Beowulf and Grendel In recounting the two versions between the battle of Beowulf and Grendel, it’s a fact that Beowulf exceedingly fits as the hero. A true mythical epic hero must meet a specific set of standards regarding his abilities and character. Heroism is defined as being proficient in doing a countless number of unordinary things. They are constantly achieving goals and never give up on anything. Characteristics that a hero possesses are courage, excellence, and bravery. Christopher Reeves, an American actor once stated “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” This quote relates closely to all things that took place in the stories told between the two. Though …show more content…
Beowulf is made out to be a vicious animalistic being with the utmost confidence. Originally Beowulf was beyond a valiant combatant. He eventually turned into a wise leader who had a deep affection for everyone around him. Prior to converting, Beowulf was portrayed through three evolving conflicts; they consisted of Grendel, Grendel’s mother and the dragon. In the poem the dragon was in possession of great treasure; Beowulf founded him in a cave. He was destined to fight the dragon. His pride and reputation of being a warrior wouldn’t let him disregard the battle. Beowulf had seen Grendel’s mother in a cave as well, he tried to hit her with his sword many times and had intentions on piercing her skin but he failed. He later threw the sword and attacked her with his bare hair hands. Beowulf’s claims and encounters expose him of being the strongest of all. No other character has as many abilities as he …show more content…
Every bone in his body quailed and recoiled, but he could not escape. He was desperate to flee to his den and hide with the devil's litter, for in all his day she had never been clamped or cornered like this” (Raffel 749-756). This specific quote tells how Grendel had never encountered anything that strong. Beowulf personifies the best principles of the heroic culture. All of the battles between Beowulf and the people were more than aggressive. The main reason for the conflicts happened because of the force between good and evil. Through it all, Beowulf demonstrated great strength. The older he became, the more he proved that is a very wise and effective
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.
His bravery and physical strength needed to kill this evil being makes him a great warrior and an even better literary hero. When the Hrothgar’s men attempted to kill Grendel, they were unsuccessful. Although he saw other men die to this monster he did not let that scare him off. This is when Beowulf felt it was necessary for him to intervene and take charge. When Grendel came to attack Heorot Hall Beowulf was there waiting for him. Beowulf stood up for the Hrothgar’s men and accomplished what they couldn’t in order to make everyone safer. Although he faced a plethora of obstacles he did not give up he stood strong and saved many people by doing so. During the battle Beowulf wrestled Grendel to the ground. Beowulf proceeded to rip Grendel’s arm from his shoulder and hang it from the ceiling. Grendel then fled away from Beowulf into the wilderness where he then died. This proved to Beowulf that Grendel may be strong but he will never be as brave. Grendel was an evil monster who wanted nothing good to happen to the people and Beowulf prevented any more murders by Grendel from happening. He saved the lives of many people by accomplishing this heroic and honorable
The mighty warrior Beowulf volunteered to help fight off the monster, Grendel. Beowulf showed great bravery because even though Grendel over sized Beowulf, he still accepted the challenge. He also showed strength, Grendel’s head was so massive that four men each had to carry it, but Beowulf could handle the head all by himself. Lastly, Beowulf revealed loyalty by coming to Hrothgar’s assistance, to help with defeating Grendel. Even after Beowulf became King he went to his last battle to defeat the dragon without any help from his
Beowulf displayed that he was very resourceful, as well as, the other traits listed. He shows how intelligent he can be when he was fighting Grendells mother and he became weary and became stumbling. In the midst of a battle, Beowulf almost dies if it were not for his woven mail shirt he wore on his chest. "Then he saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy sword, hammered by giants, strong and blessed with their magic, the best of all weapons", "lifted it high over his head and struck with all the strength he had left, caught her in the neck and cut it through, broke bones and all.
Beowulf is one of the most iconic and influential heroic journeys of all time. Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, is a Geat and like no other warrior ever seen before. He is the strongest man alive. He has the strength of thirty men in his arm alone. When Beowulf was only a boy, he had battles with his friends and swam for miles with his sword in his hand and armor on the rest of his body. When he battles Grendel's mother, it is said that Beowulf is underwater for nearly half a day. Aside from being a great warrior, he is also very smart and modest about his strength. When Beowulf arrives in Heorot, he is confronted with opposition. The king, Hrothgar allows Beowulf to fight because has known Beowulf's father, Ecgtheow, and Hrothgar saved him from
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
He was looking for a way to become known, so he arrived with his fellow Geats to help the Danes. Beowulf had access to many weapons, armor, and warriors, but he still decided to take on the deadly challenge alone and without protection. He doesn’t think of the consequences, or abilities of the opponent. “‘When it comes to fighting, I count myself as dangerous any day as Grendel.’” (47: 677-678). Beowulf is overconfident in his abilities, and doesn’t take into consideration how many people Grendel has killed. He goes in with his own men not expecting to see him again. “None of them expected he would ever see his homeland again.” (47: 691-692). This is why the inner threat of Beowulf was more barbaric. Grendel was indeed a worthy opponent, and very dangerous, but Beowulf’s careless actions could have
He shows this by simply ripping Grendel’s arm off in fight between them. Also Beowulf shows him being strong by purposefully opening up the hall again to make the monster come so he can kill it. “He might think less of me if I let my sword go where my feet were afraid to, if I hid behind some broad shield: my hands alone shall fight for me, struggle for life against the monster.” (265-269). He exemplified great courage when he defeated Grendel and his mother to save Hrothgar's kingdom. Also Beowulf really shows strength just by being able to fight everyone and protect the town all by himself. No one else wanted to help the townspeople or had the courage to do so, so Beowulf is really strong in all aspects, mind and body. This is exactly how Beowulf was really
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley tells the story about a lone scientist who decided to play God and create a creature of his own; who he deemed would surpass humanity. He worked hard on his creation for years, but in the end he realized he made an error and abandoned it. The creature took revenge on his creator and they faced off each other until their dying moments. Grendel by John Gardner takes a look at the tale of Beowulf from the point of view of the main villain in the epic: Grendel. We take a look at Grendel’s life from his younger years, to encounters with humans, to him building a hatred for them, to him terrorizing and bringing chaos, and finally to his death at the hands of Beowulf. A common theme that connects these two distinct stories is loneliness and isolation. Both is experienced by Grendel and Frankenstein’s creation, and
Another image shown is how from Grendel’s point of view he is just seen as a regular living creature being driven to violence, and that his actions are not purposely done for evil. The different sides of the battle between Beowulf and Grendel share similar qualities, but also have differences in another. When Grendel appears in the poem, he is “greedily loping” his way towards killing the men (Beowulf 49). The image of Grendel’s rage when he “ripped open / The mouth of the building” (Beowulf 49), and with his “demonic glee” (Beowulf 49), he is seen as a true demon just waiting for the right moment to attack the men. As for the novel, Grendel grabs “a cloth from the nearest table” and ties it around his neck to portray the image that he is ready to feast on the sleeping men.
A woman is walking all alone at night when suddenly a man jumps out and takes her purse. Another man witnesses the crime and chases after him to retrieve the woman’s purse. He tries to catch the thief but he soon realizes he cannot catch up to him and lets the thief get away. Whether or not he was able to get the woman’s purse back or not shouldn’t make him any less of a hero. In the poem Beowulf and in John Gardner’s novel Grendel their ideas of what a hero is differs from each other. Beowulf in the poem Beowulf is perceived as a hero for destroying monsters and being able to help out others with their needs. But in the novel Grendel, Beowulf is not considered a hero because of the bad intentions he has behind wanting to be a hero even though he achieves the heroic feats. Unferth on the other hand has good intentions with his actions. So is Unferth somehow the most honorable character even though he is not able to kill the Grendel?
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.
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.
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.
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.