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Beowulf: Movie Vs Epic Poem

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In the movie and epic poem Beowulf there were many similarities and difference that was noticed. Beowulf was not a true as he was in the movie. However in the epic poem he was more honest and he kept his word. For example, when Beowulf doesn’t tell the truth about defeating Grendel’s mother, but in the poem he actually defeated her. On the other hand it was interesting to see the poem come to life and it made it easier to understand the concept of the story. There are many differences that stood out in both the epic poem and movie. Such as, in the poem Beowulf tracks Grendel’s Mother down in a lake and commences fighting her in armor and with the sword. During the fight Beowulf’s sword breaks, and Grendel’s Mother tries to stab him, but Beowulf’s …show more content…

One of these differences happens to be in the poem; Grendel kills the Dane who wronged him and proceeds to get away from Beowulf, but as Grendel is running away Beowulf catches his arm. Although Beowulf catches his arm in the poem that is not what happens in the film. In the film, Grendel runs and Beowulf gets a rope around his wrist and as Grendel jumps out of the building he gets caught on the rope, then Grendel proceeds to cut his own arm off in order to get away from Beowulf and the other Danes. In the movie Beowulf has no part in cutting off Grendel's arm. The similarities of the movie and poem are only a few. However they are; the people in Denmark expected Beowulf’s help, when he was coming Beowulf came on ship with his Geats. After Beowulf killed, he went to look for his mother. When he battle with Grendel's mother, there were some similarities from the movie and in the epic poem. Beowulf found and fought in the mountains, in a dark, muggy craves. Also it was very hard to kill Grendel's mother. In the movie and poem, Unferth gave Beowulf a gift to fight Grendel's mother. But unfortunately, the sword didn’t works on …show more content…

This is due to the fact that both battles practically develop in the same way. In both battles there is an initial task which is accomplished by defeating the villain. As news of the harm reaches the hero, the hero decides to act and leaves home, to battle the villains. Victory is finally achieved after combat and therefore, the initial hurt is repaired. There were not a lot of similarities between the book and the movie; at least not a lot that stood out. The speeches and boasts were the same, with Beowulf telling how great he is and King Hrothgar telling how hard, yet important, it is to be a warrior. Another similarity is the fight between Grendel and Beowulf. In the movie, Beowulf tore Grendel’s arm off, and fought him by hand, not by sword or shield—same goes for the book. In conclusion, both the poem had their similarities and differences. In a way it showed their heroic ways, and the concept was that both stories did what they did for reason. For example, when they fought the monsters the concept was for Beowulf to show that he is a hero and he is the bravest. He wanted to prove his point that he could defeat, or kill any monster or creature, because of Beowulf offering to help Denmark with “their monster”, he felt he had something to prove; no one expected him to be that brave, and to even kill

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