Beowulf Film Comparison

1) The film character Beowulf is much older and alone in this story because he is described as some kind of immortal. Rather than just being a warrior with a great reputation from another kingdom as he was in the original text, in the film he is the son of some kind of god. Beowulf relates the story of his conception to Kyra in the film, saying that his mother had been drawn to a man she had found in some kind of cave or hole, and he had impregnated her. This man was believed to be the god of the dead (or something of that sort) and his son, Beowulf, was thus a cursed being. Beowulf said that the only way that he could keep himself from becoming evil was to fight evil as much as possible. Because of the fact that he had to continually travel to new places in search of evil beings to fight, he felt that solitude was necessary. This way he would not place someone that he cared about in unnecessary danger. The reason that he appears older than one would expect is probably because the film makes him out to be some kind of immortal. Beowulf is able to heal himself extremely quickly when wounded and said that he “should have died many times”. Thus he is probably very old, or at least older than the original Beowulf would have been.

6) In the film, good and evil are only discerned by the actions of the characters involved. Beowulf is born with a distinct capability for violence and evil. He says so himself in the film more than once. The reason that he is not evil is that he chose not to be. Instead he uses his powers to fight evil, thus choosing the exact opposite path of his enemy in the film, Grendel. In the film, Grendel is born in much the same circumstance as Beowulf, but he is drawn to evil and violence and participates in them willingly.

In the text version of Beowulf the characters are described in much the same way. Beowulf is said to entertain “dark thoughts” in the story, and he uses just as much violence as Grendel when dealing with his enemies. The difference once again is that Beowulf chooses to use his great strength to fight evil, while Grendel chooses to use his strength to commit evil deeds.

In both versions of the story, the deciding factor seems to be the hero’s righteousness. In both, the hero and the beast are described as being equal in power, but the hero in both prevails. The fact that they are fighting for good, or some similar ideal, is what gives them the edge over their evil counterparts.

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