Pagan Anglo-Saxons told grim tales of life ruled by fate, tales in which people struggled against monsters for their place in the world. The epic of Beowulf is a good example. Beowulf which is an epic tale that was passed down orally tells us about how the protagonist, Beowulf who fights monsters and “The Dragon” to earn a legacy on earth and in his country Southern Sweden. Beowulf is the perfect warrior but the purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the difference between Beowulf the story and Beowulf the movie. In this essay, I will be comparing three main points in the story and movie which are Beowulf’s entrance into Denmark, Grendel’s entrance into the Herot, and Grendel’s mother being defeated.

In the text, after Grendel destroyed the Herot, Beowulf came from Sweden into Denmark 12 years after the fact. On the other hand, in the movie, it stated that Beowulf came days after. When it came to Beowulf’s arrival, the movie’s perspective was very different. In the movie, while Beowulf and his soldiers were sailing the sea the waves in the ocean were mean, massive and aggressive. However, in the story, the waves were calm and lead them there in no time.

My second comparison is about Grendel’s entrance into the Herot. I truly believe that Grendel was composed of a little fear because in the story, Grendel appeared in the Herot when the soldiers were asleep. Unlike what was said in the story, in the movie, the candles blew out and everything went silent during the party when Grendel made his entrance. Another difference was the Grendel appeared because he was just a cruel monster versus the movie which showed that he appeared because the music was too loud. That was because he had very sensitive ears.

Finally, there was a difference in the defeat of Grendel’s mother. She was very upset when she discovered that her son was killed and was seeking cold blooded revenge. In regards to the text, she knew of Beowulf being her son’s killer and he would be her main target. Despite what was stated in the story, in the movie Beowulf went to her home and instead of executing her, she made a deal with him granting him immortality. She was the most beautiful women he had ever seen and ended up sleeping with her and without knowing getting her pregnant. Beowulf showed weakness and that ended up coming back to haunt him in a deadly way.

                In conclusion, the movie and the story showed numerous amounts of differences but on e thing they definitely had in common was their belief that fate and prevail would show up and stand by them in their time of need. Beowulf ended up defeated in the end. Because the story was passed down orally, it had its own twist to it and the movie just added to it. Despite the differences, Beowulf still remained the epic hero he was crowned to be.