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Comparing Beowulf To Grendel's

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Extra Characters in Beowulf
Beowulf is a story that has been around since the year 580, or since 1000 AD. With that being said, there are bound to be several adaptations and modern re-imaginings of the same story about this dynamic warrior and all his glorious battles. The epic Beowulf (Heaney,Seamus) and one of its modern adaptation Beowulf and Grendel (Gunnarson, S) has a few similarities, but they also have a great deal of differences, ranging from views on religion, Women, and even changing some of the story’s main characters. The movie’s addition of the main characters such as Grendel’s son, the witch, and Grendel’s dad, show that we, as the modern people, have a vastly different worldview with regards to the hardships of life’s complexities.

A major addition to the main character 's roster was Grendel’s son. The child is a product of Grendel and Selma, another additional …show more content…

Because of this, it has to go through some sort of modification to appeal to the modern audiences that go out to watch or purchase this film. The film’s way of doing this feat is to add some characters that appeal to the audience, which include Selma, the witch, Grendel’s son, and Grendel’s father. For example, Selma was added to represent the percent of people that feel like outcasts, Grendel’s son was added to humanize Grendel and show that he is more than just a monster out to kill people for no reason, and Grendel’s father was added to,again, humanize Grendel, and to give him a reason to go out and kill all those people. The inclusion of these characters were to show that Grendel is a human just like the rest of the people out to get him, but because of the mistreatment of his father and the way he was made an outcast, he had no choice but to lash out at these soldiers. This is a perfect example that almost anything that comes in a story could have a truthful

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In Grendel there is many different main themes in the story. They all share their own important part on how Grendel is view by the reader and the people in the story. Most of the main themes make you feel more sympathetic with Grendel; than you did in Beowulf.     One of the main themes is humans and monsters. At one part of the story Grendel overhears the harper talking about Grendel and goes into the mead-hall.

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Throughout John Garder’s novel and the poem Beowolf the reader can tell that Grendel is a complex character that does not relate much to anyone else in the novel or the poem. Grendel in Garder’s novel is also different compared to the Grendel in the poem Beowolf by many different standards. Grendel in Garder’s novel is more a complicated character then the Grendel in Beowolf because the novel is set in first person point of view, the reader can have a deeper understanding of Grendel in the novel, and there is more modern philosophy in Grendel the novel. The novel Grendel is all written in first person which gives a deeper understanding of how Grendel interprets what is happening and how he reacts too many of the conflicts that happen to him.

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“He awoke in the basement of Gacy’s home his body naked and pressed into a pillory like rack which held his arms and head. John Wayne Gacy a powerful, heavyset man was also naked, his fat, hairy belly sticking out obscenely. Gacy showed his victims various whips and instruments of torture along with number of strange looking sexual devices explaining lasciviously how he intended to use these implements on him. The assaults and torture went on for hours” (Nash 1247). A candidate that measures up to this disturbance would be the monster from Beowulf, Grendel.

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The Extra character gives reason to a lot of things that were not explained in the book. In today’s mindset, people need to have reasons for things and the background of a situation. The modern mindset is that everyone has a good side and is only mean when others are mean to them. That is why in Beowulf and Grendel the movie, Beowulf has a compassionate side and understands why Grendel is after the Danes. Compared to as in the epic Beowulf was very boastful and only cared about his own reputation and willing the battle.

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In Grendel the author shows us a very captivating character. Gardner is able to show himself misunderstood, confused yet a very different creature. By showing him this way, the author shows that there are more than 1 side to each story. This makes him be able to familiarize himself to the reader. Grendel has some very monster like qualities, but he is not violent and Grendel is a character who is capable of learning, thinking ,etc. and communicating.

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Argument Essay: Beowulf and Grendel Many people have read or heard of the epic poem of Beowulf, which spins a tale of Grendel, the monster, attacking the admirable Danes and their king, Hrothgar. Some may not be as aware of a book titled Grendel written by John Gardner in 1971. Gardner’s book tells a completely different account of the more familiar tale of Beowulf, from the perspective of Grendel, the monster. The narrator from Grendel portrays a more plausible, powerful story than the excerpt from Beowulf by drawing the reader in with a more emotional viewpoint from the character Grendel, making him more relatable by giving him humanlike qualities, and clarifying why certain events took place in Beowulf.

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968 Words | 4 Pages

Readers can learn some things about Grendel in Beowulf but in order to dive deeper into the character and who he is, people go to the book Grendel. The book takes a closer look at Grendel and how he discovers the order and disorder of people and the world (Sanchez). Grendel is thought to symbolize the dark side of humanity, or the sins of man (Farrell). It’s easy for readers to sympathize with Grendel at points because he is a natural outcast of society. He is said to be the son of Cain and because of that he was labeled from day one (Sanchez).

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Grendel’s mother was described as a she-wolf, a monster, (Beowulf 449) however in the movie she is 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, are much different from those of the movie.

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1433 Words | 6 Pages

The Worth of Religion: Beowulf the Epic vs. Beowulf and Grendel “They swim only out of fear.” “But still, they swim.” Beowulf (Heaney. 2000) is a classic epic where the protagonist Beowulf, a great warrior, has heroic adventures and is rewarded plentifully with gold and honor. However, in the recent Canadian movie adaptation Beowulf and Grendel (Gunnarsson. 2005) the director made many alterations to the epic, one of them being Beowulf’s views on religion and fate. The movie Beowulf and Grendel takes the classic Beowulf, which mentions God and fate frequently, and gives him a more modern ideology.

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The common characteristics of what makes a monster have remained constant throughout society: evil, isolated, violent. Monsters have no regards for social normatives, and cause chaos and destruction wherever they go. Grendel is no exception. In Beowulf, Grendel manifests every characteristic of a stereotypical monster. He is considered inherently evil, and is an outcast; he roams alone and commits devilish atrocities whenever he pleases.

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103 Words | 1 Pages

The charcter that came alive for me is grebdel brendel is a character in the story beowulf the reason he came alive for me is he represents all in the story he was fueled by lonliness jealusy and anger grendel was fueled by many things in thisstory one was lonliness loneliness everyone has experieneed at one point eating alone or going to game how you know this in the story you learn he was one of evil spirits grendel was exiled from living among human beings this leads you to see the lonelinness is of the emotion that fueled grendel in the story

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580 Words | 3 Pages

In the epic poem, Beowulf, there are clear distinctions between an epic hero and a monster. Beowulf is the prime example of a epic hero possessing characteristics such as superior strength, courage, and loyalty. On the other hand, Grendel and Grendel’s mother are characteristized as evil and immoral based off of their actions. These characteristics are presented throughout the poem, and monsters are given grotesque, hideous appearances to further prove that they are evil. After Beowulf kills Grendel, Grendel’s mother reaction revealed how the full presentation of a character can allow readers to react differently than before and even sympathized with them.

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Stories contain many characters with some that stand out more than the others. A person is considered the protagonist depending on who is telling the story and what story is being told. The protagonist is the main character in a literary work. Whether good or evil, the audience sympathize with the protagonist and understands the motif of the character. Beowulf is a protagonist whose encounters with evil proves him to be a strong heroic warrior.

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752 Words | 4 Pages

Grendel in both stories is described as a vicious "Monster", but is viewed differently. The character of Grendel, in the novel by John Gardner, portrays a different visualization than that of Grendel in the epic poem Beowulf. In the novel the story is told in first person point of view which gives Grendel human qualities while Grendel in Beowulf is told in third person point of view not giving Grendel his standpoint. In both works, the authors give two different perspectives of Grendel. Grendel in the novel is not seen as a "Monster", but as a human that has emotions and is very sympathetic about everything that comes his way.

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Even though the Harry Potter series and Beowulf were written hundreds of years apart, they both are exceedingly comparable to each other with minimal differences. When a person first reads the novel and poem separately, they are not going to see the connections at first. Archetypes, or motifs, are things that appear in many works of literature that are not connected in any way. There are several archetypes that connect Beowulf and Harry Potter.

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