The movie Beowulf was
directed by Robert Zemeckis and it was released in the year 2007. The movie is
based off an epic poem called Beowulf. Which was passed on by people telling
stories. It wasn’t till 1815 when it got published. The movie is sort of a
weird watching at first because of the way it is shown. The people look fake
and real at the same time, not till later on does your mind find it to be all
fake.
Story begins in a feast hall celebrating. The noise of the singing draws
the troll from his cave, where he attacks them and kills and injures many.
Nobody in the kingdom is strong enough to defeat the troll. Beowulf and his
crew come from the sea. They heard that the king was offering a ransom to
destroy the monster (troll named Grendal). Beowulf does succeed in destroying
the troll, but the next day the Trolls mother kills all the men still remaining
in the hall. Beowulf and a few of his men were not there at the time and
survived. Beowulf heads out with his friend to avenge the deaths of his men.
Instead of fighting the trolls mother he is seduced by her, leaving a gold
dragon cup as a token to keep her from attacking any more. He goes back and
lies to the people saying that everything is fine and she is dead when they are
not. The king questions Beowulf in private and deduces what really happened in
the cave with the Trolls mother, leaving you the impression that the same thing
happened to him. The king later announces Beowulf will rule when he dies. Not
long after, he falls off the cliff into the ocean. Beowulf becomes king.
Over many years armies come the great Beowulf to defeat the hero, but none do.
Eventually the token that was left by Beowulf in the cave is found by someone,
saying he found it in the moors. Dragon attacks started happening now that the
agreement was broken with the token missing. Beowulf ends up fighting the
dragon and defeating it, but dies in the process. He is given a Viking burial
with his treasures on a small boat with him burning. The boat is burned along
with him. Right before it sinks, the trolls mother reappears taking Beowulf in
her arms. The token washes up on shore shortly thereafter.
Through the movie there are references to the how brave Beowulf is not
only by him but others emphasis it throughout the movie. It is always okay to
over sell your accomplishments to show how brave you are as long the person was
able to back it up. The Anglo-Saxon warrior’s culture is all about the glory,
and courage no matter if it causes death. In the movie Beowulf made a statement
about how “for glory, not for gold.” Which is a great representation of how the
warriors cared more about for a lack of a better word Heroes. In the movie
religion was mentioned there was some mention of moving towards Christianity
which didn’t happen until later on. At the time the movie takes place the
people were superstitious and it seemed they were slowly transitioning toward
Christianity.
Work Cited:
“Anglo-Saxon Culture.” Brief Timeline of American Literature and Events:1830-1839, public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/medieval/anglo-saxon.html.
Rees, Margaret. “Beowulf: Tenuous Relationship between Movie and Poem.” Torture and Death in America's Prisons, World Socialist Web Site Wsws.org Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), 1 Mar. 2008, www.wsws.org/en/articles/2008/03/beow-m01.html.
“The Anglo-Saxon Hero.” "Death Penalty – Justified", csis.pace.edu/grendel/Proj2004A1/hero.html.
“What Did the Anglo-Saxons Believe?” BBC News, BBC, 1 Aug. 2018,www.bbc.com/bitesize/articles/zs3gcdm.
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