The Culture Collision of Religions as displayed in Beowulf Tale The Anglo-Saxons were Pagans when they came from Britain, but as time passed, they all gradually converted to Christianity. These two totally different religions of Christianity and Paganism clashed, and Christianity came out the victor in the end. In the epic Beowulf, these Christian values are displayed plentifully throughout the epic. However in the 2005 movie, Beowulf & Grendel, the film’s hostility towards Christianity is distracting and confusing as it strays from the original script, not acknowledging the Christian values that are present in the poem. Through both, the differences in character portrayals and the prejudice against Christianity made obvious by
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“A shadow from under the pale moon he moved, That fiend from hell, foul enemy of God,” Grendel, is described to be a descendant of Cain, the first murderer in the bible (Heaney). At the mention of this, the audience would portray him as evil. Though the movie does mention that Grendel is a descendant of Cain, it portrays Grendel as a victim, showing him as a young child playing with his father until he is murdered before his eyes by Hrothgar. Hrothgar, after having done this, leaves the young Grendel alive with a small flame of hatred left to evolve into the immense forest fire that is unleashed upon Heorot hall and those inside later. The novel does not give Grendel a back story to show why he hates joyous celebration and attacks Heorot Hall. This resorts back to the paradigm of good and evil. Grendel is simply an evil creature that does not tolerate joyous celebration. The movie tried to get away from the ‘good and evil’ paradigm trying to make Grendel more humanistic. But in doing so, necessary actions were taken to make people less human, drawing Grendel and humans closer. In the movie, the added character Selma has “relations” with Grendel and at the end of the film has his child and raises him. Even if may seem distasteful to the audience and viewers, it serves as a connecting point in order to make Grendel seem more …show more content…
The easily noticeable biblical reference is one of the story of Cain and Abel. In Beowulf, Grendel is mentioned to be a descendant of Cain, “the hostile-hearted creature, God’s enemy, guilty of murder.” The story of Cain includes himself and his brother working as a farmer and a shepherd. When sacrifices were offered up to God, he favored Abel’s offering, not showing the same appreciation upon Cain’s. Cain then took his anger out upon his brother killing him, becoming the first murderer mentioned in the bible. Along with this infamous allusion, is a reference to the great flood. In the poem, a sword with designs engraved into the hilt of the sword depict a great flood, most likely referring to the same great flood in the book of Genesis in the bible. In the biblical allusion, the story might be suggesting that the sword’s late creators were those that brought upon the great flood, wiping them
“A shadow from under the pale moon he moved, That fiend from hell, foul enemy of God,” Grendel, is described to be a descendant of Cain, the first murderer in the bible (Heaney). At the mention of this, the audience would portray him as evil. Though the movie does mention that Grendel is a descendant of Cain, it portrays Grendel as a victim, showing him as a young child playing with his father until he is murdered before his eyes by Hrothgar. Hrothgar, after having done this, leaves the young Grendel alive with a small flame of hatred left to evolve into the immense forest fire that is unleashed upon Heorot hall and those inside later. The novel does not give Grendel a back story to show why he hates joyous celebration and attacks Heorot Hall. This resorts back to the paradigm of good and evil. Grendel is simply an evil creature that does not tolerate joyous celebration. The movie tried to get away from the ‘good and evil’ paradigm trying to make Grendel more humanistic. But in doing so, necessary actions were taken to make people less human, drawing Grendel and humans closer. In the movie, the added character Selma has “relations” with Grendel and at the end of the film has his child and raises him. Even if may seem distasteful to the audience and viewers, it serves as a connecting point in order to make Grendel seem more …show more content…
The easily noticeable biblical reference is one of the story of Cain and Abel. In Beowulf, Grendel is mentioned to be a descendant of Cain, “the hostile-hearted creature, God’s enemy, guilty of murder.” The story of Cain includes himself and his brother working as a farmer and a shepherd. When sacrifices were offered up to God, he favored Abel’s offering, not showing the same appreciation upon Cain’s. Cain then took his anger out upon his brother killing him, becoming the first murderer mentioned in the bible. Along with this infamous allusion, is a reference to the great flood. In the poem, a sword with designs engraved into the hilt of the sword depict a great flood, most likely referring to the same great flood in the book of Genesis in the bible. In the biblical allusion, the story might be suggesting that the sword’s late creators were those that brought upon the great flood, wiping them