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Lord Of The Rings Vs Beowulf Research Paper

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Joey Aly Mrs. Norman English III 15 December 2014 Lord of the Rings Vs. Beowulf It is not common for fictional stories to be closely related nowadays. Creative individuals, who are diverse in their writings, write popular novels and series that are currently being created. An exception to this statement was J.R.R. Tolkien, who was an Anglo-Saxon professor at Oxford, who wrote The Lord of the Ring, which was created in 1954. This novel was created while Tolkien was still teaching at Oxford. When reading The Lord of the Rings, it is obvious that the studies taught by Tolkien gave the novel its depth, complexity, and features. Because Tolkien was an expert on Anglo-Saxon culture, he was able to incorporate Old English roots into his story. …show more content…

J.R.R. Tolkien based some buildings and cities on those of Beowulf. One of the areas that have a strong connection can be seen in the destruction of Rohan (The Two Towers), which is under the rule of King Théoden and the destruction of Hrothgar's Hall. In Beowulf, a place known as, "The Hall", was important in the Anglo-Saxon culture, and is plagued by the monster Grendel; this hall was abandoned and fell into disuse as result of the evil surrounding it. The destruction of Rohan was caused by Grima Wormtongue using powers given to him by Saruman to posse Theoden and made him submit to the advice given to him by councilor Wormtongue. Just like Hrothgar's Hall in Beowulf, Rohan became infested with evil as orcs filled the land. In both stories the inhabitants of the land were assisted with help from the outside. Beowulf came to the aid of the people of Denmark by challenging the monster Grendel while in Lord of the Rings, Gandalf came to the aid of the people of Rohan by forcing the removal of Saurman's influence from Théoden’s …show more content…

The Swords of Bilbo (Lord of the Rings) and Beowulf (Beowulf) are both similar in the ways the weapons were both enchanted and passed down to a new carrier. Sting was Bilbo’s sword, which is later, passed down to Frodo. Sting is an enchanted weapon that shone a blue light whenever orcs were nearby. When battling Grendel’s mother, Beowulf used his magic sword to defeat her. Also, as Beowulf was dying, he passed down his armored sword to Wiglaf, just as Bilbo passed down his sword to Frodo. In both scenarios, the gesture is symbolic as they both passed down the responsibility they held. After the transfer of responsibility, Frodo took Bilbo’s place as an adventurer and hero while Wiglaf took Beowulf’s place as leader of the Geats. An additional connection of the two swords, and other weaponry in these two tales, is that special and enchanted weapons found in Lord of the Rings and Beowulf have been given special

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He defeats the enemy and then decapitates Grendel’s corpse. While trying to get back to shore the sword melts; leaving just the hilt. So he returns to Hrothgar’s hall with Grendel’s head and the hilt of his sword. Because of his great accomplishment, he displays Grendel’s head in Heorot. To conclude, Beowulf is so honored that he presents the sword-hilt to

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Furthermore, as Beowulf left the Hrunting sword behind and did not return it back to its owner, the text suggests that Beowulf carried it without preserving its integrity as promised. In addition, Beowulf saw a “victorious blade,/ ancient giant-sword strong in its edges,/ worthy in battles; it was the best of weapons [throughout the Danes community]” (Beowulf, 1557-9), during his battle with Grendel’s mother to which ends her life. The text implies that Beowulf does not respect material weapons of the community since he treats the giant-sword as “best of weapons” even though he swore his life for the Hrunting. In other words, Beowulf classifies swords as the same since he picks up and drops different ones as if they were nothing but pieces of metal to

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811 Words | 4 Pages

Although they both were courageous, one had humanly emotions and the other did not. Beowulf was strong. He did not show no fear even if he saw his life flash before his eyes. He battled three monsters and died trying in his last encounter. He was old, yet he still battled.

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Both were very lucky, because if both would not of happened Beowulf would of died. Our hero did not know that swords ¨Could work no harm to the hideous foe”(27). The giant's sword was the ¨choicest of weapons worthy and

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702 Words | 3 Pages

Beowulf went through so much to prove he was worthy enough to protect their kingdom and defeat Grendel. The story Beowulf was a great story to read and a great movie to watch; however, the battles were very eye catching and had a lot of extravagant and heroic doings of Beowulf. The first scenario that I’m going to discuss in the movie and story of Beowulf is The Battle with Grendel. In the movie Grendel attacked Beowulf in the Heriot while everyone was dancing and singing.

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499 Words | 2 Pages

Beowulf found a sword on the wall and took it and struck her in the neck cutting deeply and killing her. “Then he saw, hanging on the wall, a heavy sword.” “And desperate, lifted it high over his head and struck with all the strength he had left, caught her in the neck and cut it through, broke bones and all (page 72 chapter 23).” When Beowulf returns to the hall he presents Grendel’s had and the hilt to the sword that he used to kill Grendel’s mother. Hrothgar then again praises Beowulf for his braveness and his willingness to stand up for his people.

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904 Words | 4 Pages

In Beowulf, Unferth tries to rile up Beowulf, viewing him as not as glorious as the stories claim, but once he kills Grendel and begins his hunt for Grendel’s mother, he realizes his words were wrong. He tries to apologize by lending Beowulf his own sword, Hrunting. Beowulf gladly accepts the sword and even states “‘to that far-famed man I bequeath my own / sharp-honed, wave-sheened wonder-blade. / With Hrunting I shall gain glory or die’” (1489-1491).

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J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien exposes a new world to the readers as soon as they turn the first page. This new world contains multiple aspects to it that make it nothing like the modern world today. Tolkien brings the readers into the world of Middle-Earth, and along with humans, there are fantasy creatures that inhabit this unique land. That the majority of the creatures have their own land to call home and Middle-Earth then consist of various, unique lands. Fantasy is a work that takes place in a nonexistent and unreal world, concerns incredible and unreal characters, or relies on scientific principles not yet discovered or contrary to present experience (Harmon).

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988 Words | 4 Pages

Beowulf, the oldest surviving epic poem, has been recognized as one of the most important works of Old English literature. It deals with battles, warrior culture, and redemption in a Germanic society. Many writers have analyzed the relationship between Christianity and Paganism in Beowulf, and how these were a depiction of an early medieval Scandinavian society. J. R. R. Tolkien, renowned author of the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series, presented his view on the Pagan and Christian elements found in early medieval societies, as shown in the poem Beowulf. Tolkien explained that the poem shows “the nearness of a pagan time,” and with it “the shadow of its despair, as an intense emotion of regret” is conveyed throughout the poem (Tolkien).

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405 Words | 2 Pages

Beowulf and Thor are very similar in terms of personality, morals, and the way they think things should be done. They are both very strong men and they have the need to control every little thing and how things should work out. They are both very arrogant and they like to brag Thor does not want to listen to what anyone wants to say while Beowulf does not have to listen to anyone because he already has a firm grasp of what his culture is like and what is to be expected of him. Thor on the other hand has a lot to learn he has to understand how to be a good king so he can serve his people correctly. Beowulf already knows how to do those things because he grew up learning the ways of the Anglo Saxons.

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631 Words | 3 Pages

The poem and movie of “Beowulf” are very different and they are also sort of similar. There are a lot more differences between the two than you would expect and while some of them are minor differences others are drastically different. Most movies are very different from the book they are made from. The biggest differences between the movie and poem were the three battles. The three battles have drastic differences.

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1687 Words | 7 Pages

( J. R. R. Tolkien) The action in the novel takes place in the fictive place named Middle-Earth and if we look after the

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720 Words | 3 Pages

   The first similarity between Beowulf and King Arthur are that they are both very brave. Beowulf traveled all the way to Denmark after hearing the plight their people were going through. He didn’t even know anything other than what he was told. As if that wasn’t brave Beowulf went on to never back down from any monster whether it be Grendel, Grendel's mother, or the dragon he didn’t ever run from a fight. While King Arthur didn’t do go around killing all these monsters he was brave in other aspects.

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941 Words | 4 Pages

Though the sword “had gone through many/ hand-to-hand fights… the fabulous powers of that heirloom failed” to harm his opponent (1524-1528). The sword is not powerful enough nor is it worthy of use by Beowulf, since it came from a man who is too cowardly to fight the monster himself. While Beowulf is unable to wield Hrunting, he uses another sword he finds during the battle to chop off the monster’s head. The latter sword happens to have a cultural connection since it has previously been fought with men of the Danes’ serving Beowulf well in the fight. Compared to the fight against Grendel, Beowulf needs a better way to defend himself because the mother’s strikes injure Beowulf while Grendel could not put up much of a fight.

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964 Words | 4 Pages

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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