Hall angrily and disrupt the feast of the celebration of the defeat of Grendel. That same day the attack Beowulf goes to Grendel’s mother’s layer and starts a battle. Beowulf ultimately defeats her and he heads back to his home, Gates. He is given land and is king after Hygelac dies from a battle. Beowulf becomes king and danger lurks when a servant awakens a dragon because he took a gem-covered goblets. Dragon and Beowulf fight and both of them die, and his people worship his heroic deeds.However, In the Movie differences from the poem is that Grendel’s Mother does not die. And Beowulf stays in Danes and become king, when Hrothgar commits suicide. After Grendel dies, Beowulf goes to her territory,he does not fight her, but instead he gives in to her seduction. They create a dragon and Beowulf is cursed and cannot live a happy life. Years pass the dragon has a disrupted the land of Danes. Beowulf fights his own son and they both die. And Grendel’s mother lives on. The Similarities from the movie and poem is that Beowulf went to Danes to help end the terrorizing attacks from Grendel. Beowulf gravely hurt Grendel, causing him to die. And Beowulf and the dragon both die. The Differences in the movie and poem, is the relationship of Grendel’s mother to Beowulf. Grendel 's mother does not die and they produce a dragon, which

Show More
Related

  • Role of Women in the Epic of Beowulf

    1575 Words  | 4 Pages

    As an epic tale of heroes and monsters, Beowulf gives its readers much excitement and adventure, but Beowulf's importance is more than just literary. It offers many insights into the beliefs and customs of seventh-century Anglo-Saxon culture. Among these insights is the Anglo-Saxon view of women and their role in society. Good Anglo-Saxon women are peaceful and unassertive, greeting guests and serving drinks to the warriors and other men in the meadhall. Wealhtheow, the queen of the Danes, represents a typical subservient Anglo-Saxon woman. As a foil to Wealhtheow, Grendel's mother is a strong and combative monster whom Beowulf must kill. By analyzing these two characters in Beowulf, we can understand the treatment and mistreatment of women in Anglo-Saxon society. The author of Beowulf generally supports the traditional Anglo-Saxon views of women by praising Wealhtheow, condemning Grendel's mother, and showing the need to suppress feminine forces like Wyrd; however, he does offer some criticism of these views by creating sympathy for Grendel's mother, allowing Wealhtheow to assert herself in the interest of her husband and children, and revealing masculine fear of feminine power.

    Read More

  • Power of Women in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

    1463 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the poems of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight show, women have always had power, yet not as overt a power as wielded by their masculine counterparts. The only dynamic of women’s power that has changed in the later centuries is that the confines and conditions in which women have wielded their power has become more lax, thus yielding to women more freedom in the expression of their power. The structure, imagery, and theme in the excerpts from Beowulf (lines 744-71) and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (lines 2309-30) support the concept of more power in the later centuries, by contrasting the restriction of Wealhtheow and the power she practices in Beowulf with the Lady’s more direct assertion of power in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight five centuries later.

    Read More

  • Comparing Beowulf In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    1412 Words  | 3 Pages

    Knowing that the sword is powerful enough to cut the skin of Grendel’s mother, Beowulf slays her and brings the sword and the head of the mother to Hrothgar, and he rewards Beowulf with more gifts and another feast. Once Beowulf returns home, he then tells his lord about his adventures and gives him all of the rewards that he received from Hrothgar for successfully defeating Grendel and his mother. His lord, then gave him rewards such as a new golden sword that belonged to Beowulf's father and grandfather, and some land and houses. In addition, Beowulf was to have the crown after the death of his lord and the lord’s son. Fifty years after Beowulf first became king, in Geatland a dragon was awakened by a slave who discovered the path to his tower by accident.

    Read More

  • Beowulf Compare And Contrast

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Epic Of Grendel's Metaphamental Monsters In Beowulf

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beowulf outlines turmoil between three opponents: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the Dragon. These separate discords each serve to fulfill different metaphoric purposes. Grendel’s character epitomizes the adverse persona of how an Anglo-Saxon warrior should not be. His mother represents everything that a woman during the time era should seldom be. Lastly, the Dragon embodies all the values that an Anglo-Saxon king should not dare retain. Without a doubt, the symbolic implications of the monsters in Beowulf bring the context to a new level of understanding.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Role of Women in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    Men exemplify heroic qualities in both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, however, women are depicted differently in the two stories. In Beowulf, women are not necessary to the epic, where as in Green Knight, women not only play a vital role in the plot, but they also directly control the situations that arise. Men are acknowledged for their heroic achievement in both stories, while the women's importance in each story differ. However, women are being equally degraded in both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

    Read More

  • What Are The Differences Between Beowulf And The Movie

    1680 Words  | 4 Pages

    Beowulf’s characteristics seen on screen are very different compared to Beowulf’s characteristics in the Anglo-Saxon poem. Beowulf in the film Beowulf

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Beowulf:The Anglo-saxon Women

    1518 Words  | 4 Pages

    Promp: what does beowulf have to say about women? Specifically, what is a women’s proper role in Beowulf? Consider actual Anglo- Saxon queens

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Beowulf

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    The women characters in Beowulf show that during the time period in which this was written, the roles of women were clearly defined. While, the author's views on women may never be fully revealed, it is made apparent that he believes in male superiority, and disobedient females ought to be suppressed. Like Wealhtheow, females were to exert minimal power and influence, but should always keep the drinks coming.

    Read More

  • The Evil Within

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the beginning of the novel, we find that that a mysterious creature attacked Hrothgar, the king of Danes and his army. In response to the situation, Hrothgar decides to call Beowulf who happens to his nephew. In this account of the story Beowulf is the hero to the Danes. He defeats the monster and it's mother. In contrast, in the novel Grendel, Grendel tells the story from his perspective. He describes to the how he wanted to be friends with the humans. In hi attempt to communicate, he is unsuccessful and finds himself being attacked. After trying several more times to befriend the humans, he deices to carry out his plan of being what society ‘wants’ him to be.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Feminism In Beowulf

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    The middle English poem Beowulf also defines the important ways in which the feminist heroine is part of an ancient poetic tradition in the depiction of empowered women in patriarchal society. For instance, the plot of the story revolves around Beowulf’s indoctrination into the court of King Hrothgar, since he has been chosen to destroy to the monster Grendel. However, an unusual break with patriarchal tradition finds Wealhtheow, the wife of King Hrothgar, passing the mead cup to Beowulf as part of this indoctrination. In this ceremony, the tradition of the king passing the mead cup has been disavowed due to the power of the Wealhtheow in the royal court: “Wealhtheow came in,/ Hrothgar’s queen, observing the courtesies./ Adorned in gold, she

    Read More

  • Beowulf: Film versus Original

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...The film version makes a lot more sense than the poem as to why Grendel was a curse to the Danes. In the poem, we only know Grendel attacks the Danes, because he does not like the loud noises they make from rejoicing and celebrating. It is not mentioned why Grendel is there, only that he is decedent from Cain and evil. The film gives more of an explanational background story as to why the creatures are there in the first place. The dragon only attacked them in the first place, because someone had taken the golden horn that Beowulf gave her. Which broke the pact she and Beowulf had. I liked Beowulf in the film better, because he was portrayed more as a epic hero. In the film he kills the dragon all by himself, without any help, and he sacrifices his arm in order to reach the dragons heart to kill him. Rather than in the poem, he gets hurt and Wiglaf kills the dragon.

    Read More

  • Compare and Contrast: Beowulf and Grendel

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Beowulf And Grendel: Movie Analysis

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    Why apply modification to a method that has been accustomed for years just to receive the attention of modern day man? The objective of history is to learn from it and to admire it, not revise and adjust. In Beowulf and Grendel the movie (Gundarsson 2005), the writers of the movie altered the original story in ways that contradict the epic and the culture it portrays. The writers appear to have tried to alter the values expressed by an ancient culture in an effort to create a modern and new appeal.The Beowulf in the epic and in the movie are expressed to be the same, however, they are entirely different in belief, representation, and also in emotional decisions, which differentiates the epic and the movie in general.

    Read More

  • Beowulf as an epic

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    Beowulf is the single greatest story of Old English literature and one of the greatest epics of all time. Ironically, no one can lay claim to being the author of this amazing example of literature. The creator of this poem was said to be alive around 600 A.D. and the story was, since then, been passed down orally from generation to generation. When the first English monks heard the story, they took it upon themselves to write it down and add a bit of their own thoughts. Thus, a great epic and the beginning to English literature was born.

    Read More

More about Sexism In Beowulf, The Movie, And The Film

Open Document