Beowulf Comparison

Imagine a beast so evil, so dangerous, so powerful, that it could only be brought down by one man, The Almighty Beowulf the Great. Beowulf was one of the first pieces of English language literature that was later made into several movies. The book and movie diverge into different storylines as the plot moves along. While the poem gets past the idea of Grendel and his mother moving along to a dragon that kills Beowulf, the movie on the other hand has a strong focus on Grendel’s mother all throughout the story. Although the movie and the poem share many similarities, the different portrayals of Grendel, mead hall etiquette, and the comportment of Beowulf communicate the values of the societies in which they are told. The first example of the similarities and differences in the poem and movie is the comportment of Beowulf. The poem and movie still share the fact that Beowulf is still a very proud and glorious warrior. In the poem, he is said to be “the bravest and best of the Geats”(121) and how he is a “follower and strongest of the Geats-greater and stronger than anyone anywhere in this world”(110-111). Unlike the movie, Beowulf has no weakness for women in the poem. For instance, in the movie, he quickly falls for Queen Wealtheow even before

In both the poem and the movie, Grendel is the face of the initial evil in the storyline. He is still "a powerful monster, living down/In the darkness"(1) “who invades the Mead Hall, bringing death and destruction”(first intro). While being strictly a monster of pure evil in the poem, Grendel is half Human and receives a more sympathetic background in Beowulf the movie. The father of grendel is unknown in the poem but Hrothgar is discovered to be the father in the movie. Along with that, upon his arm getting ripped off after his battle with Beowulf, he flees back to his lair where he is cradled by his mother while he cries like a