Beowulf Comparison Essay

Beowulf sees Grendel's mother in a cave. He tries to hit her with his sword, Unferth's Hrunting, but it fails to pierce her skin. So he throws the sword away and attacks the mother with his bare hands. He trusts "in his strength, his mighty hand-grip." Beowulf manages to throw Grendel's mother down; however, she quickly retaliates and is soon sitting on top of him. She tries to kill him with a dagger, but Beowulf's armor protects him this time. Beowulf managed to throw her off of himself and sees a sword of enormous size, which he immediately grabs.

Early in the epic poem Beowulf, Beowulf begins his mission to kill Grendel “Strongest of the Geats set sail across the sea to Hrothgar on a mission to help the people of Herot and kill grendel” (Ln 110). Beowulf heard of the deadly attacks that Grendel was bringing upon the people of Herot, and knew his call was to go and be the hero and saving grace of Herot. The next piece of evidence from the Epic proving to us that beowulf stays on his missions until completion is whenever he has to go kill Grendel’s angry mother. “And struck with all the strength he had left caught her in the neck and cuti it through, broke bones and all” (ln 641-643). This was one of the last battles that Beowulf fought in and throughout each and every one that he fights in he shows us to never give up on our goals and the missions we are trying to

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.

When Grendel's mother arrives to torment the Danes, seeking vengeance for her son’s death, Beowulf’s fight with Grendel's mother

Grendel of course only knew revenge for what God did to him so it’s ironic and coincidental that his mother seeked revenge for him also. Whether she won or not she stood up and battled like any mother would do. She didn't care how popular Beowulf was she did what it it took to feel some sense of happiness for her son.

Beowulf, an old English epic, helps the reader visualize how the Anglo-Saxon culture was. This epic uses many different types of literary archetypes from the Anglo-Saxon literature. Beowulf is about a young prince making a journey to Denmark to help Hrothgar, the king of the Danes. The author of the English epic Beowulf, shows how Grendel is such an outcast, Beowulf's battles between good and evil, and how heroic he was throughout his life.

In a rage, his mother being a descendant from Cain is not fond of what Beowulf did to her son, deciding to wreak havoc like her son did. Beowulf seeing himself as the great warrior as he was thinking it was all over once he killed off Grendel, he set out to do the same to his mother. Being trapped in the mother's home turf is very daunting, she has the advantage on Beowulf, yet Beowulf saw this as inspiring to not give up. "She'd brooded on her loss, misery had brewed in her heart, that female horror, Grendel's mother, living in the murky cold lake assigned her since Cain had killed his only brother, slain his father's son with an angry sword." (Roberts 63)

Grendel and his mother do not have as many similarities as they do differences. Grendel’s mother seems to have the same level of wickedness as her son, but she is more responsible. For example, in the first half of Beowulf, it says that Grendel was killing people at Herot because he did like that they were happy. The sound of their laughter edged him on. He mercilessly killed many people out of spite.

An example of the differentiation of Grendel’s mother was Ch.19 “That hag was in haste, wanting to flee with her life when the liegemen spotted her. However, she seized a single clansman firmly as she fled”. This portrayal of Grendel’s mother makes her seem not as powerful as her son, Grendel. However, in the movie, Grendel’s mother is a foe who Beowulf never defeats. The major role change that is played by Grendel’s mother shows how women’s image has changed over the

Beowulf is an epic story written in the English language. Originally only spoken not written. The story is about Beowulf accepting a quest to defend Herot from Monsters for the treasure and fame. Beowulf is our main character in this epic story who has the strength of 30 thanes and is the bravest around. As Beowulf sets out for this journey his partner Wiglaf and his men are there to help him throughout the journey.

In the book, women have much smaller roles, as mentioned before, Beowulf went to kill Grendels mother, and that was the end of it. However, in the movie, she lured him into giving her a child, just as she did with the previous king, Hrothgar. Another woman that got a larger role was Queen Wealtheow, now Beowulf's Queen, until finding out about his infidelity, as well as a mistress of Beowulf not mentioned in the poem. In Anglo Saxon society, women were not seen as strong as men and so Grendel's mother only snatched one thane in the poem, Wealtheow was just a child bearer and there was no young mistress. In American culture we see women as more equals, as well as finding sexual tension and desires more interesting, therefore Grendel's mother being strong and beautiful, Wealtheow having more to do and say then just babies, and a young mistress to keep Beowulf occupied as Wealtheow wanted nothing to do with

Till we meet Grendel’s mother. In the text Beowulf goes to the mother’s lair. The journey was a four hour swim to the bottom of the swamp to Grendel’s mothers’ lair. There Beowulf battled the monster; Grendel’s mother was quite revolting in looks and powerful. But however, Beowulf managed to beat her and kill her. In the movie, it was way divergent. In the movie Grendel’s mother was actually quite breath taking. Also in the movie Beowulf never fought Grendel’s mother. She played into Beowulf’s inner desires, letting him become a king of his greatest desires if he would provide the seed for her to make another child. It was also revealed in the movie that Grendel’s mother had made the same promise to king Hrothgar, which was how Grendel was

After the defeat of Grendel, a conflict arises concerning Grendel’s mother, resulting in Beowulf having to take a trip down to her lair. Beowulf defeats Grendel’s mother

There were many differences between the movie and textbook version in many ways such as, when Beowulf came to Herot, the fight between Beowulf and Grendel’s mother, and the demolishing of Grendel’s head. Bewulf came to Herot after the second attack Grendel done, although Beowulf came to Herot the first time in the movie. Beowulf comes to Heorot because he had been told that Grendel was killing Hrothgars men more and more every night. He also takes ten men to go with him, which shows the other respect and loyalty. In order for Beowulf to kill Grendel he has to ask the king for permission to show respect.

In "Beowulf", Grendel's mother is perhaps one of the most confusing characters. While she is notably smaller and supposedly more frail than her son, it is clear that Grendel's mother is quite possibly the most vicious beast presented in this piece of literature. Grendel's mother could be best described as a "grief-racked and ravenous"(1278) creature when he finds out about her son's death, and her disposition is one that is "desperate for revenge" (1278). Grendel's mother may represent a number of things in the text, and the author chooses to depict her as a limitless being. Grendel's mother possesses many of the traits that the warriors do, and her hunger to avenge her son's death is one resonant of the heroic code. In the heroic code, families