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Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta

Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky

Bakalářská diplomová práce

2020 Nikola Krčová

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Nikola Krčová

The Depiction of in Film and Television Series Adaptations Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: prof. Mgr., Milada Franková, CSc., M.A.

2020

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author’s signature

I would like to thank my family for supporting me and sharing their opinions with me. I would also like to thank my supervisor prof. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A., for her guidance.

Table of Contents

Introduction...... 1

The Original Story of Beowulf...... 4

Beowulf and (2005)...... 13

Beowulf (2007)...... 19

Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands (2016)...... 25

Conclusion...... 31

Bibliography...... 33

Summary...... 35

Resumé...... 36

Introduction

In the past, one of the most popular past-time activities was reading, however, now when new technologies became available, reading moved more towards watching television.

Watching films and television is a very important form of entertainment that allows the audience to experience and feel things through the characters. As the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert puts it, “We live in a box of space and time. Movies are windows in its walls. They allow us to enter other minds, not simply in the sense of identifying with the characters, although that is an important part of it, but by seeing the world as another person sees it.” As a result, people search for films with situations that they might not necessarily find themselves in, with the intention to experience what it would feel like to be in somebody else’s shoes.

A perfect example of this situation that a person would not experience otherwise is the role of a hero whose job is to slay monsters and protect the mankind from them. Beowulf is a heroic epic poem about a hero whose quest is to save the king and his subjects from an evil monster. At the end of the story, Beowulf fights against a dragon, which is a very popular character in fantasy books and films. People are attracted to this type of plot-driven adventurous heroic story and that is why several filmmakers decided it would be a good idea to adapt the story and make a film or television series out of it.

However, the story itself is not sufficient enough to make a popular and successful movie. Some aspects and motifs have to be added by the filmmakers in order for the audience to want to see the adaptation. One of the most popular themes of a film that people can relate to is love. The original story does not contain this theme but in almost all the adaptations,

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Beowulf has a love interest and the story contains a love storyline. Another added aspect is the development of backgrounds of some characters. People like to empathize with the characters they see on their screens and for this reason, in several film adaptations, some character traits are emphasized and some characters’ backgrounds are explored in order to get to know the characters better. The liberties that film producers have taken in the adaptations of the story of

Beowulf and their cultural significance is the subject of this thesis.

An important source for the acquisition of valuable information about some of the later mentioned adaptations is Hans Sauer’s 205 Years of Beowulf Translations and Adaptations

(1805-2010): A Bibliography. In his work Sauer lists all the adaptations made between the years

1805 and 2010. This list provides information about the variety of the adaptations and some possible film options for the analysis. He also mentions some other adaptations of Beowulf, not only film adaptations, but game, music, play and other depictions as well. ’s award-winning translation of Beowulf is valuable to the thesis mainly because of his

Introduction, in which he writes in depth about crucial scenes and themes in the story. Both

Kathleen Forni’s book Beowulf‘s Popular Afterlife in Literature, Comic Books, and Film and her article in Studies in Popular Culture are very valuable to the thesis since they contain some interesting ideas and comments about the adaptations and the popularity of Beowulf as a whole.

Her ideas support some of my own and that is why her input is very useful.

In the first chapter, there is an explanation of why is Beowulf such an important piece of work and why was it chosen for this thesis. It also contains a list of all the themes, symbols and motifs that are important and represent the core of the story. The next part of the thesis contains analysis of two films: Beowulf and Grendel from 2005 in the second chapter, and

Beowulf from 2007 in the third chapter. Beowulf and Grendel was chosen because it is very similar to the original poem in terms of the setting, the genre and the overall atmosphere.

However, it has a few differences that may yield insights into the adaptation strategies of its

2 makers. Beowulf is the most well-known and popular adaptation of the poem since it contains violence and epic fight scenes. The film is similar in terms of the battles with the monsters and the heroic atmosphere, but the filmmakers made some big changes in the story, and the film contains a lot of differences in the plot. However, the extent of the adaptors’ deviation from the original story testifies to the variety of adaptation strategies of the modern media. The next and final chapter of the thesis analyzes a television series made in 2016 with Beowulf as a main protagonist that is called Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands. This adaptation is relevant because it shows the newest adaptation of Beowulf and what popular film aspects were added in contrast to the adaptations from the 2000s. The analysis aims to discover whether some crucial scenes from the poem are preserved or omitted in the new versions, and what popular film aspects were added in order for the film to be appealing to the audience. The goal of the thesis is to analyze the selected adaptations and, by looking at the differences and similarities between them and the original story, to explore the new strategies in adapting old literature in the current film industry.

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The Original Story of Beowulf

In his translation of Beowulf, Seamus Heaney begins with a historical background of the poem which is very informative in its content and contributive to this thesis. Heaney reports that Beowulf is a heroic poem written in the (or Anglo-Saxon) language and it is considered to be one of the foundations of English poetry. It was created between the seventh and the tenth century and the poem consists of more than three thousand lines. This masterpiece is nowadays read primarily in translation because of the changes that language underwent, and it is mostly read in schools and universities (Heaney ix). Because of its continuous use in school courses, it has become a classic, and it is hard to find a person that has not at least heard about the story of Beowulf. According to Heaney, “We know about the poem more or less by chance, because it exists in one manuscript only. This unique copy (now in the British Library) barely survived a fire in the eighteenth century and was then transcribed and titled, re-transcribed and edited, translated and adapted, interpreted and taught, until it has become an acknowledged classic” (Heaney x). Not every story survives so many alterations and adaptations but because

Beowulf survived and the poem was still read after all the modifications, it became a true literary classic and a suitable piece of work for this thesis.

Even though it was written in England, the story’s setting is in Scandinavia in the sixth century. Beowulf, a powerful warrior of the , arrives with his men to the land of the to help them defeat a monster called Grendel that has been terrorizing the King ’s hall

Heorot and killing his warriors for some time. Beowulf defeats the monster in a battle without using any weapon and tears his arm from his body, which then serves as a trophy. However, he then has to defend the hall from Grendel’s mother who comes seeking revenge for her son. She kills one of Hrothgar’s warriors and escapes, but Beowulf follows her to the lake where she lives and he defeats her there with a powerful that he finds in her cave. He severs

Grendel’s head and brings it as another trophy to the hall. After his victories, he returns to his

4 home country and rules there as king for fifty years. However, when a thief steals a golden cup from a dragon, attacks Beowulf’s kingdom and Beowulf in his old age has to defeat one more monster. Even though Beowulf kills it with the help of his friend , he dies in the battle as well, and the poem ends with Beowulf’s funeral and the Geats mourning the death of their beloved lord.

It is important to name some themes, motifs, symbols and scenes that are significant in the poem in order to compare which elements were omitted and which were kept in the film adaptations and why. Firstly, one of the most important themes in the story is vengeance. It is the thing that motivates all the monsters to attack. Grendel attacks and the Danes inside of it because he wants to take revenge for them disrupting his sleep with their singing, which shows him how lonely and jealous he is. Grendel’s mother’s motive is more straight-forward because she seeks revenge for her son’s death. And the dragon’s rage and attacks were launched because he wanted revenge for the golden cup that was stolen from him. However, the monsters are not the only characters that are motivated by revenge. Beowulf is also driven by it as he wants to avenge all the Danes that have been cold-bloodedly killed by Grendel, and later in the story he seeks revenge against the dragon because of all the deaths he caused in Beowulf’s kingdom. It is an ongoing cycle and it seems that almost everyone in the story acts, at least to some degree, on vengeance.

Another important theme in the poem is reputation and boasting that is connected with it. Beowulf is concerned with how the others see him and that is why he boasts and tells everybody about his achievements, victories and what he has been through in his life. When

Unferth attacks Beowulf’s reputation during a feast, it is the worst thing he can do, because reputation is the most valuable thing to warriors as it is the only thing that survives even after they are dead. Beowulf then boasts about his good deeds and the real heroic story and diverts all the accusations that Unferth made. To even strengthen his reputation, Beowulf insists on

5 fighting Grendel without weapons and later fighting the dragon alone without the help of his fellow warriors. This shows his pride as well as his desire for fame and a strong reputation.

Faith is one of the most prominent themes in the poem. However, there is a debate among critics about the Christian references that appear in this pagan poem as there was no concept of Christian God in pagan Scandinavia at that time. In their book The Vikings, Nordeide and Edwards state that “. . . although written sources suggest that missionaries arrived earlier,

Christianity was not established formally until towards the end of the Viking Age, that is the late tenth and early eleventh century” (Nordeide 13). This proves that there is no way that the

Danes were Christians because the concept was introduced several centuries later. Beowulf is a pagan poem from start to finish, however, there are Christian elements embedded in the poem.

The concept of Christianity was therefore probably added to the poem by its author as it was written in the eighth century England, which just converted to Christianity. Christianity is therefore very distinctive in the poem, but the Danes’ belief in their life depending on fate, which is a pagan concept, is prominent as well. While they pray to God and believe their victories are granted to them by him, they know their death is predetermined by fate. The Danes are generally portrayed as worshipers of God, but they have pagan rituals such as the sea burials where they set the dead body on fire. When they are at their lowest after Grendel attacks them, they turn to their pagan gods for help, instead of praying to God: “Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed / offering to idols, swore oaths / that the killer of souls might come to their aid”

(Heaney 8). According to Mary C. Wilson Tietjen, who wrote an article “God, Fate, and the

Hero of ‘Beowulf’”, “The ideals, divine and human, of paganism and Christianity exist side by side in Beowulf. The poem contains concepts both of a blind and whimsical force whose dealings with men are unrelated to their merit, and of a benevolent Christian deity who affords grace and guidance to the worthy. Similarly, Beowulf himself is presented both as the pagan heroic ideal of the mighty and renowned warrior and as the Christian ideal of the virtuous hero

6 who rightly attributes his special powers, and the deeds arising from those powers, to the grace of God” (Tietjen 161). This proves that both paganism and Christianity are prominent in the poem and the theme of faith should be captured in the adaptations as it is a significant part of

Beowulf.

Heaney mentions the first and probably the most important symbol in his Introduction to Beowulf. It is the king’s hall which shows the “warrior-culture” of the peoples while they attend ceremonies such as ring-giving, feasting and drinking mead. The veterans also share their tales of heroes from the past and motivate the young warriors to gain such success in the future

(Heaney xv-xvi). Most of the scenes of the poem occur in the Heorot hall and therefore it is a crucial part and setting of the story. The warriors celebrate each victory and mourn each defeat in the hall. It is the gathering place of the warriors that is full of warmth and joy, and the only place where they feel safe along with their comrades. It is a contrast to the cold and cruel winter of Scandinavia outside the hall. It is a place for living, drinking, eating, sleeping, celebrating, as well as for counsel and strategic purposes. The hall represents the king, his power and wealth.

Grendel knows that the hall is a comfortable space for the Danes and that is why he attacks them while they are inside. The place of safety becomes a place of terror and this transformation should be seen in the adaptations.

Another important symbol in the story is gold and treasure. Heaney observes that “Gold is a constant element, gleaming solidly in underground vaults, on the breasts of queens or the arms and regalia of warriors on the mead-benches. It is loaded into boats as spoil, handed out in bent bars as hall-gifts, buried in the earth as treasure, persisting underground as an affirmation of a people’s glorious past and an elegy for it” (Heaney xvii). Gold appears many times in the story and it serves as an element of respect and gratitude. When a warrior dies, for example, they put golden jewelry on their boat to show their respect and gratitude to the warrior, and then they send it to the sea. Heroes and victorious warriors are given golden gifts by the king in the

7 ceremony of ring-giving to show them gratitude for their loyalty. The more gold and treasure a warrior has, the more glorious and worthy he is. Their loyalty and success is always rewarded with gifts. When Beowulf passes the gifts he receives from Hrothgar to , he shows his loyalty as well, and that is why loyalty and gold is so connected. A pile of golden jewelry and other ancient artifacts is guarded by the dragon, and Grendel’s mother keeps similar golden pile in her lair as well. The hall is described as being golden too. Gold therefore represents a significant motif in the story and should appear in the adaptations.

The last important symbols are the three monsters. Each of them is different and each of them has a different motive for their attacks. They represent the evil in the story that must be defeated in order for the people to be safe and content again, and for the good to win over the evil. Grendel is the overall symbol of evil in the poem. He is described as a descendant of Cain, a biblical figure that betrayed his own brother, but he is also described as “a fiend out of hell” and “grim demon” (Heaney 6). Grendel is an outsider that lives in a swamp on the outskirts and lurks in the dark. He is jealous and lonely as he watches the warriors in the hall celebrating each night, and that is his reason to attack as he does not want to live quietly and lonely in the outskirts anymore. He is described as monstrous, man-eating creature that is “merciless” and that has “never showed remorse” (Heaney 7). Grendel’s arm is another symbol and it serves as a trophy, which is hung in the hall to celebrate his defeat. Grendel’s mother’s reason for attack is obvious. She is filled with grief and rage because they killed her son, and so she seeks vengeance. She lives in her under-water lair and is therefore portrayed as some kind of a humanoid sea-creature. The dragon is the mightiest of the monsters and an equal opponent to

Beowulf in his old age. Heaney believes that he is “more a destiny than a set of reptilian vertebrae” (Heaney xix). He is a representation of Beowulf’s fate. Although Beowulf kills the dragon, he dies in the battle as well, and so his predetermined fate is fulfilled. The dragon also

8 represents greed by his hoarding of the golden treasure for no purpose. His greed is also seen when he burns the whole village just because of one stolen cup.

Beowulf’s funeral is the first crucial scene because it is the final scene in the poem and it leaves the readers with a melancholic feeling. It also shows that heroes can win wars and slay monsters, but they eventually have to die too. Heaney acknowledges that “Here the inexorable and the elegiac combine in a description of the funeral pyre being got ready, the body being burnt and the barrow being constructed . . . The Geat woman who cries out in dread as the flames consume the body of her dead lord . . .” (Heaney xxi). This excerpt shows the dreadful and horrible atmosphere of the ending of the poem and the sorrow of the people who mourn their lord’s death. This scene is incredibly important because it shows the ending of the central and the most important character of the poem and it is the most emotional scene as well.

Beowulf’s death is almost as important as all of his good deeds during his life because the death is not only his, but it is also a death of the kingdom that cannot defend itself without its powerful lord.

Since the fighting scenes are described in detail in the poem, it is a perfect opportunity for the filmmakers that choose to incorporate the battles to their adaptations to adapt them exactly or at least approximately the same. The first fight in the poem is with Grendel. When

Grendel comes one night, most of the warriors are sleeping, but Beowulf is ready for the fight.

He promised not to use any weapons and so he fights with just his bare hands. Grendel smashes the door open with just his touch and immediately kills and eats a man that sleeps on a bench.

Beowulf then grips his hand with such power that he intimidates Grendel. They go through the wall of the hall while fighting and destroying everything in their way. Grendel howls and tries to escape. The Geats try to kill him by striking him with their but no blade can hurt him.

Suddenly, Grendel starts to lose power, he loses his hand and he escapes with a death-causing wound. Beowulf then displays the arm in the hall. Next monster to be defeated is Grendel’s

9 mother who comes seeking revenge after her son’s death. She attacks Heorot but is intimidated by the warriors, so she slaughters Hrothgar’s most trusted adviser Aeschere and takes his corpse with her. She also takes Grendel’s hand and escapes back to her lair. The next crucial fight begins when Beowulf comes to the monster’s lair. Unferth lends him his sword , which has never failed him in battle. Beowulf dives into the lake and Grendel’s mother instantly grips him but his armor protects him. Sea creatures then attack him as well. He uses Hrunting to strike the monster in her head, but it fails him and does her no harm, so he fights with his bare hands.

She tries to attacks him with a knife, but his armor protects him once again. Beowulf then discovers a huge ancient sword in her golden pile, and cuts her head off with it. He then cuts off Grendel’s head while the powerful swords melts. Beowulf brings back Grendel’s head and the sword’s hilt as trophies. The last fight is with the dragon, which is provoked when a thief steals a golden goblet from a hoard that the dragon guards resulting in the dragon’s anger and burning attacks on the kingdom. The dragon spits flames on him and Beowulf uses his sword to cut the creature, but his sword fails him and does no injury to the dragon. All the troops run away to safety but one warrior goes to help his lord – Wiglaf. The dragon heaves fire again and

Beowulf’s sword fails him again. The dragon attacks for the third time and bites Beowulf in the neck. Wiglaf attacks the monster and sinks his sword into its belly. Beowulf draws a knife and stabs the dragon in its flank, delivering a fatal wound. Beowulf realizes that poison is running through his blood and his wound is swelling. Wiglaf cleans his lord with water but Beowulf knows he is close to his death and sends Wiglaf for the treasure. Wiglaf returns with the treasure and Beowulf dies. H. L. Rogers has an interesting idea in his article “Beowulf's Three Great

Fights” in regards to the three fights. According to him, in each fight Beowulf needs more help from his troops, wears more armor and uses more weapons. When he fights against Grendel, he uses no weapons and armor and trusts in just his hands. He also does not need any help from his companions. Beowulf wears armor and has the sword Hrunting with him when he fights

10 with Grendel’s mother. It is harder for him to defeat the mother because his sword fails him.

However, eventually another sword helps him win. In his fight against the dragon, not only does his sword fail him, but also his armor. He also needs help from his warriors (Rogers 341).

This shows the story’s progression and also the monsters’ growing abilities.

Even though this thesis analyzes film and series adaptations, Beowulf has many other types and forms of adaptations. In his book 205 Years of Beowulf Translations and Adaptations

(1805-2010): A Bibliography, Hans Sauer creates a list of all the translations and adaptations of Beowulf from the year 1805 to 2010. He lists 81 English translations that include for example the translations of Kemble from 1837, Crossley-Holland from 1968 and Heaney from 1999 whose translation is used in this thesis. He also mentions some interesting imaginative recreations of Beowulf such as plays, novels and stories, graphic novels, films and musical versions, and there is a list of adaptations in different languages too (Sauer). That shows that

Beowulf is well-known not only in English-speaking countries, but all around the world.

Kathleen Forni summarizes the variety of adaptations in her book Beowulf’s Popular Afterlife in Literature, Comic Books, and Film, “Beowulf has not only been adapted to film (multiple times), but it has also been transformed into science fiction, historical fantasy, horror, children’s literature, and pornography. It has been rendered into comic book and stage play, and plundered for its insights into contemporary politics and corporate culture. The poem is remolded into mystery and romance, retold from various points of view (human, canine, feline), and extended to include Beowulf’s and Grendel’s childhoods or Wiglaf’s reign” (Forni 1). Her statement proves that not only was Beowulf made into many forms of adaptations, but also into many different genres for several different types of audiences. An interesting fact is that Beowulf was adapted into many series as well, not as the main character but as a one-episode appearance.

Those series are: Mighty Max, Star Trek: Voyager, Once Upon a Time and Xena: Warrior

Princess. Beowulf’s appearance in these television series is important because it shows that he

11 is a classic character that is well-known among all generations and audiences since the television shows vary from animated shows for children to science fiction series for adult audience. The number and variety of adaptations only supports the idea that Beowulf is a literary classic.

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Beowulf and Grendel (2005)

The first film to be analyzed is Beowulf and Grendel from the year 2005 directed by

Sturla Gunnarsson. This film was chosen because it is one of the most similar adaptations to its original work, and because of that there are many similarities. However, some big changes and additions were still made by the filmmakers in order to attract a broader audience. The film starts with a quote: “Hwaet! Great are the tales of the Spear-Danes / How they broke and bloodied their foes / How they tamed the Northern seas / Some tales sail, others sink / Below the waves but no less true” (Gunnarosson). These lines preface the heroic epic atmosphere of the film just as well as the poem does because the poem also stars with the same lines. The story then proceeds with a scene where The Danes with their king Hrothgar kill a troll. One night the troll’s now grown-up son decides to seek revenge. He attacks Heorot and kills many warriors inside. Beowulf and the Geats hear about it and sail to Daneland to defeat the monster. They arrive in Daneland and when the night comes, they wait in the hall for Grendel. However, he only urinates on the door and runs away. Beowulf goes to a local witch Selma to ask about

Grendel, and she tells him about Grendel’s life and his reasons for terrorizing the Danes. The

Geats then go to Grendel’s cave where they find his father’s head and they destroy it. Grendel then attacks the hall out of rage, but Beowulf defeats him and armless Grendel leaves and dies in the sea. Grendel’s mother comes and kills Aeschere for her son’s death. After that, Beowulf goes to her lair where he fights with her and defeats her. The Geats then sail successfully back to their homeland. The poem begins with the tale of Shield Sheafson and his offspring, but the film does not discuss the past heroes and important figures much and concentrates much more on the present. The film also ends differently than the poem because it ends with the Geats sailing back home after successful defeat of the monsters. The film does not include any other scenes that happen after that in the poem. It does not include Beowulf’s reign, his fight with the dragon and neither his death, which is one of the most important scenes. However, it is

13 understandable because otherwise the film would be many hours long and it could not be as detailed as it is.

The film starts very differently from the poem because the first scene is not even taken from Beowulf as it was added by the filmmakers. There is a scene with a troll and his son running away from a bunch of Danes. The Danes then kill the troll and leave the child alive and alone, and it is discovered later that the child is Grendel. That means that the added scenes form a backstory of Grendel. The filmmakers added Grendel’s story previous to the attacks at Heorot for the audience to grasp why he attacks the hall. Lisa Wagner Bro states in her book Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable: the Cultural Links between the Human and Inhuman that there used to be a clear division between evil (Grendel, Grendel’s mother and the dragon) and good

(Beowulf and the Danes). However, in modern adaptations it is difficult to recognize who is the hero and who is the villain. For example, films like Beowulf & Grendel aim to explain “the monstrosity of the monsters” (Bro 265). This supports the idea that filmmakers in this film wanted to explain Grendel’s actions and what made him do all the horrible things. Livingston and Sutton agree when they write in their article “Reinventing the Hero: Gardner's ‘Grendel’ and the Shifting Face of ‘Beowulf’ in Popular Culture” that “. . . it stays true to Gardner’s vision of a more human Grendel who acts according to a rationale the audience can understand, and perhaps even sympathize with” (Livingston 11). It makes the audience sympathize with the monster because he has a reason for killing those who hurt him, and the audience might even choose to be one his side and support him. Whereas in the poem, Grendel is just a monster that attacks without an understandable reason and remorse. In Beowulf and Grendel, Grendel attacks the hall because he holds a grudge for Hrothgar killing his father. He wants to avenge him and that is why he does what he does and he may even have the right to do so as it is very understandable that he is enraged.

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While the film has a plot with clear lines that show who is good and who is evil, the film blurs these lines by making the monster more sympathetic and the Danes more cold-blooded and cruel for killing Grendel’s father who has done nothing to them. Lisa Wenger Bro states that “In this film, there is no representative of good or order as in the original poem. The usual systems of order and justice have broken down. Distinctions between men and monsters are blurred. Hrothgar is a shell of a man. Heorot is in tatters with its enemies circling. Meanwhile,

Beowulf is torn between his duty to Hrothgar and his desire for justice. Grendel is wrong, but also commits his own atrocities. Selma claims to be at peace, but she lives in constant fear that someone will discover and kill the child she bore by Grendel. Even the peace and order that

Brendan, a Christian priest, offers is an illusion” (Bro 274). Bro’s statement emphasizes the chaos and added drama that is happening in the film. Beowulf fights with whether to act justly and not to kill Grendel, or to act on what he promised to Hrothgar and what can be seen as evil in the eyes of the audience.

The next addition the filmmakers made is the character of Selma who later appears to be Beowulf’s love interest. Selma is a witch and an outsider who has a lot of secrets. Beowulf is attracted to her and keeps approaching her for advice. Beowulf and Selma’s sexual attraction and tension between them escalates when they sleep together. Nowadays, it is hard to find a film without some kind of romance in it and Beowulf and Grendel is no exception. In the poem, there is no talk about love and there is no love interest of Beowulf. However, to make the film more appealing to the audience, the filmmakers added a new character for Beowulf to fall in love with. The other reason for the addition of the love theme might be to capture the attention of women whose film of choice might not be about a hero that slays monsters. This way, the film has something to offer to both men and women.

Grendel in the poem is described as a man-eating evil monster: “. . . a fiend out of hell,

/ began to work his evil in the world. / Grendel was the name of this grim demon . . . he has

15 dwelt for a time / in misery among the banished monsters, / Cain’s clan . . .” (Heaney 6). On the other hand, Grendel in the film is portrayed as a dirty troll that lives in the outskirts. He howls instead of crying, makes inhuman sounds, lives in a cave and kills people. However, he also possesses some human characteristics. For example, he wears clothes, mourns his father’s death, holds grudges, kills only those who have hurt him, speaks in his own language and although he rapes Selma, he never does it again and becomes her protector afterwards. The ability to come into contact with a human and not kill them and later even care for them is a sign of his humanity as well. Grendel in the book is described as a killing monster without a remorse that cannot in any way communicate with humans, but that is completely different from the Grendel in the film. That might again be an attempt to make him more likeable and relatable to the audience. Grendel’s mother is portrayed in the film as a sea-monster that comes to the Danes for revenge after they kill her son which is quite similar to her portrayal in the poem.

It feels as though Beowulf is not the main character in the film, but Grendel is. The film tells us more about Grendel than about Beowulf. The audience knows what motivates Grendel, how he became who he is now, while Beowulf’s background is unknown. Beowulf cannot show his heroic skills when fighting Grendel because Grendel decides who he wants to fight and kill.

Grendel has the upper hand because he decides when to attack and who to attack, and Beowulf is not one of them. In his book, Beowulf on Film: Adaptations and Variations, Haydock states that “In Beowulf and Grendel Beowulf doesn’t get to be heroic at all. He does kill Grendel’s

Mother, a water demon, but he’s not really proud of that. She’s the nasty one in this story, not

Grendel, which makes an interesting turn, too. The film adapts both epic and novel with a goal of understanding and creating reasonable sympathy for Grendel, for the “monster.” It diminishes the hero to an afterthought” (Haydock 22). The essence of Haydock’s argument is that Beowulf himself has sympathy towards Grendel once he finds out his motive. He does not

16 really want to kill him and neither does he want to kill his mother. This shows that Grendel is the most important character in the movie because not only does the audience sympathize with him, but Beowulf sympathizes with him as well.

Faith is another theme that is portrayed quite differently in the film than it is in the poem.

When the Danes become hopeless after the attacks from Grendel, they turn to pagan gods in the poem: “Sometimes at pagan shrines they vowed / offerings to idols, swore oaths / that the killer of souls might come to their aid” (Heaney 8). But in the film it is very different as all the Danes worship pagan gods to begin with and then they turn to God. Their pagan rituals can be seen when some priest figure splashes sheep blood on them and says: “Under Odin’s eye I blood you lucky on all parts that leave this hall” (Gunnarosson). The Danes’ worship of pagan gods proves to be true when Father Brenden, a new character added by the film producers, appears and confronts Hrothgar. They argue on the matter of God and Hrothgar says: “Christ. I’ve heard of him . . . My gods don’t ask me to bow” (Gunnarosson). His statement clearly shows that he believes in pagan gods only. The Priest then survives Grendel’s attack by praying in front of the hall and the Danes suddenly want to convert to Christianity in belief that it will save them as well and therefore most of the Danes get baptized. The roles of faith are reversed, while

Danes in the poem turn to pagan gods to save them, Danes in the film turn to God and

Christianity to save them. The whole baptism scene is a nonsense because as it was already mentioned, pagans in Scandinavia had no concept of Christian God at that time, so it does not make sense that they would turn to him for help. However, the portrayal of faith is at least very clear in the film and there is no confusion whether they believe in God or pagan gods, in contrast to the confusion that accompanies religion in the original poem.

When it comes to other symbols and themes that were mentioned in the previous chapter, some appear in the film and some do not. Vengeance is very prominent in the film, it is especially obvious in Grendel’s actions. His motivation for the bad things he does is to get

17 revenge for his father’s murder. Grendel’s mother also attacks because she seeks revenge for her son’s death. The monsters seek revenge, but Beowulf does not seek revenge as he does in the poem. Beowulf’s reputation is captured in the boasting scenes where he promises to kill

Grendel and to free the Danes from the burden. The mead-hall is an important symbol in the film as well as in the poem as the warriors feast, drink, sleep and fight there. Gold is a considerably big part of the film too. Even though the hall is not golden, almost all the warriors wear golden clips, buckles and helmets, and Hrothgar’s wife wears golden jewelry. There is a big pile of golden treasure in Grendel’s mother’s lair as well, which adds to the overall importance of gold and treasure in the film.

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Beowulf (2007)

The second film adaptation to be analyzed is Robert Zemeckis’s Beowulf that was released in 2007. As it is the most successful film with the highest budget, it is fitting to use this film in order to find the aspects and added themes that made the film so popular and worth- watching. It is an animated film using motion-capture technology, and in her article

“Popularizing High Culture: Zemeckis's ‘Beowulf’”, Kathleen Forni mentions that it serves “.

. . to capture the coveted and lucrative PG-13 rating while offering adolescent males Angelina

Jolie nude and extreme graphic violence (Grendel chews on a head; Beowulf rips out the dragon’s heart with his hand) which in live action would have earned a hard R rating” (Forni

47). And certainly, graphic violence and female nudity are attractive to a wide male demographic and are therefore important aspects of this film which may have been one of the factors of its popularity and success. According to Forni, Zemeckis’s film also mashes many genres together: “Beowulf casts its net wide and seems to be a generic hybrid, borrowing aspects from epic films (the historical setting, sweeping musical score, panoramic backdrop, and portentous thematic allusions); action/adventure (focus on the individual efforts of the superhuman hero, a linear revenge plot, extensive action sequences); horror (in which the monsters force the protagonist to recognize his own potential for monstrosity); and fantasy

(with the hero undergoing some kind of mystical experience and receiving supernatural aid)”

(Forni 50-51). This variety of genres might also be the source of the film’s success as it attracts fans of horror as well as fans of action or fantasy.

The film starts with the Danes celebrating in their new hall Heorot. The noise they make bothers Grendel and he attacks the hall. But when Hrothgar tells Grendel to fight him, Grendel escapes. Hrothgar orders to rebuild the hall and sends a message that he needs a hero to save the Danes. Beowulf along with Wiglaf and their fellow warriors arrive at the hall. While they drink together, Unferth comes and doubts Beowulf’s abilities but Beowulf corrects him and

19 boasts about his deeds. At night, Hrothgar shows Beowulf a golden horn and promises to give it to him along with Wealhtheow if he kills Grendel. Then they go to sleep and Beowulf lies down naked waiting for Grendel’s attack while the others sing. Grendel arrives and starts killing the warriors, but Beowulf succeeds in his mission and Grendel leaves without his arm and dies in his cave. Beowulf has a nightmare the next day and when he wakes up, the hall is filled with hanging dead bodies. Hrothgar says it was Grendel’s mother and with Unferth’s sword

Hrunting, Beowulf goes into the cave. Grendel’s mother promises him power in exchange for the golden horn he received from Hrothgar. He is seduced by her, however, when he comes back to the hall he claims to have killed her. Hrothgar knows that it is not true because she seduced him as well. He then leaves everything he possesses to Beowulf, jumps down the window and Beowulf becomes the king. Some years later, now older Beowulf stands on the sidelines of a war against the Frisians. They win and he comes back to his palace to his wife and to his very young mistress Ursula. Unferth comes to Beowulf and gives him the golden horn that some slave found in the moors. A dragon destroys a church where he finds Unferth and sends a message to Beowulf that the agreement is over now that the golden horn is back with him. The dragon flies towards Heorot, and Wiglaf along with Beowulf follow him. The dragon spouts fire on both Wealhtheow and Ursula. Beowulf cuts the dragon’s spot on his neck and sees the heart inside it but he cannot reach it, so he cuts off his arm and snatches the dragon’s heart off with his bare hand. They fall into the sea and die. Beowulf is laid on a ship that they set on fire while they mourn his death. Wiglaf stands on the shore and the film ends with

Grendel’s mother trying to seduce Wiglaf as well.

The main difference between the poem and the film are the three monsters. Grendel’s mother plays the most important role out of all three of them and is portrayed as a beautiful seductress with a stunning golden body. She firstly seduces Hrothgar and the outcome is their son Grendel. She then successfully seduces Beowulf with what seems to be the same deal that

20 she and Hrothgar made back then, and the result of this act is the dragon. The film even ends with her attempt at seducing Wiglaf. While in the poem and even in the previous film Beowulf and Grendel, Grendel’s mother plays a rather unimportant role compared to the role of Grendel, in this film she is the main attraction. Grendel’s mother also represents a strong female character that has power over men. The roles of women in heroic poetry were very limited as they were either peace-weavers (to keep the peace among the warriors), passers-of-the-cup (to pass the cup during feasting), peace-pledges (women that marry somebody from the opposite side and stops the feud), or mourning mothers who lost somebody in a war. Even though Grendel’s mother in the poem does not belong to those categories and is a strong woman that fights

Beowulf, her strong and independent character is enhanced even more in this film as she manages to seduce both Beowulf and Hrothgar and shows her power over them.

In comparison to the previous film, Grendel is portrayed much more as a monster. This film captures the idea of Grendel from the poem very well. He is a giant monster with deformed face, rotten teeth and awful-looking skin. Grendel serves as a reminder of Hrothgar’s adultery as he comes to haunt him. He attacks Heorot because of the noise they make while they celebrate. He has exposed eardrums and they vibrate when someone shouts which really bothers him and maybe even causes him pain. When Beowulf figures it out, he beats his ear which results in him shrinking to a human size. The dragon knows how to talk as it can be seen when he gives Unferth a message to Beowulf. There is also a shot on his golden human hands and when they fall into the sea together, he changes from dragon to a golden man which means he can probably shift from a person to a dragon as he wishes. He is the son of Beowulf which adds an interesting story that is vastly different from the poem, where the dragon serves just as a monster that seeks revenge for his stolen cup.

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Same as in the previous film Beowulf and Grendel, filmmakers of this film gave

Beowulf a love interest as well. Firstly, he sleeps with Grendel’s mother and even though there is no love among them, he still engages in some kind of relationship with her. After Hrothgar dies, he marries Wealtheow, whom he loves at first but many years later when their love fades, he finds a young mistress called Ursula. This proves that not only does he engage in a sexual relationship but also in relationship based on love, and neither of those relationships can be seen in the poem.

The fight with the dragon was altered a bit by the filmmakers as well. In the poem, the dragon fights with just Beowulf and Wiglaf on a hill near to his lair and his treasure that he keeps. On the other hand, in the film the dragon comes to Heorot destroying everything in his way, trying to kill Wealhtheow and Ursula, and that is all happening with Beowulf on his back.

Beowulf then stabs the sensitive spot on the dragon’s neck which reveals the dragon’s heart.

But Beowulf cannot reach the heart and that is when he cuts off his arm which has a strong resemblance to Grendel losing his arm. He then reaches inside the dragon and snatches off his heart, killing him. While in the poem, Beowulf’s death is caused by the dragon, in the film it is caused by himself as he cuts off his own arm which costs him his life. The dragon fight is therefore very different and the filmmakers added a lot more dramatic and graphic scenes.

Beowulf does not portray the role of a hero as justly and as bravely as he does in the original poem. He is lying in several scenes, but most prominently in the scene where he returns from his quest to the cave where he was supposed to kill Grendel’s mother. He did not kill her, but instead he fell prey to her and then he lied to everyone, saying that he killed the old hag, which was also a lie because she was neither old nor a hag. His inability to resist Grendel’s mother also shows his weakness and how flawed a hero he really is. He also cheats on his wife with the young girl Ursula which shows that his marriage did not last either and he exchanged his wife for a younger and more beautiful girl, and that is not the ideal behavior of a hero. The

22 fact that Beowulf has or had a relationship and partnership with both of these women shows another alteration of the story that the film producers made. They gave Beowulf a love interest once again which shows a reoccurring pattern after the fact that a love interest appeared in both films that have been analyzed so far.

Faith is a substantial part of the film as well. In the first half of the film, the Danes clearly worship pagan gods, however, even though they do not worship Christian God, they certainly know of him as it can be seen when Unferth says: “My lord, for deliverance our people sacrifice goats and sheep to Odin and Heimdall. With your permission, shall we also pray to the new Roman god, Christ Jesus? Perhaps he can lift our affliction” (Zemeckis). Hrothgar dismisses his proposal and that proves the Danes’ loyalty to their pagan gods. It is, however, important to notice that the person, who made that proposition was Unferth, who is the only advocate for Christianity in the film. In the second half of the movie and many years later, the

Danes appear to have converted to Christianity. They wear crosses, have a church and celebrate

“the birth of Christ Jesus” (Zemeckis). This does not fit the description and development of faith in the poem and it does not even make sense historically because Christians came to

Denmark much later. This aspect of Christianity is therefore added to the film by the filmmakers.

When it comes to revenge, the film is not based on this theme. It is more a story about fathers, their sins and the consequences. As Unferth calls out fittingly over and over again, it is about “the sins of the fathers” (Zemeckis). Firstly, Hrothgar yields to temptation and the consequence is Grendel. Grendel is his sin that continuously haunts him. But most importantly,

Beowulf makes the same mistake later in the story and the sin has resulted in the form of the dragon, who is Beowulf’s son. He then comes to haunt him too when he attacks his kingdom.

Therefore, the main theme of the film is men being destroyed by temptation and their sexual desire.

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Gold is another important aspect of the poem and the film portrayed it well because gold and treasure can be seen everywhere. The first shot of the movie is of the golden horn, which is an important symbol in the film as it is the tool that keeps Beowulf in power and safety. There is a lot of gold in the mead-hall, which is another important element and location. The film depicts Heorot very well because there is a lot of drinking, feasting, celebrating and it is also the location of Grendel’s and his mother’s attacks. It is also a place of many boasts as boasting is a significant part of the poem and the film as well. Beowulf boasts about his deeds, the warriors boast about Beowulf’s and Hrothgar’s deeds. There is overall a lot more boasting than in the previously analyzed film. Beowulf’s funeral also takes place in the film and the mourning of his loved ones and people from his kingdom is striking. There are other small differences in the film, such as that Hrothgar has no offspring and Wiglaf being there from the beginning of the film, but those are just insignificant alterations that do not change the general plot and message of the poem.

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Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands (2016)

The next adaptation to be analyzed is the most recent one and it is a British television series from 2016 called Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands. This depiction was created by

James Dormer and although the series is based on the poem Beowulf, the plot is very different from the plot in the poem. In his work Beowulf in Contemporary Culture, David Clark claims that “Despite its title, the show at first seems to have taken little from the medieval poem other than the names Beowulf, Hrothgar and Breca. However, as the episodes progress, it becomes increasingly apparent that the writers are engaging with intersecting thematic concerns common to the poem: revenge and the heroic way of life, bloodline and dynastic conflict, gender, monstrosity, and otherness” (Clark 33). Clark’s statement proves that even though the series has a different plot, some important themes from the poem still appear in the series. This adaptation is very valuable to the thesis because it is the newest one and therefore the aspects added by the filmmakers are different. The fact that it is a television series with twelve episodes changes things because there is more drama, character development and twists and turns that change the plot. The plot revolves around Heorot and the people that live there. Beowulf comes back to Heorot after twenty years and discovers that Hrothgar died. Hrothgar’s wife Rheda becomes the Thane, which in the film means the leader of the tribe. Rheda is also named the

Jarl – the leader of all the tribes. Someone kills Rheda’s loyal servant Bayen in the hall and

Beowulf promises to find and kill whoever did it. Beowulf finds out that Bayen was killed by a skin-shifter, which is a half-human and a half-monster. Beowulf eventually finds the real enemy only to discover that he was under the influence of someone else. Slean, Hrothgar’s son, discovers that Rheda’s brother Abrecan gave orders to the skin-shifter because he wanted to take her Jarl title. Slean, however, does not expose Abrecan’s betrayal and frames and banishes another Thane instead. Beowulf and others go to Mere for Slean’s future wife, who serves as a peace-pledge, and on their way they encounter many monsters and obstacles to overcome.

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Mara, the girl Slean was supposed to marry, dies of sea fever, but her sister Kela agrees to marry

Slean instead, and they ride back to Heorot. Slean goes to visit his uncle Abrecan, who tells him that he wants to be a Jarl and will make Slean a Thane instead of Rheda, and Slean agrees to betray his mother. The , a group of brutal warriors, attack them and they plan to attack Heorot next. They steal gold from the hall and kidnap Kela. Beowulf finds Kela but two

Wulfings attack him. Beowulf kills one of them and the other escapes. Saray, Abrecan’s wife, comes to Heorot to kill Kela but Slean stops her and tells her he will no longer help Abrecan.

Kela and Slean get married and Abrecan promises to attack Heorot. Meanwhile the Warig, a tribe of monsters, kidnap Beowulf and Elvina, Beowulf’s lover. Razzak, a skin-shifter and the leader of the Warig, orders to kill Beowulf but Elvina suddenly reveals she is a skin-shifter as well and helps Beowulf escape. Rheda comes to her brother, who takes her and threatens her, but his wife helps her escape. Abrecan and the Wulfings agree to fight together against the people of Heorot. Rheda then talks to the Wulfings and persuades them that Abrecan is the real enemy and she kills him. The leader of the Wulfings fights with Beowulf, and with Slean’s sword Beowulf kills the Wulfing.

This series contains a very politically driven plot, especially when it comes to the battle over the position of Jarl. Before Rheda becomes the Jarl, other Thanes want the position as well and they try to persuade the other Thanes to give them their votes. Rheda secures one vote by promising to marry her son Slean to one Thane’s daughter. One of the Thanes also promises to vote for Rheda if she marries him, but Rheda does not accept the offer. The kidnapping of Slean and one of the Thanes is also part of a political agenda to keep the Thane from voting for Rheda.

The struggle to obtain votes is therefore a very politically charged plot. Another political decision that was made is that Rheda would marry Rate, a powerful Thane, if he sends his army to Heorot and helps her win the war against the Wulfings. Several characters want power and

26 they use political intrigue to achieve it. This political side to the story is therefore an addition that the filmmakers made.

There is another storyline in the series which does not change the plot very much, but is important to mention it since it concerns Grendel and his mother. Elvina, a healer from Heorot, is kidnapped by a mud-born monster but the two of them seem to have a mutual respect and care for each other. Beowulf finds her in a cave, takes her and cuts off the monster’s hand, which he then brings to the hall. However, even though she was saved, Elvina continues to bring meat for the monster to the cave where she was captured. In the end, it is revealed that the monster is called Grendel and Elvina is his mother which shows another, even though loosely based, connection to the original story.

There is almost nothing mentioned about Beowulf’s past in the poem, and so the next addition that the filmmakers made is Beowulf’s background. The first scene in the film is him, when he was young, and his father running away from two mud-borns. Beowulf’s father is killed by one of the monsters and Beowulf kills the other which shows his heroic tendencies even when he was a child. Hrothgar then finds him and takes him to Heorot where he raises him as his son. Throughout the series there are many flashbacks, which show what it was like for Beowulf to grow up in Heorot where Hrothgar taught him how to fight. The flashback also shows Beowulf and Slean’s rivalry which started when they were kids. This rivalry was based on Slean’s jealousy because Hrothgar treated Beowulf like his own son. Slean’s hatred of

Beowulf is still there even after he returns twenty years later, but throughout the series, their relationship is getting better and better and at the end of the series their relationship is on good terms.

Revenge is an important theme in the poem, and in the series as well. Even though it is not the main theme, it is most definitely one of the motivating factors of some characters.

Beowulf killed the Wulfings’ leader’s brother and that is why the Wulfing decided to attack

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Heorot. He did not do it because he wanted to be an ally to Abrecan, but because he was motivated by revenge. However, Breca was also killed by the Wulfing and so Beowulf also wanted vengeance for his murdered friend. It is clear that both of them cannot have it and so they fight it out in the last battle where Beowulf wins and gets his revenge by killing the person that caused Breca’s death. Another storyline connected to revenge is that of the monsters. All the mud-borns stick together as they want to overthrow humans because they took their land from them years ago. The plot is, however, not explored in the series since the series ends with a cliffhanger that promises the monster’s uprising. And since the series ended after just one season, the storyline cannot be explored in the future neither.

Another addition is the appearance and development of the character Breca, who is mentioned briefly in the poem as the one who Beowulf swam with in the sea. In the series,

Breca is always by Beowulf’s side and appears to be his right hand man and a great friend. Even though Breca’s story is not important to the plot, his storyline is still explored and he serves as a comical relief. He marries a woman few hours after meeting her, he has funny remarks and he is even wanted for murder, which he kept secret. At the end, he dies and serves as a final blow to Beowulf as he loses his friend and wants to avenge him and kill whoever did it.

Same as in the previous adaptations, in this series Beowulf has a love interest. The local healer called Elvina intrigues him as soon as he lays eyes on her, and even though she is entangled in a relationship with Slean, he eventually wins her over. Their relationship has its obstacles as well since he finds out she is a skin-shifter, and that damages their relationship. In the end, she escapes with her son Grendel. However, that does not change the fact that Beowulf is in a relationship once again. It is even mentioned that Beowulf had a son and a wife that died before he came back to Heorot. In the poem, Beowulf’s love life is not explored at all, so the addition of a love interest is a very popular move amongst the filmmakers.

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Even though there is a perfect example of a peace-pledge in the series when the daughter of one Thane marries the son of another Thane to keep peace between the two tribes, the series contains several strong and independent female characters as well. An example of a strong female character is Vishka, a blacksmith that learns to fight with a sword and takes every opportunity there is to fight or be among the warriors. She beats the men in throwing axe at a target and sometimes even defeats a warrior when she trains to fight with a sword. Rheda is another example since she is a female Thane which is very unusual, and even though some of the men disagree with it, she still convinces them that she will be a great leader. Grendel’s mother Elvina is a strong female character too as she saves Beowulf’s life when he is sentenced to death. Before the war, not only the warriors train to fight, but the children and all the women in Heorot too which shows that the purpose of women in the series is very different from the one in the poem.

A new addition that was not seen in any of the other older adaptation is the race representation in the series. While all the characters in previously discussed adaptations were white, this series contains many people of color. African people and people from other oriental countries casually live among the Danes and that seems to be a historical nonsense. Robert G.

Weisbord mentions in his article “Scandinavia: A Racial Utopia?” that “At the end of the nineteenth century, persons of African descent were still curiosities in Scandinavia . . . Most of the Scandinavians Brooks met did not even know that there were people of African background in America” (Weisbord 474). This proves that black people were a rarity in Scandinavian countries and therefore it is not possible that in the sixth century they normally lived among the

Danes. Since race discussion has been a part of society for a long time, more and more films and television series cast actors of color, and even though it does not make sense to add African people to sixth century Scandinavia, this series joins the trend and adds people of color anyway.

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Even though Beowulf is supposed to be the main character and has his name in the title of the series, it does not feel like he is the focal point of the show, and he is not a very likeable character neither. Slean, on the other hand, seems to be the character that the audience identifies and empathizes with the most as he struggles to win Elvina’s heart and fights to save Heorot.

Kathleen Forni states in her book Beowulf‘s Popular Afterlife in Literature, Comic Books, and

Film that “The problem with the series, and perhaps one of the reasons for its cancellation after just one season, is that the eponymous hero not only pales in comparison to Slean’s struggle with maturity and responsibility but also precipitates some of the social problems that plague

Herot” (Forni 138). Forni explains all the reasons why the character causes such a problem, such as that he holds a grudge because the mud-borns killed both his father and his family. He also carelessly destroys a sacred burial ground of the Warig, he steals Slean’s girlfriend, whom he does not want anymore after he finds out she is a skin-shifter (Forni 138-139). All of the examples that Forni mentions show that Beowulf’s actions are not very heroic as they lack empathy or even reason.

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Conclusion

The thesis aims to discover additions and changes that the filmmakers made by analyzing the adaptations and comparing the similarities and differences with the original poem.

The analysis helped to find a reoccurring pattern of added themes and symbols.

Beowulf and Grendel was the first film analyzed and it was also the adaptation the most similar to the poem. The biggest difference is the exploration of Grendel’s background, and the source of his rage is explained which makes him a more sympathetic character. The filmmakers also added some human characteristics to him and he is therefore not the same ruthless monster that appears in the original poem. The confusion concerning faith reflects in the film as well because the film producers chose to include baptism and the Danes’ conversion to Christianity which was not a good choice since it is a historical nonsense.

The second film Beowulf is the most well-known adaptation and it is probably because of the graphic scenes, violence, epic fights and a dragon character. The film features Grendel’s mother as a strong beautiful woman that seduces both Hrothgar and Beowulf. This adaptation stays true to the poem when it comes to the fight scenes, boasting and heroic atmosphere. The theme is, however, very different as it mainly focuses on the sins that the male characters made.

Their sons then come to haunt the fathers as a reminder of their weakness when they acted on their sexual desire. This adaptation shares the conversion to Christianity with the previous adaptation. But what is different from Beowulf and Grendel is that the filmmakers decided to cover the whole story, not only the first part. There is the great battle with the dragon and even

Beowulf’s funeral, which are two scenes that cannot be found in the other adaptations.

Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands is the last adaptation analyzed in this thesis and it is the most loosely based adaptation on the original poem as it is happening after the death of

Hrothgar. The three original monsters are not explored in this adaptation (only Grendel very briefly) and are replaced by other monsters called the mud-born. The female characters in this

31 adaptation gain more freedom and can engage in activities that were meant for men. One female character works as a blacksmith and has a hobby of sword-fighting. Another woman rules the whole tribe and persuades all the other men that she can lead them. There are not only white actors, like in all the other mentioned adaptations, but also actors of color. Even though this addition was made to support race equality, the fact that the characters live among the white

Danes is another historical nonsense since they came to Scandinavia much later. Another addition is the character of Breca, which was mentioned only briefly in the poem, but serves as a side-kick to Beowulf in this adaptation. He is also funny and that is another thing that the other two adaptations lack that this adaptation has – a comedic character.

There are a few things and additions that all three adaptations share. The first is the addition of a love interest for Beowulf. In the poem, there is no love theme or any sort of relationship that Beowulf is involved in. But since love is such an important theme that appears in almost every movie and television show, the filmmakers of all the three mentioned adaptations added a lover to Beowulf. In Beowulf and Grendel, it is the witch Selma that turns out to have a child with Grendel. In Beowulf, Beowulf has some sort of a relationship with

Grendel’s mother, with whom he has a child – the dragon. He also marries Wealtheow and sleeps with a young mistress Ursula. And finally in the analyzed television series, Beowulf falls in love with the healer Elvina, who turns out to be Grendel’s mother.

Another similarity that can be seen in all three adaptations is the fact that Beowulf does not seem to be the main character. The main character and the character whose background is explored the most in Beowulf and Grendel is Grendel. In the film Beowulf, Grendel’s mother is the character that captures the audience the most and everything revolves around her actions.

Although Beowulf has its name in the series title Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands, he is not the character with whom the audience sympathizes the most and who they root for. Slean’s storyline is far more interesting and beats Beowulf’s unlikeable character.

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Summary

This thesis analyzes two film adaptations and one television series adaptation of the poem Beowulf, which is considered to be a literary classic. The similarities and differences of the adaptations are examined and compared with the original poem in order to find additions or modifications made by the filmmakers.

The first analyzed film is Beowulf and Grendel from 2005, directed by Sturla

Gunnarsson. This film is the most similar to the original poem and it is therefore valuable to see the changes that the filmmakers still decided to make. The film is interesting because it humanizes Grendel, adds a background to him and explains that he attacks Heorot only to get revenge for his dead father that was murdered by the Danes. The next film is Beowulf from

2007, directed by Robert Zemeckis. This adaptation is particularly valuable to the thesis because it is the most well-known and the most popular of all the adaptations. It is therefore interesting to see what the filmmakers changed that made it so well-received. This adaptation transforms Grendel’s mother into a beautiful creature that seduces both Horthgar and Beowulf and has a child with both of them. The last adaptation is Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands from 2016. This adaptation is the newest and is the only one that includes actors of color. The female characters have more power and freedom as well.

The analysis of all three films showed that the most frequent additions are a love interest for Beowulf and exploration of characters’ backgrounds. All of the adaptations also failed to have Beowulf as the main character because in every adaptation, Beowulf is outshined by someone else. Other changes such as new characters, different plots or conversion to

Christianity appear frequently as well.

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Resumé

Tato práce analyzuje dvě filmové a jednu seriálovou adaptaci básně Beowulf, která je považována za literární klasiku. Podobnosti a odlišnosti těchto adaptací jsou zkoumány a porovnávány s původní básní s cílem najít přídavky nebo změny provedené filmovými tvůrci.

První analyzovaný film je Beowulf: Král barbarů z roku 2005, který režírovala Sturla

Gunnarsson. Tento film je nejvíce podobný původní básni, a proto je užitečné vidět změny, které se tvůrci filmu stále rozhodli udělat. Film je zajímavý, protože zlidšťuje Grendela, přidává mu původ a vysvětluje, že útočí na Heorot pouze proto, aby pomstil svého mrtvého otce, kterého zavraždili Dánové. Dalším filmem je Beowulf z roku 2007, který režíroval Robert Zemeckis.

Tato adaptace je pro práci obzvláště cenná, protože je nejznámější a nejpopulárnější ze všech adaptací. Je proto zajímavé sledovat, co filmaři změnili a díky čemuž byl tak dobře přijat. Tato adaptace promění Grendelovu matku v krásné stvoření, které svede Hrothgara i Beowulfa a má s oběma dítě. Poslední adaptací je Beowulf: Návrat do Shieldlandu z roku 2016. Tato adaptace je nejnovější a je jedinou, která zahrnuje herce tmavé pleti. Ženské postavy mají také větší moc a svobodu.

Analýza všech tří filmů ukázala, že nejčastějšími přídavky jsou objekt milostného zájmu pro Beowulfa a zkoumání původu postav. Všechny adaptace také selhaly v tom, aby Beowulf byl hlavní postavou, protože v každé adaptaci je Beowulf zastíněn někým jiným. Často se objevují i další změny, jako jsou nové postavy, odlišné děje nebo konverze na křesťanství.

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