Differences Between The Book And Movie Beowulf

The story of Beowulf successfully follows every step of an Archetypal Hero Quest; the hero, Beowulf, answers a call, makes a decision, prepares, faces obstacles, reaches a climax, and returns home. Beowulf is met with three large battles within Beowulf, first with Grendel, then with Grendel’s mother, and his last fatal battle, with a dragon. Each battle carries aspects that add to the Hero Quest but do not fully create one until all are together. The call is the beginning of a Hero Quest.

Beowulf was making sure that they knew he was going to fight Grendel with no fear of losing. Grendel was an evil creature that was all about him-self, he wanted to seek revenge on the people who hurt him. Grendel also had no support from his mother which caused him to want to kill. Grendel was an evil creature that lived in Herot, he is all about himself and didn’t care for others. Throughout the story you can see that Grendel does not speak to anyone but when he tries to they do not understand him.

The fight with Grendel’s mother is much more violent than the fight with Grendel, for she is stronger than the previous enemy, so Beowulf changes his battle tactics to compensate for her

Dat To The stages of human life in “Beowulf” “Beowulf” is an adventure about a hero named Beowulf, who fights monsters to protect his people and his kingdom. The battle between Beowulf and the three ferocious monsters represents the fight between humans and their difficulties in life. All three vicious monsters symbolize different stages of human life such as, controlling jealousy in early age, dealing with morality in middle age, and facing death in the end. Grendel, a descendant of Cain, exemplifies a horrible image of an outcast or loner from Herot society.

Everyone has a perspective on good and evil; the battle line between good and even runs through the heart. “Beowulf” illuminates characters that come from dark and deep backgrounds that construct their dauntless actions. In the heroic tale “Beowulf,” the author’s tones strongly demonstrates themes of loyalty, honor, and courage. Raffel’s tones remotely displays the act of loyalty within multiple characters. “Hail to these who will rise to God, drop off their dead bodies” (101).

The continued honor shown in Beowulf’s character shines through when Beowulf never mentions that Unferth’s trusted sword was no match for Grendel’s mother. Beowulf could have simply boasted how the sword was useless and ineffective against the female beast, yet he was silent out of respect for Unferth. Finally, during Beowulf’s time as ruler (fifty winters), another beast arrives: a dragon. This time, Beowulf is much older and is in a much weaker state than when he first defeated Grendel and his mother. However, that does not deter Beowulf from going out and defending his kingdom.

His warriors followed him to put an end to the horrible misery he was bringing upon the village. (Beowulf 46). Beowulf and his team set up a plan to trap Grendel once in for all. Succeeding in his trap Beowulf viciously attacked him not

In the epic poem Beowulf, the protagonist, Beowulf, faces three “monsters” at different times in his life. The poem begins with Grendel, a monster who attacks only in the dark of night, tormenting the kingdom of Hrothgar. The last two sections of the epic detail the conquering by Beowulf of Grendel’s mother and the dragon. The battle between the monsters and Beowulf represent the theme of good versus evil in the poem, as well as the fusion of pagan and Christian ideals in the changing Germanic society. Grendel’s mother’s actions directly juxtapose the role of a woman in this time period, and the greediness of the dragon with his treasure contrasts with the virtues of what would be considered a good king.

In the book, Beowulf actually strangled Grendel’s Mother, and he did it with his bare hands. In the movie, though, he went to Grendel’s Mother with the task of killing her, but instead, he fell in love with her. Another example of how there is much contrast was when in the movie, Hrothgar was actually the father of Grendel, while in the book, Cain, was the father of Grendel. A third difference was when in the book, Beowulf decided to go back to his beloved home in the land of the Geats after he had killed the hideous mother of Grendel, but in the movie, instead he stayed in the kingdom of Hrothgar, in the land of the Danes and became their king. One final example of the discrepancies between the two plots was when in the book, Beowulf goes against the mystical fire-breathing dragon who was just another beast that Beowulf had to kill.

In the movie the dragon, which is Beowulf’s son, get angry when a slave finds the dragon cup that Beowulf had given Grendel’s mother. In the movie Beowulf and Wiglaf go to face the dragon alone; when they get to the cave Beowulf enters alone the dragon chases them back and there is a bunch of men shooting at it. Beowulf eventually kills the dragon because he found a spot on the throat of the dragon that was told to him by the former king years ago. The movie and the poem of Beowulf had very many differences. There are a lot more differences between the two that you would have thought.

The movie and poem Beowulf share many differences, attack of Herot Hall, death of Grendel and his mother, also tragedy death of Beowulf. In the movie, Grendel began attacking Herot Hall; however, in the textbook, he started off attacking the people whom lived in

Beowulf risked his life multiple times by battling Grendel and Grendel’s mother to save the people of Denmark. He also embarks on a battle with a dragon as an old man ascending on the Geats Throne. Each battle Beowulf fought has all been for the safety of his people. Although the Knight did not battle as a deed for his people, he also is viewed as a humble person his battles were for a purpose greater than himself. The knight never talks about his brave and valorous deeds.

One of these differences happens to be in the poem; Grendel kills the Dane who wronged him and proceeds to get away from Beowulf, but as Grendel is running away Beowulf catches his arm. Although Beowulf catches his arm in the poem that is not what happens in the film. In the film, Grendel runs and Beowulf gets a rope around his wrist and as Grendel jumps out of the building he gets caught on the rope, then Grendel proceeds to cut his own arm off in order to get away from Beowulf and the other Danes. In the movie Beowulf has no part in cutting off Grendel's arm.

Compare with his encounter with the dragon. Beowulf treated Grendel as an equal by facing him his bare strength alone. “The prince of the Geats was putting his trust in his great strength and in God's favor. Off came the hero's iron mailcoat and hard helmet; he handed over his trusty sword to an attendant thane and asked him to safekeep all that war-gear (X)”. Beowulf’s confidence comes from his belief that he not matters how monstrous Grendel was, he isn’t invincible.

This proves that he is strong and brave because no one else could kill Grendel let alone face him. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands and without armor on. Other warriors could not even kill him with a sword and armor. “Beowulf’s intention to fight Grendel with only his strength proves that he carries the characteristics of a true hero”(Hailey).