Beowulf: Comparing The Book And Movie

The narrative and the film have dissimilarities in terms of their characters. In the story “Beowulf: A

Beowulf is about a warrior who fights a huge monster to show his loyalty to a king that was not even his. It was written in the Anglo-Saxon time period and this greatly affects the way the story is written. Grendel is written from the monster's point of view and this was written many years later.

Beowulf is an epic poem written a long time ago. The 13th Warrior is pretty much a movie based on Beowulf but not exactly. The two pieces of literature both shared a lot of differences and similarities as well. The 13th Warrior offered a more realistic, believable, and more understanding of the epic tale of Beowulf. It’s a short story covering the bases of a triumphant hero battling three supernatural monsters. But there had a lot of theatrical remake of the original story; it provides us with the barbaric cannibalistic tribe of the Wendols, which were creatures of the mist. Both the epic Beowulf and the movie the 13th Warrior shared similarities and differences in the struggle of good

The plot of the story differs in the poem and film. The main plot has the same general idea, yet in a different sequence. In the book the main character, Beowulf sets sail to the Danes land to conquer a monster named Grendel. Also in the book Beowulf has three agons. In the movie, the character that represents Beowulf, is Buliwuf, and he goes out to conquer a race which is Wendols. In the text Beowolf defeats Grendel. Buliwyf actually defeats the Wendols on the second attack not the first, where they kill the ‘Mother.’ In both the film and poem the characters have a dragon that they must defeat which is also known as a ‘fire

In the beginning of the story the plot stays the same for the most part... other than Beowulf being motivated by other things than glory or pride. When Grendel is killed in the movie they introduce his mother, they don't show her face but they hint to her being very seductive by the way she talks. Grendel’s mom doesn't really seek revenge in the movie but Hrothgar asks Beowulf to kill her because of a prior incident (Grendel is actually Hrothgar's son) with Grendel’s mom. Beowulf obliges and goes to kill G’s mom but when he enter her den he is almost instantly taken away by her beauty, this causes Beowulf to have a lapse in judgement and impregnate G’s mom. This is very different from the book because in the book he kills G’s mom in a battle to the death then cuts the head off of Grendel’s dead body as illustrated “Armless, exactly as that fierce fighter had sent him out from Herot, then struck off His head with a single swift blow”(542). Also after Beowulf was seduced he goes back to Hrothgar and lies to him and the Danes saying that he has killed Grendel’s mother. This is the major plot difference in the movie and the book.

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.

In the book as well as the movie Beowulf brings fourteen men to the land of the Danes and defeats Grendel. The first main difference is that in the book Grendel’s mother only kills one Dane, Aeschere. In the movie Grendel’s mother slays all of Beowulf’s men besides Wiglaf. At this time in the book Wiglaf is not present with Beowulf and his men, but only at the final battle against the dragon. In both the book and the movie Beowulf detaches Grendel’s arm and his mother returns to the hall for revenge. In the book Beowulf immediately follows Grendel’s mother to the underwater lair, but contrastingly in the movie Beowulf would have no knowledge of Grendel’s mother unless Hrothgar would not have told him. Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother and returns to Geatland to rule in the book, however in the movie Beowulf lies about killing Grendel’s mother and stays to rule in Denmark. Just as Beowulf brought Grendel’s head back in the book, he also did so in the movie. The book does not mention that Hrothgar was the son of Grendel or that Beowulf was the father of the dragon. In the book as well as the movie Beowulf defeats the dragon and dies as the hero of the epic even though he did it in a different way at a different place. The concluding difference includes Beowulf’s funeral. The book displays his funeral as a burial near the coast of the sea, but conversely in the movie his body is put on a burning ship sent out into the

As most people know a majority of movies differ from their books. Today, due to English IV an explanation will be given for the reasons why Beowulf has been changed. Beowulf is an epic from long ago. Today the truth of what happened in Beowulf is being argued over by Scholars around the world. As an example, medieval eras and ancient times have their myths and rumors spread throughout their history. Dragons, Wizards and Witches are all a part of the Medieval era, but this story is among the eldest. It is unknown if it did happen or not. Nevertheless, proof exists that Beowulf’s Father did exist. The truth may never be known.

Beowulf is portrayed as a hero-figure, though a less-than-ideal leader, since his warrior-like tendencies and habits follow him. Conversely, the movie Beowulf portrays our hero as more of an anti-hero. By its very nature, Beowulf is an epic hero, but I do not think that the movie does not portray him as such a hero compared to the original translation, because it has an entirely different storyline. If anything, the movie portrays Beowulf as a weak person, easily swooned by the beauty of Grendel’s mother. The movie and the book differ in several key ways, including his relationship with the kingdom and his villains. Even though the general plot is the same, when you really take a deep look at the differences, Beowulf’s movie ceases to be a version of Beowulf anymore, but rather an entirely new story about the same person.

The first difference I notice is in the book women are very disrespected with not having very many rights, while in the movie women are in the Mead Hall with the men partying not much in the kitchen like the book portrayed, that’s the very first thing I see. Also now in the book Beowulf rips Grendle’s arm off for his death but in the movie Beowulf grapples Grendel, who has a chain wrapped around his arm, pulling it loose. As Grendel is trying to flee Heorot, Beowulf slams the door on his arm, severing it. Also in the book Grendle’s mother goes to avenge them but in the movie his mother visits Beowulf as he is asleep with all the other villagers and she visits him in his dreams and awakens to see she has killed many men of the Herot. Also in the book the mother’s lair is guarded in the movie it’s deserted. After slaying Grendel's mother, Beowulf brings Hrunting, Grendel's head and the hilt from the giant's sword back to Heorot in the book where in the movie she brings the head to

Beowulf and Grendel are two different stories, and characters, who look at the same situation in polarized ways. Each character has their own story that is written from different time periods: the Anglo-Saxon time period and America in the 1970’s. Both of these time periods have different attributes that make them special; the Anglo-Saxon time period consists of the literary movement of the epic poem and America in the 1970’s consists of the literary movement known as postmodernism. Beowulf is shaped by the Anglo-Saxon time period through its use of the heroic code and religious influences and Grendel is shaped by the American 1970’s time period through its use of metafiction and an unreliable narrator.

The first example of the similarities and differences between the poem and the movie is the representation of religion. For example, both the movie and the poem of Beowulf included Christianity and Paganism. However, in the movie it was more about the Pagan religion, trying to make Christianity look bad. As an example, in one scenes of the movie, Beowulf says the Christianity killed the time of all heros. On the other hand, in the Beowulf poem, Beowulf is compared to the gods of Christianity. For example, in the passage The Battle With Grendel the scop describes “... Now he discovered- once the afflictor of

There are many differences between the two such as setting, characters, and the organization of the storyline. In the book they start out at in Danish kingdom and switch the Gaet’s kingdom with the return of Beowulf. But in the movie the setting is always in the Danish kingdom. The stories are similar because they both start out at Herot hall in the Danish kingdom. As far as characters go Wiglaf, Beowulf, and Hrothgar all have the same character roles in both the storylines. But in the movie there is not a character named Aschere like in the book. Instead Unferth’s role as a Gaet in the book is opposite for the movie. Grendel was killed the same way when Beowulf tears his arm off. For example the mom wasn’t killed in the movie and she became Beowulf’s lover. In the movie Hrothgar is Grendel’s dad but not in the book. In the book Wiglaf deals the final blow to the dragon with his sword but in the movie Beowulf rips its heart out. In both the book and movie Beowulf is showered with treasure and honor from the grateful Danes. Also he is buried or sent away with his treasure in both of the storylines. Unferth doubts Beowulf’s ability to fight the monster but ends up giving him his sword as a token of gratitude in both of the stories. In the movie Hrothgar kills himself but we don’t know how he dies in the book. But the man key difference is Beowulf being the king of the Danes and never returning to rule his fellow

Beowulf was Achilles in the movie. He possessed no awe of the tempests. He shows no thankfulness to God for safe traveling. Equally for the book Beowulf was thankful for safe change of location. Making sure his men were safe on the boat with many weapons to protect them. In his day, he was the mightiest man on earth, highborn and powerful.

Beowulf is about a man who comes to Denmark because word made it to him that a terrible monster had been slaying men at night for 12 years. He sails over there, obliterates a monster, kills the monster's mother in an underwater building, becomes king, and slays a dragon 50 years later, which in turn ends up killing him as well. Although both the animation and the book follow this basic storyline, they do have their differences such as in the animation, Beowulf uses a sword to defeat grendel rather than just beating him to death like in the book. The book and the animation are pretty similar, but they do have countless minor differences.