Beowulf: Fated Death and Illusive Glory

The 2007 film adaptation of Beowulf by Robert Zemeckis is unfortunately inaccurate to the epic poem as well as being strewn with inaccuracies about the middle ages. While some details are accurate, such as funeral pyres and clothing style, these details only serve to legitimize a modern story told through an 8^th-11^th century poem. These conflicting time periods are evident in the characters, who are depicted to be almost as flawed as the monsters themselves. Beowulf, a character renowned for bravery and courage, is retold to be a weak man, only fighting in an attempt to gain false glory. (Beowulf also has a difficult time remaining clothed—he struggles with this throughout the film.) What some reviews of this movie miss, however, is that this movie was not intended to be a pure retelling of the story. The movie is meant to tell the history behind the epic poem itself. While this film would be a horrible way to study for a quiz on Beowulf, it does refer to fascinating Anglo-Saxon concepts of immortalizing glory and virtuous leadership. The film Beowulf is not an accurate or reliable resource for understanding the early middle ages, but it does draw attention to an enthralling work of literature that has captivated numerous readers for centuries.

Before addressing these concepts, both versions of Beowulf, the historical and the bastardized, must be examined. The epic poem Beowulf is divided into three acts. In the first act, Beowulf sails to help the Danes defeat the monster Grendel, who he attacks. Beowulf rips the arm from the man-eating monster. The second act begins as Grendel’s mother attacks to avenge her son, but Beowulf is able to defeat her. In the third act, when he is an old and powerful king, Beowulf fights against a gold-mongering dragon who terrorizes the land. He kills the dragon but dies as a result of the battle. The text examines what it means to be a good warrior/leader, as well as how to obtain immortality from glory. 

The movie, while containing the same three monsters, diverges from the original plot early in the story. After Grendel attacks the Danes, Beowulf sails to their assistance. He fights Grendel, breaking the monster’s arm off. After Grendel’s mother kills more men out of vengeance, Beowulf travels to her lair to kill her, but is instead seduced by her as she had taken on the form of a beautiful, naked woman, complete with high-heels. He is promised fame and power, and he succumbs to her wiles. Years later, Beowulf is weary of the world. He still struggles to keep his clothes on. The dragon terrorizing his people is none other than his bastard son. He fights and kills the dragon, but dies in the end. Through this chaotic narrative, the writers examine what it means to be human, flawed and as capable of monstrous acts as the monsters themselves.

            While the characters share the same names, the textual Beowulf is quite different from the Beowulf in the movie. Why does the movie fail to capture the original story of Beowulf? The movie removes any possibility of Hrothgar and Beowulf being considered virtuous. “The central problem is that instead of presenting Hrothgar and Beowulf as great heroes, which is exactly who they are in the poem, the film offers us two decidedly unheroic liars. Both men achieve their worldly success not by killing monsters but by having sex with Mother and then lying about it” (Larsen). In the movie, the hero is simply the toughest man in the room. Or, to be more accurate, the first to make a deal with a demon in order to gain power. However, the epic poem established that you need more than that in order to be a true leader:

Thus Beowulf bore himself with valour; / he was formidable in battle yet behaved with honour / and took no advantage; never cut down / a comrade who was drunk, kept his temper / and, warrior that he was, watched and controlled / his God-send strength and his outstanding / natural powers. (lines 2177-2180)

The movie places emphasis on the physical attributes—strength and beauty, but it does not address the virtues of a good leader that were present throughout Beowulf. Beowulf proves himself to be a good king in the third act, but he gained the title through his heroic actions. The movie implies that people were, more often than not, unable to be virtuous. This is especially seen in Hrothgar, a wise and noble king in the book, who is portrayed as a fat, undesirable man who slept with a monster to gain his power and respect. This lack of consciousness was not true, as detailed Germanic laws, such as the Burgundian Code, provide evidence for a society that created laws to prevent or temper debauchery and war. The movie presents a different story, depicting people from the early middle ages as being morally weak, but the poem provides historical evidence that virtuous traits were desired and admired in leaders.

As shown in the movie, Beowulf would
have worn chain-mail for protection.
Even if warriors accepted the inevitability
 of death they would still take precautions.

            While their methods of securing glory were different, both versions of Beowulf were interested in glory in order to be remembered after death. Life wasn’t just about accumulating worldly goods, but to gain enough respect to be remembered. In his first scene in the movie, Beowulf declares, “If we die, it will be for glory not for gold.” He is risking death for illusive glory. In the poem, the Geats and Danes alike understood the fragility of life and the inevitability of death. Fate is a concept seen throughout the poem, interwoven with references to God. (The combination of Fate and God is especially interesting as it may possibly be evidence of the assimilation of Christianity into the Anglo-Saxon culture.) Despite knowing that fate could claim your life at any moment, the characters in the story were motivated to live heroically and dangerously. Some would distract themselves with gold and women, but the fear of being forgotten by time was strong. Both versions of Beowulf desired to be remembered, and yet the cinematic Beowulf sacrifices his honor and loyalty in order for the same remembrance that the poetic Beowulf gained by remaining steadfast in his values. Because he held onto his values in the text, Beowulf earned his title as a king, and when his death was drawing near he accepted his fate:

He wished good luck to the Geats who had shared / his hearth and his gold. He was sad at heart, / unsettled yet ready, sensing his death. / He fate hovered near, unknowable but certain: / it would soon claim his coffered soul, / part life from limb, (lines 2418-2423)

The poem allows insight into early medieval perceptions of death and fate. The warriors were keen on gaining glory because their lives were especially short. The movie addresses this, but the characters secure their glory by sacrificing their morals. Undoubtedly, kings could just gain “glory” by inciting bloody wars and murdering kin such as the Merovingian king Clovis who “adopted the straightforward policy of murdering all possible rivals” (Bennett 37), but Beowulf seems to have been written to inspire leaders and warriors to act justly and with wisdom.  

Having never seen the movie before now, I had high expectations from reading Beowulf. I didn’t expect the movie to be overly accurate as the story itself contains sea-monsters and demons, but the final product feels far removed from Beowulf. Musings on virtuous leadership and glory, which demonstrate early chivalric virtues, give insight into the character and ethics of the early middle ages and yet the movie ignores these in favor of analyzing modern character and thought. The movie altered the story to serve as a vehicle for its own message. The pensive and often dark tone of Beowulf is left behind as the movie sensationalizes the characters in order to draw more audiences. The actual story and lessons of Beowulf are lost, causing modern understanding of this time period to become corrupted or entirely replaced by this inaccurate representation. While interesting in raising questions about human nature, the film is not a good resource for learning medieval values of leadership and glory. The historical details that are mixed into this modern story are used to sell the story instead of informing it, which allows for escapism instead of actual understanding of this dynamic period of time reflected through Beowulf. The 2007 Beowulf adaption is not a good resource, but does urge us to return to the historical version which is useful for understanding the early middle ages.

Works Cited

Bennett, Judith. Medieval Europe: A Short History. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011.

Beowulf. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Performances by Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, and Angelina Jolie. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2007

Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.

Larsen, Andrew. “Beowulf: Shame on You, Neil Gaiman.” An Historian Goes to the Movies: Exploring History on the Screen, 09/11/2015, https://aelarsen.wordpress.com/category/beowulf/