Comparison of Beowulf to The 13th Warrior

Beowulf and The 13th Warrior have a various amount of similarities and differences. Beowulf is an epic told about the great achievements of the great hero, Beowulf. The 13th Warrior is a movie based on only one major character from Beowulf but instead, the main character is a poet named Ibn. The differences of the main characters, battle occurrences, conclusions, and the similarities of the characters, battles, and the results make up the majority of the major similarities and differences.

The similarities of the stories include characters, battle events, and the terminations. Beowulf and Grendel are the names of the characters in both. Grendel, sometimes pronounced as Wendol, along with the mother, are the enemies in the stories. Beowulf, also worded as Buliwyf, is the chief warrior who later dies after battle in the two. The battle events of Beowulf and The 13th Warrior are comparable because Beowulf and his followers seek entrance into the mothers home to kill her. Along with the fact that the Wendol seeks to Beowulfs location, and the others, in hopes of killing the people, makes these battle events similar between the two stories. In both endings, its possible to conclude that evil is defeated, but only for the time being.

Even though the tales have major similarities, they also have key dissimilarities as well. The main character is an obvious difference of the two. In Beowulf, the main character is a heroic Viking warrior, but in The 13th Warrior, the main character is an educated Muslim poet who is chosen to travel with Beowulf and the other warriors. Another difference is the order in which the battles take place. For example, in the 13th warrior, killing of the Wendol takes place after the killing of its mother, but in Beowulf, Grendel is killed before the mother. The last key difference between the two is that, the main character dies toward the end in Beowulf, but in The 13th Warrior, the main character does not die.

These common but differing elements between the two stories can affect the viewer in several ways. The similar but different elements make a huge difference on the viewer because the perspective, along with the viewers thoughts or feelings, is changed between the two. The 13th warrior takes some similarities of Beowulf, and creates a similar but dissimilar plot. This may create the reader to enjoy The 13th Warrior more than Beowulf because the story comes to an end with the main character, leaving instead of the main character, in Beowulf, dying. As more readers read and watch the two stories, more similarities and differences may be discovered. Beowulf and The 13th Warrior are highly recommended to read and watch.

Source:

the poem, Beowulf. Which is in my 12th grade text book.

Source: the movie, The 13th Warrrior.

We watched the movie, The 13th Warrior, and read the story Beowulf, in my 12th grade literature class.