Beowulf is this huge strong character in the epic who is the leader of a great army. He travels with his army to the kingdom of Herot when he is called to help. This demonstrates a willingness to help others in need. The first creature he must battle with is Grendel While every other man is drunk and in deep sleep Beowulf is not. He is prepared and ready to fight the creature who threatens his new friends army.
He rules peacefully for fifty years, until there is a thief wakes the dragon who guards treasure up. It flies and flame Geats and Geatish in fire through the night. Beowulf decides to go fight against dragon with his old-aged strength. This time the honored kind doesn’t fight to get any fame, he got it enough in the past. The reason for him to fight is to protect his land and his people.
Not only will he be given gold when he wins the battle but ancient treasures well be in his possession. After defeating Grendel’s mother Beowulf chopped off the head of Grendel and took it back to king Hrothgar. After fifty winters, Beowulf now an old man fought the dragon alone. He did not want his men to risk their lives. That was the final battle for Beowulf and the last of him too.
The town has a party and rejoices in Beowulf’s victory. Another example of good vs. evil is when Beowulf fights the dragon, this is because someone stole a golden cup from the dragon and Beowulf protects the town from the dragon. In the process Beowulf dies from the dragon’s poison, however, Wiglaf is there to become the next king. This shows that even though the main character dies, good still comes out from it, which is that the dragon dies as well and can no longer terrorize the town. Beowulf is seen as good because he tries to save the people of the town.
However, Outside in the darkness, lurked the monster Grendel. He gets angry, comes to mead hall, and starts killing people, but Hrothgar remained unharmed because he was protected by God. The coming of Beowulf was also similar with text by introducing Beowulf sailing across the sea to Hrothgar when help was needed to kill Grendel. Both in the text, and in the movie, Beowulf unlocked words deep from his hearts and talked about the Geats and his father, a famous soldier, Edgetho. Then that night Beowulf was awake, eager to meet with Grendel.
All of his men leave in fear, except for Wigclaf, and he is left to fight the dragon alone. He then dies when the dragon bites his neck and the venom kills him. He still killed the dragon though, and Wigclaf keeps his heroic story alive. King Arthur in King Arthur also has all the traits of a legendary hero. He had an obscure birth due to the fact that Merlin gave him to another family even though he was the son of a king.
Beowulf kills Grendel’s mother in the epic poem but in the movie he makes a deal with demon leading to his downfall. In the epic poem, Beowulf returns to Geatland after he defeats Grendel’s mother where he eventually becomes king of the Geats. However, in the film they have King Hrothgar crowning Beowulf king and granting Beowulf his lovely wife, Welthow. King Hrothgar dies of old age in the epic poem but in the movie he kills himself. I believe in the movie Hrothgar knows Grendel’s mother will continue her terror upon the Danes and he does not want to be there when she does.
Beowulf’s strength continues into the battle with the dragon. He decided that he must retaliate for his people and fight the dragon. Beowulf is seriously wounded himself, yet he still manages to gather the strength, to deliver the final blow that slays the dragon (Beowulf 2701 – 2704). The fights of Beowulf can be translated into a story between the powers of good and evil. This is an example of Pagan traditions.
But in Walt Disneys The Lion King all the characters from the Hamlet are turned into animals. The young prince whose father is murdered by his fathers brother name is Simba. King Claudius would also be compared to Scar in the lion king because he murdered Mufasa who was Simba’s father and the king of the jungle. In the movie Simba also delays his actions much like Hamlet in the play when he finds out who murdered his fathers. In both the play and the movie the fathers of both princes approach their sons in the same way, each prince encountered a ghost who told them what really happen to their fathers.
In Beowulf, the protagonist must go through several challenges in order to complete the story. First, he goes to the land of the Danes, an old ally, to aid them in a fight with a monster so evil that the Danes themselves are unable to defeat. After conquering this monster, he goes on to defeat its mother, as a favor to the King. His final fight comes between him and a dragon, which has threatened him and his people. These two stories, although very different content, have the same frame.