The Battle of Good and Evil

When I first began to watch the movie, Beowulf, in class I have to admit that I was somewhat confused. As I watched Grendel, a terrifying man-eating monster, completely obliterate the residents of the Scandinavian country I was somewhat startled but I decided to continue to watch and analyze the movie. As I continued to watch the movie, I saw the battle of good and evil evolve not only between the demonic powerhouses, Grendel, his mother, and a dragon, and the people Denmark, but I also saw the struggle within the great leaders Beowulf and King Hrothgar. Beowulf originally came to be the savior to destroy Grendel so that the people would once again be safe in their kingdom. Beowulf was victorious in his efforts to defeat Grendel but he fell short of his glory when he sought out to defeat Grendel's mother but fell under the curse of her lust instead. When he returned to the village he tried to avoid directly answering the long awaiting question of whether or not he killed Grendel’s mother. After the king had a brief dialogue with Beowulf, I saw a cycle that was repeated between the two of them. This cycle was revealed when the king said, “She’s not my curse, not anymore.” This shows that the king made the same mistake that Beowulf did when he had his encounter with Grendel’s mother and the entire kingdom had to pay for the sins of the father. Although Beowulf had a moment of weakness, his heroism was once again displayed when he defeated his half-breed, human and demon, son, the dragon, by sacrificing himself to save his kingdom.