Beowulf Comparison Essay

Beowulf Comparison Essay Beowulf is a 1060 epic poem about a hero who defeats Grendal, a monster who terrorizes Herot, where King Hrothgar lives in Denmark. Beowulf also defeats Grendal’s mother in the poem and a dragon at the end of the epic. The author of the Beowulf poem is unknown. Imagine if the Beowulf movie was exactly like the Beowulf poem. The moviegoers who read the poem would become uninterested because they would already know what’s going to happen next. In every movie version of a book or poem there always is going to be similarities and differences. In the movies based off of a book or poem the producers have to keep the storyline similar so moviegoers do not get confused or bored. In Beowulf, the movie, Grendal, a strong monster who harasses Herot and kills innocent people just for his own fun, is the same in the movie and epic. “A powerful monster, living down in the darkness, growled in pain…” (Beowulf Poet 33). I believe the producers kept Grendal the same because Beowulf and Grendal’s battle is a main part of the epic and if they changed Grendal’s personality or his intentions it wouldn’t have the same effect. Grendal and Beowulf battle in both movie and poem was the same and had the same ending. Beowulf ended up defeating Grendal and Grendal goes back to his den to die. “The battle was over, Beowulf had been granted new glory: Grendal escaped, but wounded as he was could free to his den. The producers kept Grendal getting defeated a part of the movie because it is a main piece of the poem and if they were to keep Grendal alive it would completely change the storyline and viewers enjoy when the bad guys die. Similarities are what keep the movie the same but differences are what keep the movie interesting. One interesting difference from the movie and the poem is that when Grendal first attacks Herot in the epic he finds the men sleeping but in the movie he attacks the men as they’re drinking and awake. “Then when darkness dropped,