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Grendel And Beowulf Comparison Essay

1346 Words6 Pages

Movies are cinematic depictions of written ideas manipulated to appease audiences composed of ever-changing individuals. Within the epic Beowulf (Heaney 2000), and the film Beowulf and Grendel (Gunnarsson 2005) you are able to make a clear distinction. The epic portrays one of the first cultures in human existence while the film portrays the modern culture that we are all familiar with today. The differences can be thought of as a representation of who we once were, and what we have evolved into today. In our culture today, we have lost sight of simplistic duality and have now evolved into an audience that needs more in order to be entertained. Through both these portrayals of entertainment, the characters are altered in order to please the cultural view of that time. In the epic Beowulf, Beowulf is “a thane, they declared, with the strength of thirty in the grip of each hand,” (380) Essentially, Beowulf is a perfect being lacking any human flaws, and upon meeting Hrothgar, he begins an epic boast, “... they had seen me boltered in the blood of …show more content…

He is viewed as a monstrosity in both aspects, but they mainly differ through their characteristics. Grendel has no reason for his beastly actions but continues to maul and kill anyone that strays in his path for sport. “And his glee was demonic, picturing the mayhem: before morning he would rip life from limb and devour them, feed on their flesh…” (730) The line from the epic illustrates an example of how Grendel views the people of Heorot and the pleasure that is found in killing them. This version of Grendel presents the idea that there are no human characteristics present within him. He is pure evil, which continues to prove the simplistic duality cultural views the epic portrays. Grendel shows no signs of knowledge beyond his urge to kill which further leads to conclude that there is no way to compromise or communicate with the

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