Beowulf Book Vs Movie Analysis

There were many differences between the book and the movie. The main difference is in the book Beowulf kills Grendel's mother and in the movie they sleep together. A second difference is Beowulf did not have a son because he kills Grendel’s mother before he could sleep with her. Also in the poem, another difference was that Beowulf kills her with a giant sword. Another difference between the movie and the book is that Beowulf didn't cut his own arm off to kill his only son. In the movie Beowulf cuts off his arm to kill the dragon, but in the book Beowulf kills the dragon and doesn’t have to cut his own arm. In my opinion, a hero cannot be characteristically flawed. Heros should not have too many character flaws, but while Beowulf in the film has some flaws, none of them are enough to diminish his heroism.

The major flaw Beowulf showed in the movie was that he slept with Grendel’s mother. I think that because Beowulf slept with someone it lessened his standing as a hero, in my mind. Another flaw that Beowulf showed was that he was arrogant in the movie. I can overlook the fact that a hero is not perfectly sculpted or good looking. I think to be a hero you cannot have personality flaws like being self-centered or conceited. He went into battle with Grendel as if it wasn’t going to be a difficult battle. I don’t think an epic hero should think any battle will be easy. Yes, I do believe it matters what flaws a hero has. I think a hero can have physical flaws but when heroes have a personality flaw it cannot be overlooked. Physical flaws can be changed, but personality flaws are permanent. I think personality flaws can diminish the heroism of a character. As stated above the arrogance and sleeping with a woman are personality traits that I cannot overlook. So in my eyes Beowulf’s heroism is