The choices made in the movie detract from my understanding of the poem. Throughout the poem, Hrothgar and Grendel’s mother are illustrated differently than from the film. In the poem I pictured Hrothgar as someone who, when Grendel was tormenting his people, felt “joyless in Herot…mourning the fate of his lost friends and companions.”(Beowulf 44) and instead he was shown as a heartless, inebriated king in the movie. In the poem, Grendel’s mother was described as a she-wolf, a monster (Beowulf 449) but, in the movie she is shown as a beautiful creature, with an attractive human-like body, and not a “wolf” like appearance. The course of events in the poem, such as the battle against Grendel’s mother and the truth behind Grendel’s identity,…
In this climax, a dragon entered the scene and brought imagery along with it. For example, “Vomiting fire and smoke, the dragon/ Burned down their homes. They watched in horror/ As the flames rose up: the angry monster/ Meant to leave nothing alive. And the signs/ Of its anger flickered and glowed in the darkness, visible for miles, tokens of its hate/ And its cruelty, spread like a warning to the Geats who had broken its rest.” (line 2312, page 95) This part of the poem shows us the dragon’s rage and its ill conclusion to burn down everything in its path. Without this wonderful and descriptive segment, the dragon would just be another creature and would pose no threat. But with this imagery, the dragon is depicted as a horrible monster that thirsts for terror and chaos. Not only does the dragon cause chaos, but it’s actually the cause of Beowulf’s departure to the world. A tusk wound to Beowulf’s neck seals his fate. The imagery for Beowulf’s fatal wound is dreadful and gruesome. “Watching for its chance it drove its tusk/ Into Beowulf’s neck; he staggered, the blood/ Came flooding forth, fell like rain,” (line 2691, page 106). This imagery is what makes this poem the successful composition it is…
Grendel is the first evil that Beowulf has to face. Grendel is seen as evil because he holds the characteristics of a monster or demon. Within the poem the monster qualities of Grendel are used to reference him multiple times. Some qualities used to refer to Grendel are, “From his plundering claws:/ That shadow of death.” (158-159). His claws are what the poet uses to reference Grendel and they are the inhuman quality of Grendel that show he is not a human. Grendel being a shadow of death shows that he is dark and that he symbolizes and silhouettes death. These inhuman qualities of Grendel can be seen in the sculpture because the Grendel figure has claws to show he is a monster who is evil. He is also painted black to show darkness and how…
Beowulf goes out his way to kill and monster that threatens anyone in any place he goes to herot and helps them not with one but three monsters grendel, grendel's mother and her second son the dragon which wiglaf, beowulf and…
In the story of Beowulf, by Seamus Heaney, the first antagonist is a monster named Grendel, who is a symbol to represent the fear of nightmares. At first sight the narrator describes the monster, “Then a powerful Demon, a prowler through the dark…” (86). Grendel is seen as a demon of the night, as he lurks across Heorot claiming his victims. The power he holds only fits his symbolism as a nightmare, and how he is feared from others by just the sight of him. The narrator explains the fear this monster reaps, “All were endangered, young and old/were hunted down by that dark death-shadow…” (159-160). This creature is a fear, a nightmare, and a demon because of his creeping of sleep and silent attacking. Our worst fears are usually things that…
The Old English poem, Beowulf, is arguably the first writings that highlights the battle between man and dragon and portray a Scandinavian warrior who is destine to rule a kingdom. The age-old question of fighting for glory or fighting for riches is tested, as the story begins with a young warrior who battles his way to become king and in the end give his life for his kingdom. After a successful reign as king, the story leads the hero to a final battle with the fantastic dragon. The question, that has been put before the readers is one of motive for Beowulf’s battle of the dragon. It has been put upon us to decide if Beowulf was fighting the dragon for personal glory or for the protection and safety of his kingdom. In this writer’s…
In the epic, Hrothgar is the Lord and Protector of the Shieldings. Despite this, he was unable to save his people from the wrath of Grendel. When Beowulf arrived to the land of Dane, Hrothgar was regretful to even burden Beowulf with the strife that Grendel caused, which helps see that Hrothgar was a victim in all of this tragedy. He agreed to having Beowulf stay and kill the beast that plagued him. Later Grendel’s mother appeared, bringing pain and suffering with her because of the death of her son.…
The theme of Beowulf had the good vs.evil theme to the story when the monster is Grendel is the monster and his mother also a threat to herot and Beowulf is the hero to solve the problems of Grendel is making. Beowulf is the hero in the story and Grendel is the villain. Beowulf is the faced with many trials throughout the story with unferth and the Grendel.…
In both works, the authors of Beowulf and Tolkien also assigned their society’s negative traits to their stories’ villains. In Beowulf, Grendel was swamp-dwelling son of Cain, the exiled killer of Abel and father to all evil spirits (102 – 110). Grendel’s swampy home is easily accessible to the Anglo-Saxon audience as dark and dangerous. On top of this, Grendel’s home exists on the outside edges of King Heorot’s lands: not central but still inside (103). This location represents the marginalities of the Anglo-Saxon people who the majority of society sees as sinful or “demonic.” To the Anglo-Saxons, these outsiders would have been those who did not follow cultural norms, including those dictated by biblical law.…
Grendel is “a powerful monster that lives in darkness.” Hrothgar’s warriors lived happy in his hall until Grendel attacked. Grendel lived in a swampy hell hole on earth. When darkness fell Grendel quietly went to Herot. Wondering what Hrothgar’s men were doing after they were done drinking. When the warrior pasted out from drinking, Grendel knew it was time to sink his claws into them. After Grendel killed every…
We live in a society that loves to know the reasons for the villain's actions. We want to know at exactly what moment in time this character decided to be “evil.” We want to be able to relate to the villain because we have realized we can no longer relate to the hero. The hero has knowledge unattainable in books, the honor only found in gods, and nobility that is too hard for us “mere mortals” to obtain. Our society has given up on the idea of the hero. We are all sick of being the mad scientist in a superman cape, The scratchy polyester choking our necks like a tightened noose. We want to be able to say it is okay to be bad, as long as you have a good reason for it. This is the thinking in the 2005 movie Beowulf and Grendel (Gunnarson,2005).…
This theme and parallel structure of the poem carries with it the idea that all that lives must perish. The poem is not meant to be recount of Danish or Swedish history, but instead an archaic legend retold with the addition of the values and scrutiny of the unknown author. As a work of art, the author of Beowulf included the monsters such as Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon as the personification of the darkness and true evil. This detracts from the historical accuracy of the poem, but provides structure for the building of theme and parallelism in the poem according to Tolkien. The use of pagan and Christian references such as the mentioning of Cain and the reciting of verses related to God give insight to the author’s point of view and the conflicting views of the Anglo-Saxons in their transition between a pagan ideal and a Christian ideals, thus indicating that the author added their own style and criticisms into the poem. Tolkien believes that it is that evidence that make criticism from a historical point of view not as effective as a criticism from a solely poetic point of…
Evil has no definitive interpretation; it is a matter of morals and the mindset of the being. It depends on the person to define such an ambiguous idea, some have faith in God(s), others look to dictionary definitions. Though based on Grendel’s intelligence and his repeatedly disgusting acts, he is evil. He is an astute being that can comprehend what kind of pain he creates by his ways, and he has no remorse for anything. Grendel’s actions are revolting, from ruining Wealhtheow, to killing harmless beings, to many spouts of unprovoked violence.…
A citation from the poem, translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland, would give a good picture of what Grendel caused to human kind; think of a beautiful place, a mead-hall, where people came together every night to eat, drink, sing and feast. People were living in harmony, until one night Grendel turned up and started the terror upon Hrothgar’s people, which would continue for the next twelve years:…
The most undisputed monster of the poem is the "slick- skinned " dragon " with streamers of fire" (Beowulf 155) that appears at the end of the poem, and eventually kills Beowulf. There is no possible argument one could make that the dragon is not a monster. However, the dragon is still important to the poem, and it still presents an important form of evil. The dragon is the representation of the evil of money in the story, or in other words the greed gold causes. The dragon " guarded a hoard " (Beowulf 151), and Beowulf died in an effort to kill the dragon and take the gold he so jealously guarded. Because of Beowulf's and the dragon's need for the money, they put their lives on the line, and ultimately die for the money. Which is ironic, for when they are both dying the money is brought out, and it is corroded and…