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The Natural And Beowulf Comparison

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What conventions make an epic tale? The conventions of an epic tale consist of allusions, archetypes, foils, symbols, and parallels. The Natural, starring Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs shows the same use of the conventions of a classic epic tale as the story of Beowulf. The conventions of an epic tale are strewn throughout the movie, and are utilized thoroughly throughout the plot. An allusion is a reference to a something, whether that is a person, place, object, or piece of literature. The use of allusions in The Natural and Beowulf is similar in that they both allude to historical figures and works of literature. Throughout the story of Beowulf it alludes to events such as the Noah’s great flood, and compares the monster Grendel to Cain in the way Grendel killed Hrothgar’s men in cold blood just as Cain did to his brother Abel. In The Natural in the beginning of the film when young Roy Hobbs shapes that bat out of a tree he names his bat Wonderboy. It alludes to Anglo Saxon literature in the way that they name their weapons, and in Beowulf the weapon of Hrothgar’s clan was named Hrunting. …show more content…

In both Beowulf and The Natural they use a parallel to connect the beginning and the end of the stories. In Beowulf the story begins with the funeral of Shield as his body is sent on a boat out to sea to begin the journey into darkness. In the end of the story, it ends with the funeral of Beowulf as his body is burned on a funeral pyre with his riches. In The Natural, the beginning of the movie starts with Roy playing catch with his father, and towards the end of the movie Roy is playing catch with his son, the son being a parallel to young Roy Hobbs. When Roy meets Memo for the first time she is standing on the other side of the elevator doors, and he later dreams of Harriet Bird in the same

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