Beowulf vs 13th Warrior
After reading the poem Beowulf and watching the movie The 13th Warrior, I have found many similarities and a vast variety of differences. In both the poem and the movie the theme of good versus evil remains the same, reflecting the values of Anglo Saxons. The many differences throughout the poem and movie include character names, battles, and the way the heroes die. The most obvious difference between the two is the name of the heroes and their battling strengths.
In the poem, Beowulf, the hero is known as Beowulf and has extraordinary strength whereas in the movie, The 13th Warrior, he is known as Buliwyf who has nothing other than regular human strength. Another difference occurs in the in how the beasts are portrayed. In the poem the main beasts name is Grendel, and in the movie the beast is known as the leader of thousands of other beasts.
In Beowulf the hero only has to take on two beasts, Grendel and Grendel’s mother, in contrast the hero in The 13th Warrior has to take on thousands of beasts. When it came to the battles against the beasts, Buliwyf’s men fight alongside him against the thousands he had to take on, whereas Beowulf’s men took off except for one who stayed and fought by his side. In the poem, Beowulf kills Grendel by ripping off his arm and later returns to kill Grendel’s Mother.
In contrast to the poem Buliwyf stabs the leader of the beasts to death after killing the leader’s mother. Buliwyf and Beowulf serve under the same king, Hygelac, and both come for the purpose of helping the king danes and his people by slaying the beasts. Characteristics of the beasts having animal like features remain the same in both the movie and the poem. Where the beasts reside, in an underwater cave, is also the same. Both the beasts in the movie and poem take their kills head as a token of the battle.
At the end of the poem and the movie both of the heroes die though in different ways. Beowulf dies as an old man after getting slashed in the throat by a dragon and in contrast Buliwyf dies from being poisoned. Both heroes bodies are burned, just as they requested, after death. After comparing and contrasting Beowulf and The 13th Warrior I found there are many similarities and differences, though the amount of differences out way the amount of similarities.
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