beowulf poem vs movie essay

The Quest for Glory and its Moral Implications

This essay will compare the original “Beowulf” poem with its movie adaptations. It will discuss how the plot, characters, and themes are translated from text to screen, highlighting the artistic liberties taken in the adaptations. The piece will examine the effectiveness of these adaptations in capturing the essence of the ancient epic. Also at PapersOwl you can find more free essay examples related to Beowulf.

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Hero's glory dims against empty halls in Beowulf's cautionary tale. This ancient text offers a profound moral lesson for young adults and teenagers, urging them to consider the costs of a life singularly focused on achievement. Throughout his life, Beowulf chooses the path of a solitary warrior, making a conscious decision to remain unmarried and childless. His commitment to his career and combat prowess comes at the expense of family and deeper personal connections. The poem suggests that while Beowulf's dedication to his role as a protector and warrior is admirable, it ultimately leads to a life of isolation. Need a custom essay on the same topic? Give us your paper requirements, choose a writer and we’ll deliver the highest-quality essay! Order now

• 1 Beowulf’s Rise to Power
• 2 The Essence of Courage
• 3 The Ultimate Sacrifice
• 4 Monsters and Tactics
• 5 Poem vs. Film: A Comparative Analysis
• 6 Conclusion: Lessons from Beowulf

Beowulf’s Rise to Power

The essence of courage, the ultimate sacrifice, monsters and tactics, poem vs. film: a comparative analysis, conclusion: lessons from beowulf.

*Beowulf* is more than an epic tale of valor; it is a reflection on the virtues and vices that define heroism. Beowulf's journey is a testament to the power of courage, selflessness, and leadership. His actions, driven by pride tempered with humility, offer a timeless lesson on the importance of balancing personal ambition with the welfare of others. The poem encourages readers to consider the consequences of ignoring familial and social responsibilities in the pursuit of glory. Ultimately, *Beowulf* inspires a selfless regard for the innocent and helpless, urging individuals to heed the call to protect and serve, even at great personal cost.

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Essay on Beowulf Movie vs Poem

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Literature , Poetry , Character , Movies , Beowulf , Cinema , Grendel , Poem

Published: 10/13/2019

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After reading the Old English heroic epic poem “Beowulf”, which considered to be one of the most significant masterpieces of Anglo-Saxon literature, and watching the 2007 American screen version of the same name directed by Robert Zemeckis I have identified the similarities and differences of interpretation. The film director has chosen this particular literature work as it holds important information regarding relationships and controversies of the society and kingship in Old England. In addition, the poem is extremely exciting and contains numerous astonishing descriptions and vivid characters.

Altogether the movie accurately resembles the heroic poem; there are several dissimilarities that the film director did not take into consideration. First of all, in the poem the main hero Beowulf returns to Geatland in order to become the king of his uncle’s kingdom. Whereas, in the motion picture he remains in the land of the Danes and turns to be the king of the Hrothgar’s kingdom. Secondly, in the poem Beowulf takes the life of Grendel’s mother, while in the film they have sexual intercourse and soon Grendel’s mother gives birth to a dragon-like child. According to the poem Beowulf has never had any sexual relations with Grendel’s mother, and therefore for the culmination of movie the dragon Beowulf withstands is not his son, but a random flying beast that he fights when returning home to Geatland to attend the coronation and become a fair ruler. Moreover, the author Neil Gaiman and screenwriter Roger Avary presented their vision and motivation standing behind Grendel’s behavior. They disagree with the concept that Beowulf appears to be an unreliable narrator, especially in the part where he reveals the details of his battle with Grendel’s mother. These changes made it easier to link the third and the second acts of the screenplay that are divided in the poem by a fifty years.

In addition, according to the researches conducted by the scholars there were some other changes made in the movie. Firstly, the film depicts Beowulf as a man of flaws and imperfection. Secondly, the portrayal of Hrothdar and Unferth does not correspond with their representation in the poem. In the movie Hrothgar is depicted as a debauch alcohol addict, whereas Unferth carries feature of a pietistic Christian. In the movie the portrayal of Grendel’s mother is rather inaccurate as she is presented as a beautiful seductive woman, mother of Grendel’s (Hrothgar’s offspring) and the dragon (Beowulf’s child). For this reason I believe that the film director should not have given the role to Angelina Jolie, who is recognized by numerous publications as “the most beautiful” woman in the world. Finally, Beowulf becomes the king of the land of Danes instead of becoming the ruler of his native Geatland.

In the movie the characters Hrothgar and then Beowulf are both depicted as men who have love affairs on the side, whereas the literature work gives the readers the concept that in the Medieval times kings were moral, respectable, honest, ingenuous and loyal men who put safety and security of their kingdoms first of all. Meanwhile, in the movie Grendel is portrayed as an immature human-like beast undergoing severe pain every time he hears loud sound from Herot, whereas the book presents him as a horrifying and furious monster. At the same time the movie arouses feelings of sympathy and sadness towards Grendel’s, who is hurting in contrast to the impression that the reader gets from the poem where his character is a devil’s progeny who is not worthy of compassion and empathy. His mother also possessed different traits of character – in the film she personifies beauty, wisdom and ambition. Although the poem does not contain any precise description of Grendel’s mother, the reader pictures her as a hideous and furious creature capable of avenging her son and taking life of anybody in her way.

Many scholars expressed their opinions regarding the semantic changes conducted to the adaptation of the epic poem. Bonnie Wheeler, the Director of the Medieval Studies at the Southern Methodist University, is convinced that “… it’s a great cop-out on a great poem. It seems to me you could do so much better now. And the story of Beowulf is so much more powerful." Another philosophy professor Stephen T. Asma disagrees that “Zemeckis's more tender-minded film version suggests that the people who cast out Grendel are the real monsters. The monster, according to this charity paradigm, is just misunderstood rather than evil (similar to the version presented in John Gardner's novel Grendel). The blame for Grendel's violence is shifted to the humans, who sinned against him earlier and brought the vengeance upon themselves. […] In the film, Grendel is even visually altered after his injury to look like an innocent, albeit scaly, little child. In the original Beowulf, the monsters are outcasts because they're bad (just as Cain, their progenitor, was outcast because he killed his brother), but in the film Beowulf the monsters are bad because they're outcasts [...] Contrary to the original Beowulf, the new film wants us to understand and humanize our monsters."

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Beowulf: Comparing the Movie and the Book

The story of Beowulf has remained a significant work for centuries not only because it is one of our first lengthy works of English, but also because of the timelessness of the themes it contains and its applicability to a modern audience, regardless of the period in which ‘modern’ is denoted. One of the major themes of the story still applicable today is the concept of honorable courage, doing the right thing for the benefit of the many even though it may mean the sacrifice of the self.

This theme is particularly brought out when Beowulf faces the dragon toward the end of the saga. Comparing this scene as it appears in the ancient poem with its portrayal in the recent film Beowulf released in 2007 reveals that while there are some significant changes made to the action as the literature is brought into a filmic context, this same theme of self-sacrifice for the greater good remains a central element. By comparing the film and the book, similarities between the two stories can be traced as well as differences which can then be analyzed as to how each strives to make this theme evident.

In both the book and the film, Beowulf’s encounter with the dragon begins with the removal of a golden cup from his hoard. While this is an unidentified and otherwise meaningless cup accidentally removed by a peasant in the book, the return of a profoundly significant cup in the film helps to establish a connection between the earlier battles with Grendel and his mother and the upcoming battle with the dragon.

In each case, Beowulf goes to face the dragon with a group of men but arrives at the dragon’s lair with only a single helper, a young kinsman in the book, and an aging friend in the film. Many of the key events of the actual battle between dragon and man remain the same as well. Beowulf is driven off by flame, is failed by his sword, and must then attack using little more than a stabbing knife. Beowulf is burned horribly by the dragon’s fire as he attempts to kill it and knows of the dragon’s certain death before he dies himself of the wounds received during the battle.

However, in the book, Beowulf is assisted in killing the dragon by his second, the young kinsman Wiglaf, without whom he would have lost the fight leaving the dragon free to continue terrorizing the people. In an attempt to encourage his other warriors to assist him in helping Beowulf, Wiglaf tells the other men, “I had far rather that the flame should enfold my flesh-frame there alongside my gold-giver – as God knows of me.

To bear our shields back to our homes would seem unfitting to me unless first, we have been able to kill the foe and defend the life of the prince of the Weather-Geats” (2650-2656). Rather than running as all of the other thanes had done, Wiglaf boldly stands beside Beowulf and rushes in to defend Beowulf when the dragon manages to get him between his jaws. In the actions of Wiglaf, the Beowulf poet demonstrates the necessity for courageous men to go out and defend the public who may or may not even know what was put at stake for the individual in doing so. Because the dragon is killed and Beowulf remains alive long enough to see the dead carcass, Wiglaf is granted kingship over Beowulf’s lands as the only man willing to stand and defend them from whatever may attack.

The film does not provide Beowulf with this helpful younger man at his side in his moment of near-failure. The epic battle between Beowulf and the dragon takes place primarily in the air, with Beowulf clinging to the dragon’s hide with the help of a sword plunged deep into the skin of the beast but otherwise causing it little damage. As a result, Wiglaf, having aged as much as his leader, can do little to help but gallop after the flying dragon and save the two women important enough to Beowulf to cut off his own arm in order to reach the dragon’s heart and kill it. In his headlong and harrowing attempt to catch up with Beowulf and the dragon, Wiglaf does demonstrate the same kind of unfailing loyalty to his lord demonstrated in the book, but Beowulf himself provides the lesson regarding honorable courage. Although he is now old, he has learned the lesson Hrothgar did not. In failing to provide the water demon with a new young hero to seduce, Beowulf dies with the hope that the wiser Wiglaf might prevail against her. He knows he is going to his death in attempting to fight the dragon, but he faces the challenge with a steady heart, knowing he is working for the greater good of his kingdom. The film ends with the water demon attempting to seduce Wiglaf, who involuntarily steps into the water but retains his suspicious glance.

While the film has managed to change the epic battle between the dragon and Beowulf to a great deal, it does so as a means of addressing one of the most glaring holes in the poem, which is a connection between the early battles of Beowulf’s younger days with his tremendous battle at the end of the poem.

In attempting to communicate with a more sophisticated and worldly audience, the filmmakers provided enough difference and depth in their few amendments to convey the same sense of courage in the face of death that was conveyed to earlier audiences who did not require the same degree of intrigue and continuity as today’s media-saturated crowd.

Works Cited

Beowulf. Michael Alexander (Trans.). New York: Penguin Classics, 1973.

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Comparing and Contrasting Beowulf: The Epic Poem and The Movie Adaptation

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Similarities and differences, characterization and themes, language and setting.

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Beowulf Poem Vs. Film Adaptation

Essay by callielamb   •  November 30, 2016  •  Essay  •  599 Words (3 Pages)  •  1,301 Views

Essay Preview: Beowulf Poem Vs. Film Adaptation

Beowulf Film vs. Poem

Callie Lamb

  The tale of Beowulf is an epic poem that has been passed down for thousands of years. I preferred the movie adaptation over the poem because of all the new plot lines and layers that were added in by the film’s director, Robert Zemeckis. Although I enjoyed both the movie and the poem, I far favored the movie out of the two.

            A new aspect of the plot that was added into the film was the curse of Grendell’s mother. In the movie, Grendell’s mother only comes to fight Beowulf to avenge the murder of her son. In the movie she has quite a bit more significant of a role. In the movie Grendell’s mother uses her body and promise of power and riches to seduce men into sleeping with her. The birth of both Grendell and the dragon are results of the witch’s seduction of human men. I believe that the addition of that storyline made the movie far more interesting and personal. It also gave the characters more emotional and social depth because you saw that they had humanoid weaknesses and were capable of making mistakes. This breaks down the impression of this larger than life

            I also appreciated that the movie ended in a more unorthodox manner than the poem. The poem ended with the standard “good beats evil”, “hero saves the day” ending, but the movie trailed off with a cliffhanger that alluded to the idea that Grendell’s mom had already seduced the new king. Most stories about heroes and monsters end with a black and white ending where the good guy beats the bad guy, but I appreciated that the movie ended in an original and interesting manner. The imagery in the movie also left a more lasting effect, although the book did a good job with image description, “Suddenly then the God-cursed brute was creating havoc: greedy and grim, he grabbed thirty men from their resting places and rushed to his lair, flushed up and inflamed from the raid, blundering back with the butchered corpses…”, the movie was more shocking and visually stimulating.

Beowulf: Differences Between The Poem And The Film

Show More After reading novels and other writings, readers tend to watch the film of that writing to spot the differences between the two. In this specific case, there were many differences between the poem and the film of Beowulf. One of the main questions that comes from watching and reading the story is “Is Beowulf still considered an epic hero despite his flaws given to him in the movie after being described as nearly flawless in the writing?” The questions of “What makes a hero a hero?” and “Is it better to have a hero who is flawed or a hero who is flawless?” will hopefully be answered. In my opinion, Beowulf is still an epic hero in the film despite his flaws and being described as nearly flawless in the poem. To start with differences that I

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