Beowulf Versus Indiana Jones

Compare and Contrast

Beowulf Vs Indiana Jones

December 8th, 2005

Throughout time stories have for told of a heroic man with abnormal strengths to take on monsters, thieves and to bear his bravery. From generation to generation these myths and chronicles have been carried down, changed, and rearranged. It may seem unbelievable when listening to some of the stories, but it is hard to say if these accounts are true or not. In the story of Beowulf, there was trouble throughout the lands and the problems caused great loss for the land. After great sorrow, a courageous, young man came to save the day, the same goes for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. This movie was created to show that it doesn’t take a superhuman with abnormal strengths to save the day.

In the classic epic of Beowulf, a troublesome settlement in Denmark is overtaken by a terrible monster, Grendel, who kills the Danes every night. They lose all hope to fight back because their efforts always seem to be useless compared to the powerful killer. After years of this, a successful Geatland warrior hears of the troubles afar. Beowulf travels a great distance to try to help. Once the King Hrothgar agrees to Beowulf’s plea, he allows him to fight the evil monster. The unarmed man was able to kill Grendel, proving his might.

A quote by Virginia Satir states “We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.” I believe this is a well enforced quote to go along with our next character. Indiana Jones is more a contemporary man who uses all of his sources to empower him to do greater deeds. In the movie we previously watched, Indiana seemed to be a well-educated, educator who had a great desire to explore and search for missing artifacts. He did not stop when people doubted him. He saved people and freed them from torture.

Both action-packed, dramas seemed to have common features in them. Beowulf and Indiana Jones were travelers in the beginning. They sought adventure and used their travels to help empower and challenge them. These brave, heroic men over come the odds, and retrieve their “prizes,” whether it was defeating the beast or recovering the missing artifacts. They both had a wise helper who was by the side of their mate. In Beowulf, it was Wiglaf and Indiana Jones had a young Chinese boy to oversee his problems. The most distinct comparison we can talk about would be the mysterious kidnaping at night. Whether it was the Danes of the land being killed in spite of all of their effort to try to kill Grendel or if it was when the young children were snatched at night to become slaves in mines were evil withstood all.

As time flies by nothing may change or everything may be different. Time period was one of the major differences