Comparison Vs Beowulf

Improved Essays
Beowulf includes three separate instances in which Beowulf fights monsters: his battle with Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. However, there are many similarities and differences between the different battles. Some aspects of the fights that vary are the cause of the monster’s initial attack, Beowulf’s motivation for countering the attack, Beowulf’s battle preparations, and ultimate outcome. The first aspect is the cause of the monsters’ attacks. Grendel attacked Heorot out of bitterness because, as a descendent of Cain, he was angered by the partying, music, and worshiping of God in the mead-hall. Grendel’s mother attacked Heorot in pursuit of revenge over the death of her son. Finally, the dragon attacked Geatland in pursuit of revenge over the treasure stolen from its cave. Grendel’s attack was motivated by anger and bitterness, while both Grendel’s mother’s and the dragon’s attack were out of a desire of revenge, although for different reasons. The next aspect of the fights are Beowulf’s motivation for responding to the attacks. …show more content…
After Grendel’s attack, Beowulf wanted to help defend Heorot from the monster. After the attack by Grendel’s mother, Beowulf decided to counter the attack in order to seek revenge or the death of Hrothgar's friend and adviser, Aeschere, as well as to prevent Grendel's mother from killing any more innocent people in Heorot. After the dragon’s attack, Beowulf wants revenge over the dragon's damage to his kingdom and his throne hall, in addition to protecting his kingdom from additional attacks by the dragon. In all cases, Beowulf responds to the attacks with a desire to protect other people, especially innocent people of the kingdoms. However, in some cases, such as in the attack by Grendel’s mother and the dragon, Beowulf has additional motivations to counteract, such as personal revenge regarding the death of a friend or damage to his property. Beowulf also makes different preparations for battle before each counterattack. Prior to fighting Grendel, Beowulf makes a point to take off all of his armor and use no weapons; he fights Grendel with his bare hands. Then, in preparing to fight Grendel’s mother, Beowulf puts on armor and carries weapons, including Hrunting, a sword loaned to him by Unferth. Finally, in preparation for his battle with the dragon, Beowulf commissions his blacksmith to make him a shield, wears a helmet, and carries a sword. Before each successive fight, Beowulf’s preparations include more and more levels of defense and weapons; he goes from no armor and his bare hands to specially preparing a shield and carrying a sword. Perhaps this shows an increasing internal lack of trust in his strength in his abilities as he ages. Finally, the conclusion of each battle varies. In the battle with Grendel, Beowulf wrestles the monster with his bare hands and is able to rip off his arm, causing a fatal wound; Grendel stumbles back into his swamp cave to die. In the battle with Grendel’s mother, they are evenly matched in strength and Hrunting does no damage to the monster, but Beowulf spots a huge sword made for giants in her cave, and he uses it to slice her neck. She is killed and Beowulf survives. Finally, in the fight with the dragon, Beowulf is initially unable to overpower the dragon and the dragon bites his neck. With Wiglaf's help, Beowulf is

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Grendel vs. Grendel Grendel. This name struck fear in men and have even made the strongest tremble in terror. However is he just a monster that’s “hoping to kill…?” (Glencoe, 394) or is Grendel a whole other monster , one who thinks, feels, and has desires just like any other person. This insight occurs in John Gardner’s “Grendel” which makes Grendel seem a lot more complex than Beowulf’s Grendel.…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the first battle of the book, we find Beowulf battling the monster Grendel. Beowulf hears that the Danes are being troubled by Grendel, so as a warrior in his prime, he travels from Geatland to help them. Grendel has been attacking the king of Dane’s mead hall because they woke him while celebrating. Every day for years before Beowulf’s arrival Grendel would come and kill Danes during celebrations, but…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Takeo Makin Ms. Kline Brit lit per. 5 2 Mar, 2017 Beowulf Essay Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon epic poem about, a Germanic warrior named Beowulf, he sailed across the sea to the land of the Danes to fight against the monster Grendel. The story about Beowulf is one of the oldest poems, first told by the scops in 400 A.D. and finally transferred to paper in 1100 A.D. it has changed alot over the years from books and big screen movies. Although Beowulf the epic and Beowulf the movie share many similarities, the different portrayals of Beowulf the character, religion, and gender roles in both the poem and movie expose the values of the societies in which they are told.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The epic of Beowulf consists of three battle where, the main character, Beowulf himself, battles his greatest foes. enemies. Beowulf has different strategies, weapons and reasons for fighting each one of his foes, along with a specific motivation when fighting the maleficent monsters. Beowulf will fight Grendel, Grendel 's mother, and the dragon. Grendel and his mother are giants feared by all…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Revenge In Beowulf Essay

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Anglo-Saxons believed that revenge was one of the most important aspects in the Anglo-Saxon culture. In the epic poem, Beowulf, a hero, the protagonist, is called to action when an evil monster, Grendel, is terrorizing the kingdom of the Danes. He must reveal to the others what true bravery looks like, and as a direct result, he makes himself incredibly famous and wealthy. The Anglo-Saxon hero will do whatever it takes to reach his goal of eternal fame.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pagan Criticism Of Beowulf

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited

    His enemy is a dragon which attacks Beowulf’s kingdom because a thief has stolen its treasure (2217-20). Thus the dragon represents greed and pride. By this time, Beowulf is old and weaker than he was before. Nevertheless, he decided to face the dragon on his own, which shows his great pride. Beowulf’s pride is a deadly character flaw, as it makes him reckless and arrogant.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the movie and poem, Beowulf offers to fight Grendel himself after explaining that he owes Hrothgar a favor because Hrothgar helped his father. In the poem; “Beowulf’s last battle”, he wants to be remembered as strong. Beowulf stated that he never knew fear, as a youth, he fought in endless battles but now that he is old he will still fight and seek for the fame. Meaning, he undergoes a lot of battles back then and now that he is old, his age won’t stop him from fighting. However, in the movie; he becomes more of a monster when he turned on himself by not being courageous when he needed to be, by allowing Grendel’s mother and succumbing to his weakness of beautiful women he causes a fire-breathing dragon to attack his land.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He fights with a code of honor and does not do it out of anger or revenge. Beowulf’s whole reasoning for fighting Grendel’s mother is revenge. Yes, Grendel’s mom comes to the mead-hall looking for revenge for her son’s death, but Beowulf first killed Grendel and keeping his arm. Grendel’s mother only comes for her son’s arm and for revenge. She wants to avenge her son and take back technically what is hers.…

    • 1091 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the plot of the original epic poem, Beowulf is put through three major battles. He first fights Grendel, an evil monster from the moorland who terrorizes the Danish mead hall Heorot. Then he fights Grendel’s mother, a creature much like Grendel who hides in the waters of…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The story Beowulf is an epic tale about a valiant warrior who faces the battles of evil. His admirable strength and courage enable him to stand against the adversary and protect people who are weaker than he. This story takes place in Herot where a beastly descendant of Cain attacks King Hrothgar’s mead hall during festivities. Beowulf travels by sea from his home, Geatland to Herot and requests to speak to King Hrothgar. The King recalls his friendship between Beowulf’s father.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Grendel pounds open the doors of Heorot. His eyes are demon-like, ready to kill anything in his way. He ferociously walks into Heorot and grabs the closest thing he can find to give him even more strength to fight, which is a sleeping Geat, and devours it in a second. Next, Grendel’s eyes lay upon the mighty Beowulf and all you can see in that instant is how anxious he looks to go and kill him. Grendel as quickly as he can, goes to grab Beowulf, but Beowulf is too fast and somehow slips away from Grendel’s sudden movement and gets a hold of Grendel himself.…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the epic poem Beowulf the main character, Beowulf, faces three crucial battles that depend on him to save society. Beowulf, known as one of the strongest men in his land, likes to take on his battles without the assistance of his crew. As beowulf fights in these three battles, he demonstrates different fighting tactics, shows how fate and God determine the ending of a battle, and even some of the same heroic characteristics. Beowulf first encounters a monster named Grendel.…

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Good Vs Evil In Beowulf

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The battle of good and evil can be interpreted in many ways throughout the entire story. The good represents Beowulf and Wiglaf, the evil represents the three monsters Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. Each character can relate to the good and evil of modern day, which can be hatred or corruption in everyday life. Each Battle is between good and evil, there are three battles in the book the represents this.…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the film for example, King Hrothgar commits suicide, there is no evidence in the text supporting this. The film implies that Beowulf takes interest in the queen, while in the text there is no evidence of any romantic interest among them. This line from the film shows Beowulf’s interest, “Me It's not me he wants, my queen” (Memorable Quotes for Beowulf (2007))? The film states that Beowulf not only had an affair with Grendel’s Mother but also had a child with her. In the movie Beowulf marries the queen after Hrothgar’s death and eventually cheats on her similar to how Hrothgar did.…

    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Revenge In Beowulf

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The story of Beowulf is used to explore the idea that when people use revenge to achieve a goal or to attempt to bring themselves fame, they will surely suffer or die by it. The poem itself is driven by revenge by the characters killing their enemies because of the wrongs done to them; some used it because of envy, others, like Grendel’s mother and the Dragon used it because of fury, and Beowulf to achieve worldwide fame and riches. The author of Beowulf uses the theme of revenge and it is perhaps the most important theme because one of its purposes is to keep the story flowing and the plot moving. This theme begins with Grendel, a descendant of Cain (who had killed his brother Abel in vengeance because he was jealous that God favored Abel…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays