Comparing Beowulf And The Second Shepherd - 1486 Words

Human beings have always loved a well-told story. Whether it be fiction, non-fiction, or a shady mixture, there has not been a time when people did not pass along accounts of adventures. There is one common and essential element in each. It can be nature, another human or creature, or the protagonist himself, but there must be a bad guy. In order for any story to complete a purpose or make a point, it must have some monster to war against. The villainous characters in Beowulf and the Second Shepherd’s Play contrast in almost every conceivable way. The culture and time periods of both these stories affect not only the monsters’ physical manifestations, but also their relationships to the protagonists’ purposes. They are separated further by†¦show more content†¦However, he stuck with the pattern of if Beowulf succeeded in his quest then it was because God allowed it, but if he failed it was because of fate. God is not directly involved in the lives of ind ividuals here. He is some far-off powerful being who is treated with respect from a distance. In a story with an ambiguous power that may be directly involved, ambiguous monsters fit in perfectly. For the Anglo-Saxons, who are still becoming familiarized with the Bible, a new, terrifying demonic descendent of Cain, Grendel, makes a fantastic monster. He is even more frightening than the average monster since his origins lean in a more human direction. Despite this, he is only a part of the story to provide a challenger for the hero to defeat. He is not developed to any extent as a humanistic character, and most of the poet’s work goes into describing the vengeful motivations driving is attack on Heorot (Bishop). Grendel’s actions are predatorial and any humanity he has harkens back to the beginning of the species. He wants to kill the Danes he feels have wronged him just like how Cain killed Able when he felt wronged. However, he is less human than even Cain and shows his animalist predation by not only killed unabashedly, but by also eating his victims (Parks). Rather than him coming directly after our hero, Beowulf, it isShow MoreRelatedComparison Between Beowulf And The 13th Warrior1691 Words   |  7 PagesCaitlin Williams World Literature April 27, 2015 Christopher Tamigi Comparing different Religions in Beowulf and The 13th Warrior Religions play various different roles throughout literature, the most common one I think of is Christianity. We will discuss what the role of Religion is in Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney and the role in the movie The 13th Warrior. Christianity, Islam, and Anglo-Saxon Paganism are the various Religions’ that are expressed in both the literature and the movieRead MoreComparing Similarities Between Beowulf And The 13th Warrior1976 Words   |  8 PagesComparing different Faith’s in Beowulf and The 13th Warrior There are many different roles that faith plays in classic literature, you probably think of one of the various forms of Christianity. We will discuss what the role of faith is in Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney and the role in the movie The 13th Warrior. Christianity, Islam, and Anglo-Saxon Paganism are the various faith’s that are expressed in both the literature and the film. Since both works are similar, but also different we will