Differences And Similarities Between Beowulf And Grendel

Yin &Yang With different time periods comes different cultures. In the 1920’s we had flappers, jazz music, and the Harlem Renaissance. In the present day, we have pole dancers, rap music, and the legalization of gay marriage. While the general ideas of the cultures are quite similar, the actual subjects of interest change as the time and the way people think continues to change and grow. The changing of cultures that comes with the changing of time periods can also be seen in the comparison of the epic poem, Beowulf, and the movie, Beowulf and Grendel. The poem, being written sometime between the 8th and 11th century, tends to have a more black and white, simplistic duality approach, while the movie tends to have more of a scrutinizing view in which the audience is to look further into why certain events are happening and characters are acting certain ways. The epic poem and the movie are very different in their views of Grendel, Beowulf, and the motives of both of them, because of the different time periods and way that the audiences think. In the

He is shown being chased, along with his father, by the Danes. They had crossed the Danes’ lines and had stolen a fish and were being hunted down to be punished. The Danes brutally kill Grendel’s father with arrows and then set him on fire while Grendel manages to escape. (Gunnarsson) By creating this background story for Grendel, it allows the audience to see the motives behind the actions that he takes. In the movie, he is seen more as a human, unlike the monster he is seen as in the poem. Grendel is given human characteristics such as the ability to feel and have emotions; he harbors hatred toward Hrothgar because of the murder of his father. Movie Grendel is also given the ability to father a child. The addition of this character helps the audience to be able to relate to