Beowulf is a famous poem about an epic hero who kill demon and dragon to protect the life of his people. The movie with the same name was released in 2007, which make the legend become real in front of audience. It is based on the original poem but has some major changes to brand new the legend as well as create a new point of view about this famous legend. The movie still have the similar plot and characters with the poem. The main events such as: the long night feast in Heorot and the death of Beowulf, Grendels attack, Dragon attack and Beowulf battles with Grendel and Dragon still happen in the movie.
The picture of a very strong hero, who is supposed to be the strongest human is illustrated well in both movie and poem. In contrast, the movie version changes a bit in the plot of this heroic tale and its characters. About the plot, Grendel shows up himself to the Danes in the middle of their feast by ramping the door and an attack in craziness while he just shows up himself silently after the feast and everyone are sleeping, in the movie.
Then, the movie cuts out a mighty prince mourning of Hrothgar and replaces it by a preparation for a revenge and Hrothgar not only feels fear and sorrow as much as in the poem but also he stays calm and seeks for a warrior who can kill Grendel. Grendel comes to the Heorot twice in movie but his coming is up to three times in the poem. The most important change is that Beowulf does not kill Grendel’s mother as he does in the poem. This event links with the last event of both movie and poem, Beowulf and the dragon.
In the movie, the dragon is Beowulf’s son and it draws up a tragic event of a father kill his son to stop a lustful action. The dragon is killed by a deep strike of sword in poem but it is killed by Beowulfs bare hand in the movie. About characters, Hrothgar is supposed to be a respectful king with his famous achievement in his journey to become the king of the Danes but in the movie, his appearance is a naked body with a long piece of silk and a crown in the head.
However, he is a social king and this thing makes the feast at the beginning of movie become a happy scene with joke, singing, drink, etc Grendel, a lustful demon, causes a very violent and bloody attacks in the Herot but Grendel appears as a poor demon in the movie. He has very sensitive ear that causes his lustful action and it is his weakness in the battle with Beowulf. His appearance is scary but looks like a zombie than a demon. Grendels mother is supposed to be very ugly as her son but the movie makes her become a beauty who attract our hero with sexy and sweet voice.
She is also a poor mother and she becomes a dangerous mother after her sons death. In both movie and poem, she tries to revenge for her sons death but she is killed by Beowulf in the poem. In the movie, she use her sexy body to attract Beowulf. Our hero is not a god after all, he is a man and this thing is proved throughout the movie. The movie with a changed story brings up new taste for audience about a legend. It also proves that everything sinful is always causes by human and only human can solve their sin. Sometimes, human must pay blood and joy for the sin that they causes.
Bibliography:
http://portafoliodediacronia.wikispaces.com/B.+Differences+between+the+poem+of+Beowulf+and+the+movie+Beowulf
