Beowulf Compare And Contrast Essay

I much preferred the movie version to the novel. For me, author William Kennedy’s style of writing is needlessly vague and difficult to follow, yet he did a wonderful job adapting

Beowulf is a great piece of Anglo-Saxon literature that can be, and has been, translated in multiple ways. Of the many outstanding translations, two of which are by Burton Raffel and Seamus Heaney, different ways of writing are portrayed. Grendel’s description is written quite differently in both translations. Heaney’s translation is more similar to the Anglo-Saxon style of writing than Raffel’s translation.

The poem Beowulf, written by an unknown Anglo-Saxon poet and the movie script, written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary. The story is about a Man named Beowulf, who becomes a hero to his town Heorot, by defeating a monster named Grendel. He is later named King of Geats, because of his braveness and loyalty to his people. After about fifty years of ruling, a dragon threatens the town’s people. Beowulf and his servant, Wiglaf, set off to defeat this dragon. While he did succeed to kill it, sadly Beowulf dies in the process. In the poem versus the movie, Beowulf shows different character traits throughout the story. Heroism, loyalty, and bravery all differ from the poem to the movie. The audience will perceive Beowulf as a completely different person if only looking at one of the two pieces.

“No better king had ever lived, no prince so mild, no man so open to his people, so deserving of praise.” This is an ultimate description of the heroic events of Beowulf, an old Anglo-Saxon poem about a warrior who battles and destroys three horrifying monsters. Although written long ago, the emotions expressed within this work, emotions of bravery, valor, and ethics still speak to us centuries later. The anonymous author of the poem convinces us through the masterful use of various literary elements that emphasize its meaning and message. Conflict, imagery and setting are three literary elements that contribute to the effectiveness of the poem.

The rigid and confined society of the Danes also shaped the way its people think and act, but also influenced greatly on the writings. Given the fact that metaphors and kennings are common in Old English literature; the representation of “evil” is also something not to be taken on a literal level. “Edgetho had begun a bitter feud / Killing Hathlaf, a Wulfing warrior” (459-460), inter-tribal feuds, therefore, are also a destroyer of peace. Grendel takes on a form that is left uncertain; its real meaning hidden behind the metaphorical mask of a monster, is the never-ending battles between tribal armies (namely, the Danes, Geats, Frisians, and the Swedes) that had disturbed the tranquility people had longed for. It is almost a barrier of peacekeeping, hider of hope. Hence, it is represented by Grendel, a great evil hated by many, whom

The Old-English epic poem of Beowulf, officially written down somewhere around the year 1066 by the Beowulf poet, is one where you are persistently kept of the edge of your seat due to its superior use of vivid phrases and imagery. In the Anglo-Saxon period in which the story takes place bravery, heroic deeds, and loyalty to one another is paramount. Beowulf, a tenacious scandinavian warrior, is the savior of a neighboring kingdom due to his aptness to slay the treacherous monsters such as the nefarious Grendel and his mother. A truly remarkable feat is how the words and actions of this poem are put to life in the movie. Though remarkable, the cinema didn’t exactly correlate with the poem. In fact the integrity of the poem almost seems diminished

Beowulf is one of the oldest poems in history, it was originally written in Anglo-Saxon, and it was told orally with many literary devices so it could be remembered throughout generations. It shows what their society was based on back in the Anglo-Saxon era. Although throughout history the poem has been changed to fit our modern day society. For example, having different values and morals and how we look at religion has all changed. In the Beowulf poem and movie there are many similarities and differences in Religion, Characterization, and Morals it highlights the value and beliefs of each society.

The first example of the similarities and differences in the poem and the movie is how Beowulf is. Beowulf seeks out to kill grendel's mom in her cave, he also brings back grendel's head to prove he killed both of them, and he kills the dragon that comes along later in the poem. In the movie Beowulf kills Grendel, but does not kill Grendel’s mom, instead he is seduced by her and cuts a deal. In the book he was a king for the geatland. He dies at the end from getting burned from the dragon.

In the epic poem “Beowulf”, Beowulf is an extremely masculine warrior who comes to the rescue of the king, Hrothgar. Beowulf slays the monster Grendel with no hesitation and is very self-confident. Beowulf is your typical heroine character. John Gardner’s book, Grendel, is written from the point of view of the monster, from “Beowulf”, who has many feelings. In Grendel, the reader is shown that a monster of a tale is not always purely evil.

I really enjoyed the book. I think it had more detail than the movie. It was also more sad than the movie. I think it was more sad because it had more detail and we got to know the characters more. It is probably one of my favorite books.

When Hollywood makes a movie that has been based off a book, there is going to be some obvious similarities but there will also be some differences that are often noticeable. Beowulf is an epic poem that had been orally told for many years up until an unknown author wrote it down around 1000 A.D. Robert Zemeckis directed the 3D epic fantasy film in 2007 that was a retelling of this epic poem. The writers take on the epic poem was interesting to watch but it did vary a lot from the poem instead of staying true to it. While there were several similarities with some of the main characters, it was evident that the writers strayed away from how the poem portrayed some characteristics that were given to them like their actions, personality, and

The poem beowulf was made into a movie with slight changes. The character Beowulf in the movie is little different than in the book. First Beowulf character in the movies was depicted as very boastful. He is shown as a bit flawed in contrary to the text. Beowulf ultimate goal is for his name to be remembered as he says “ If I fight it will be for glory not gold” (Zemeckis, Beowulf).That is a little selfish because then the main motives of his deeds is not entirely as an act of goodwill but just another battle of many that could be told in tales.

The epic tale of Beowulf was written sometime after his death. In other words, a long time ago during the Anglo-Saxon period. Today, directors in Hollywood did not keep from creating their own rendition of this epic poem As a result, plenty of modern interpretations of Beowulf, such as Sturla Gunnarsson’s Beowulf and Grendel, have been released. Naturally, the cultural values that might be reflected in modern Beowulf renditions will demonstrate a clash with those of the original fifth century Beowulf literature. One reason for this is that in the modern age we value characters with profound characteristics, characters that change due to the challenges they experience; characters that we as the audience can attach to. Flat characters like those of the original Beowulf text are difficult to empathize with since they are not realistic enough for our standards. Due to these differences in culture and values, the Beowulf and Grendel from the original Beowulf text possess definite contrasts when compared with their Beowulf and Grendel counterparts.

Due to the text’s complexityz and the author’s peculiar writing style, it took me quite a while to get into the story, thus reducing my reading speed considerably. But, once I was one third into the book, I started to really enjoy it and, as the narrative became more and more complex, I became aware of how much the book and the movie differ.

In this movie, they take out many parts from the book. This does not necessarily change a lot of the initial concepts but it has an effect. When something is taken out, like a suicide attempt, it takes the intensity out of the movie that was received from the book. Though the movie teaches the lesson that the book does, it does not have the strength it did as in the book. That connect people get from reading