Similarities Between Grendel And Beowulf

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. The movie makes Beowulf out to be somewhat agnostic and skeptical towards God showing how our cultures have changed through time from being ardently religious and relying on fate, to religion playing a lesser role and fate not determining everything. In the epic, Beowulf speaks frequently about how God aided him in his struggles and battles. For example, when Beowulf comes back to Heorot after killing Grendel’s mother and decapitating Grendel, he begins to tell Hrothgar what happened when he was battling Grendel’s mother. He said that it was a hard and potentially fatal battle and that, although his sword Hrunting is a very tough sword, he could not use it in battle (his intense strength would break the normal sword). He then said that the

In contrast, the Beowulf from the movie lacks the humility shown in the epic. Instead, he attributes all his victories to himself. Nowadays, people attribute any accomplishments to themselves and they have also become more individualistic. Although people still believe in God, they are not as appreciative and they do not acknowledge that through his grace and power, they overcome obstacles in their lives. On the contrary, people take credit for their own victories but question God during times of great struggle and tribulation. This way of thinking is reflected in Beowulf in the