Dragon Slayer- Question 3

3. Identify a central incident that happens in at least four of the above texts, and discuss how it is both similar and different in each example (remember to cite from the original texts).

Please read my other blog post one question one before reading this post


Firstly, i want to talk about two texts that i have read and which is Beowulf and The Hobbit. There a few things both of this text that have similar and different in each book both have the same storyline but different monster to defeat. 
An incident that happens at least four of this text is defeating the dragon on Beowulf and The Hobbit. Both of book have the same storyline, but the characters, theme and the genres are different and held a different view like for example, the main protagonists have the same action to do, and that is to kill the dragon, but both casts are different. For instance, Bilbo (from Hobbit) is dwarf, and he is a small guy, " About half our height and smaller then breaded dwarves" ( Tolkien, pg 2)  compared to Beowulf is strong and a big guy. "He was the strongest of men alive in that day" (Beowulf, pg.180). I believe that both characters had a strong heart and both worked hard to get something but at the end of the incident- Beowulf dies, and the dwarf survives. In conclusion, Bilbo and Beowulf were both protagonists that want to seek adventure and kill the monster in their text. 

Studyhippo. (2018, April 24). There and Back Again a Comparison of the Hobbit and Beowulf. Retrieved from https://studyhippo.com/there-and-back-again-a-comparison-of-the-hobbit-and-beowulf-2238/

Week 1-3 Questions- Nadine Mortaja

1. What genres do the following texts belong to, and how do their intended period contexts, purposes, and intended audiences differ?

Voluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Voluspa, volsunga saga, beowulf, the hobbit and lord of the rings all include some aspects of fantasy. Voluspa represents the norse mythology. The poem mentions unusual things like giants. In addition it mentions god's several times, which relate to the norse mythology. An example would be the beginning of the poem “Hear my words you holy god's” (1.1). Voluspa also mentions thor which relates to the norse mythology. “ Far-famed Thor, the son of Earth, the son of Odin, goes forth to fight the Snake. Midgard’s defender dies triumphant, but the human race no longer has a home: nine steps beyond the Serpent’s body, Thor, wounded, walks in pride.” (3.1). Volsunga Saga falls under the fairytale genre. It was written in Iceland in the thirteenth century by an unidentified author. The volsunga sagas main theme is power. It focuses on power and the consequences of it if you have power and if you don't have power. Beowulf is considered an old english poem. Some would even consider it a “epic poem”. It can be considered an epic poem because epics often focus on single heroic figures, which happens to be Beowulf. Epics also often involve heroic quests, as in Beowulf’s journey to Denmark. Some critics believed that the poem was a Christian allegory. Beowulf the champion of goodness and light against the forces of evil and darkness. The hobbit is placed under the “fantasy” category. The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear fantasy is Alice In Wonderland. Alice In Wonderland is filled with unrealistic things. Talking animals, a tree that takes you into another world, spells and positions, unknown creatures and people with huge heads and tiny bodies. The hobbit included supernatural beings like elves, trolls, dwarves, wizards and hobbits. It was catered to audiences like young adults.


References:

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). Beowulf. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Beowulf

eNotes. (n.d.). Volsunga Saga Critical Essays. [online] Retrieved from: https://www.enotes.com/topics/volsunga-saga

Terry, P. (trans). (1990, 1966). Poems of the Elder Edda. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press



6. Identify some recent films, TV shows and/or games which have brought back some of the old gods and heroes from obscurity. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?

Recently there has been a lot of movies/ TV shows bring back some of our favorite characters back to life and I’m not mad about it. One of the most shocking returns has been Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. Snow joined the Night’s watch and later on became a Lord Commander. He played a huge role in GOT (Game of Thrones). Snow was deeply wounded and appeared to be dead. Melisandre was practicing with magic and she was Snows only hope in coming back to life. She began by cleaning up his wounds and cutting his hair while throwing it into a pit of fire, meanwhile she was chanting a spell. She got a bucket of water and poured it on his hair and continued to chant the spell. There was no signs of him waking up. Eventually everyone left the room, but he woke up. Another example would be Loki in Thor The Dark World. Thor is in a fight and Loki saves him by impaling the foe with a blade. The enemy then grabs Loki and stabs him with the blade that's sticking out of his chest. Thor mourns for his brother but eventually leaves him on the ground. Thor is talking to Odin, he tells him he can't be the king of Asgard and leaves. After he leaves Odin turns into Loki revealing that Loki is still alive. The final example is Buffy in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Buffy plunged to her death in an attempt to keep a portal to hell from opening, but dies. Her friends held her a memorial. The next season her friend Willow who happens to be into magic, brings her back to life.

Norse mythology is a set of beliefs and stories shared by Northern Germanic tribes. It was passed on from one generation to the next in the form of poetry. There are different supernatural races in norse mythology some include Aesir, Vanir and Giants. Giants were considered terrible magicians. Aesir were primary races of god, they included Odin, Thor and Heimdall. Aging like humans, these gods would stay young by eating magic apples. Vanir were the second race of gods. Initially Vanir and Aesir were battling one another, but Vanir ended up being admitted into Asgard. Some major norse gods included Odin, Thor and Loki. Odin was the chief of god, master of wisdom, magic and poetry. Thor was the god of thunder. He had a magic hammer that would strike his targets but would always return to Thor. Loki was a giant but was allowed into Asgard. He caused a lot of problems, until the gods put him in a cage with a large venomous snake to torment him. Norse mythology is still used to this day. One of the authors that bought back the Norse gods was Neil Gaiman. He published a book titled “Norse Mythology”. Gaiman retells the ancient stories in a modern way and previously took up Norse mythic motifs. In addition Norse mythology's are still used by incorporating them with movies nowadays including the most famous one, Thor.

References:

Cliffsnotes.com. (n.d.). About Norse Mythology. [online] Retrieved from: https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/mythology/about-norse-mythology

Larrington, C. (2017). Norse gods make a comeback thanks to Neil Gaiman – here's why their appeal endures. [online] The Conversation. Retrieved from: https://theconversation.com/norse-gods-make-a-comeback-thanks-to-neil-gaiman-heres-why-their-appeal-endures-73154

Norse mythology. (2018, July 2). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Norse_mythology&oldid=6180947.

The Norse Gods. (n.d.). Norse Mythology: A Brief Synopsis. [online] Retrieved from: https://thenorsegods.com/norse-mythology-a-brief-synopsis/

Dragon Slayer - Question 1 -

1. What genres do the following texts belong to, and how do their intended period contexts, purposes, and intended audiences differ?

Voluspa, Volsunga saga, Beowulf, the hobbit and the lord of the rings are texts in old English. Scholars and readers have said different genres for these texts, but overall, i thought it was a fantasy tale because usually, fantasy is not real and most of these stories are about the dragon slayer back then when the hero or god defeats the dragon to protect their herd or village. By reading this text for the first time, I enjoyed reading the different versions of the dragon slayer. Hopefully, it gave scholars and readers different views on each book. 

"Voluspa is an example of the mythic fiction genre, as the following references to gods from the poem illustrate: "Hear my words / you holy gods' (l.1) "By Odin's Will I will speak the ancient lore" (l.3). Other researchers and scholars had another view on this particular text, and they have described the genre of this text as  "Norse mythology." Darensuburg (2015) states from other scholars that Volsups (poem/song) was written when the pagan belief was firm towards Christianity ( "pre-Christians". In history sense, Norsh women worshipped the ancient gods as the protectors, and they would pray them to protect their men and their children and to keep their village safe and from the demons that want to enter in the early 11th century in Scandinavia. 

Whereas Volsunga saga is an example of "an example of "an Iceland legendary saga genre (Tvtropes, n.d.). Tvtropes (n.d.) probably said what they think they say, but i somehow disagree because Tvtropes (n.d.) again stated on the same post that this saga was written anonymous and which was written in the 13th century. Analysing this text, it showed some aspects of heroism, some related aspects and some mythic aspects (sign is Odin's some), which clearly states that Odin is a god. 

Beowulf, however, is an example of an old English epic genre. Merriam-Webster (n.d.) describes "epic genre" as a noun and defines it as " a long narrative poem" which includes, legendary and historical aspects like monsters, heroes and even gods. In short, Beowulf was probably written in 8th till 11th century (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008). However, this text was also written in old English - in other words like Shakespeare. For example, in the Beowulf text, there was a word like "wyrd (fate)" and  "the death place ( violence)." Scholars and the audience liked how  Beowulf was written and how this text inspired directors and authors to create other films or book series like Lord of the rings series. Furthermore, Beowulf is a well-known text in the English literature in today's society, according to Shmoop Editorial Team (2008). 

Lastly, The Hobbit is an example of a Juvenile and fantasy genre. In other words, children's fantasy. According to David Boyles ( a university lecturer in English) defines on study.com that children fantasy is to describe a book that is written for younger viewers ( Juvenile). A fantasy genre is a genre where elements of fantastical creatures come to alive like monsters, vampires, werewolves and invented worlds. When J.R.R. Tolkien, his star wrote the Hobbit, he wanted to target a younger audience and wanted to illustrate his critical central points of growing up. In the story, the main character is faced off becoming a man, and he thinks like a child, and he goes through different conquest to discover who he is a person. Of course, at the end of the novel, he becomes a matured and wiser man for his village and people (David Boyles, n.d.). 

(589 words) 

Reference 

Boyles, D. (n.d.). The Hobbit Genre. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-hobbit-genre.html

Darensburg, J. (2015, October 14). Völuspá-looza: Magic and Divination at the crossroads of  paganism and Christianity. Retrieved from https://jasondarensburg.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/voluspa-looza-magic-and-divination-at-the-crossroads-of-paganism-and-christianity-pt-1/

Merriam Webster. (n.d.). Definition of EPIC. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epic

Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). Beowulf. Retrieved March 17, 2019, from https://www.shmoop.com/beowulf/

TvTropes. (n.d.). The Saga of the Volsungs. Retrieved from https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheSagaOfTheVolsungs

Chris Pidgeon - Dragon Slayers

7. How does the film Beowulf and Grendel "problematise" the hero-myth of Beowulf? 

There are few greater legends than Beowulf. Easily one of the most notable Old English works in history, it describes the heroic tale of a young Geat named Beowulf, who, throughout his life, battles and defeats several ferocious monsters and is heralded as a great and powerful king. At its surface level, it is a tale heard around the world. However, under the skin, Beowulf is a powerful tale describing a hero’s battle with themselves, with masculinity, with the roles of heroes. 

While history has luckily managed to preserve the original version, its many translations and adaptations have led to many different interpretations of the great poem. One of the several films that have attempted to translate Beowulf to the big screen, Beowulf and Grendel, released to mixed reviews. Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson, the film debuted in 2005 after a lengthy and difficult filming process. Filming on location in Iceland turned out to be a harrowing process, so much so that the resulting footage was edited into an Academy Award winning documentary titled Wrath of Gods (which ironically performed and reviewed much better than the film itself). 

Despite such a difficult time filming, the final product is an applaudable revision of the original tale. The fight scenes are brutal, well-choreographed, and the cinematography is fantastic, relying heavily on the beautiful landscapes of Iceland as its backdrops. However, there is one glaring issue that many, including myself, have with the film. The narrative itself spins several concerning twists on the original Beowulf, some of which have a damning effect on the film’s overall interpretation of the tale. The inconsistent dialogue alone can, in one scene, showcase campy, “Shakespearean” monologues, then suddenly shift to “more overuse of the F-word than any two Samuel L. Jackson movies” (Arnold, 2006). However, the greatest issue is its effort to “problematize” the tale of Beowulf.

Problematize – “make into or regard as a problem requiring a solution” (Problematize, n.d.) Beowulf and Grendel tells what is essentially the “first act” of Beowulf, in which our hero travels to Denmark to assist in the slaying of a ferocious beast. The film opens with what is already a massive change to the tale, however, one which marks the beginning of the supposed problematization. We witness a group of Danish warriors chasing a large, hulking figure and its child throughout the lands. One familiar with the original poem could immediately assume this larger beast is Grendel itself, and one would be wrong. In this self-contained reimagining, Grendel has a father. It is the small child whose life is spared that grows up to be the hideous, blood-hungry beast that pains the Danes in the years to come. This is the first instance of a theme that is heavily discussed in the film’s narrative: the viewer is made to empathise, and, most importantly, feel sorrow for Grendel.

Originally, the beast known as Grendel is “a creature of darkness, exiled from happiness and accursed of God, the destroyer and devourer of our human kind” (Jones, 1972). He is said to be descended from Cain, either directly or indirectly, and as a result, is an embodiment of evil, of original sin, and of hatred. However, in this film, we see a much different portraying of Grendel. Essentially, the only reason Grendel fights against the Danes and bothers them so is out of a lust for revenge for his father. He keeps his father’s skull in the cave that he makes his home and speaks to it in some bizarre language. He cries and screams in anguish when he discovers that one of Beowulf’s soldiers has desecrated the skull. 

Beowulf himself questions the need to kill Grendel - “That troll didn’t give a shit about us until we wronged him.” This is significant as Beowulf fought Grendel in the poem as a statement of his own power and greatness. Beowulf had long been regarded as a flimsy, “noble-type”, one born from a higher caste that had yet to prove the feats to which he claimed. He sought out Grendel as an opportunity to honour himself, his family, and, more importantly, to disprove his doubters. He would show them, by defeating such a great beast using no weapons, that he was the most powerful of all Geats. 

The Beowulf we see in the film, however, seems regretful and spurned at every encounter with Grendel or his ilk. When the battle with Grendel finally occurs, it is not a “man-to-beast” display of strength and determination; Grendel is caught in a trap, and Beowulf watches on as the beast screams in pain and cuts its own arm off to escape. Beowulf looks disgusted, showing great remorse for forcing the creature to go to such lengths – “This thing is no more worm than you or I.” When our hero finally discovers that Grendel only attacks out of revenge, upon Hrothgar revealing the reason for the death of Grendel’s father – “He crossed our path. Took a fish.” – Beowulf is visibly angered. Yet, he continues his quest, assumedly out of commitment to his kingdom rather than his own selfish wants or needs. 

Finally, we witness the death of Grendel, his mother, and the discovery of a son. What does our hero do? He buries Grendel regretfully, almost mournfully, and bows his head in a solemn, apologetic gesture towards the gravestone. We witness him spare the young child of Grendel, the offspring of a rape committed against a local witch. We watch as he sails home, satisfaction creeping across his face, as the child and his mother stand ashore waving them goodbye. 

In its essence, the film problematizes the tale by making Grendel out to be a wounded soul. By adding aspects of humanity to his character – a father, a son, a purpose for his rage – we are made to identify and empathise with the beast. Instead of describing great acts of heroism and the ascension from man to legend, the whole film is doused with this thick layer of apology, woe, and discontent for the ways of man. Beowulf is not a hero – in some ways, he is a villain, only redeemed by his actions towards the end of the film. This is very similar to John Gardner’s Grendel, in which the story is told from Grendel’s point of view. In this instance, he is made out to be more of an anti-hero, possessing many more human traits.

Perhaps the film took inspiration from Gardner’s work. However, I do not believe that its explicit enough in its attempts to reimagine the tale. The movie leaps between historical, textual accuracy, to such strange and problematic discrepancies. The movie really tries to make us think, “Is Beowulf truly a hero?”, while also making him out to be one fantastic hero. 

References

Arnold, W. (2006, June 15^th). Potty-mouthed dialogue mars scenically stunning “Beowulf & Grendel”. Seattle PI. Retrieved from https://www.seattlepi.com/

Jones, G. (1972) Kings, Beasts and Heroes. London, England: Oxford University Press. 

Problematize. (n.d.) In English Oxford Living Dictionaries. Retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/problematize

Dragons & Slayers: Week 1-3

Literature and Desire 

Blog post 1

Week 1-3 

Dragons and Slayers 

1.     What genres do the following texts belong to, and how do their intended period contexts, purposes, and intended audiences differ?
Voluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings

It is apparent that there are consistent fantasy themes throughout each of the texts. Unlike fairytale’s and folklore, fantasy has many components present in the texts. Defined by Attebery (1980) fantasy includes anything that goes against what the author believes to be natural. This meaning any content that is out of the ordinary or the impossible made possible is fantasy. This may include creatures such as dragons, fairies or witches and magical objects such as wands, hammers or rings. It is clear that Voluspa, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings all have at least one of these components present. 

‘Voluspa’ a poem from Norse mythology tells the creation story of the world, the destruction and the rebirth. The mention of giants, gods, Bur’s sons creating the world and the first people Ash and Embla demonstrates the obscurity into what is deemed the impossible made possible. As this poem is one of the oldest in English literature I found it more difficult to distinguish many fantasy conventions in comparison to the other texts. This being as the fantasy genre was not prevalent in society at the time. Therefore, these are mythological, legends or folklore. 

Beowulf however, is much more evident in the aspect that there are more creatures and adventures he must fore take in order to defeat the monster.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is obvious with the characters ranging from hobbits, halflings, elves, knights, immortals, the list goes on. As well as the idea of magic heavily present throughout the stories. 

To pinpoint the difference between intended audiences I was able to make two discussions. During the 8^thand 11^thcentury the earliest literature texts were scripted such as Voluspa and Beowulf (Wikipedia. N.d). This leads me to believe that the texts were more so intended for adults to make sense of the world rather than children as there was a lack of children literature before the 18^thcentury (Grenby. 2014). 

When Tolkien began writing The Hobbit, it is believed that he wrote the story for his children, however, it is speculated that he simply shared the story with his children while it was still in development (Martinez. 2011). This leads me to believe that the story was intended for a young adult audience who are able to understand the novel to the extent of its greatness.   

Attebery, B. (1980). The Fantasy Tradition In America Literature: From Irving to Le Guin.  Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

6. Identify some recent films, TV shows and/or games which have brought back some of the old gods and heroes from obscurity. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?

Norse mythology has been preserved and adapted throughout history through novels, films, series and games. Of course there are direct adaptions of specific stories such as the 2007 film Beowulf, however, many of which draw inspiration from the myths and legends of Norse mythology. You are able to find Norse figures and concepts within multiple media, specifically within the fantasy genre, demonstrating its stance within our modern world. 

One of the most recognized great author Tolkien played a huge role in preserving Norse mythology stories as he was able to translate many into modern English, such as Beowulf. It is no surprise after he undertook translating the stories, he would soon move on to writing the very well recognized novel The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series. Along with the great success of these epic novels this created a reemergence of the fantasy genre (Wikipedia. N.d). The popularity of the novels highlighted elements of the fantasy world influencing the perception of what fantasy was. This included many of the creatures we are familiar with today that in fact derive from Norse mythology such as elves, dwarves and dragons/serpents (NewWorldEncyclopedia. 2018). 

Gods and heroes from Norse mythology indeed have spurred inspiration for authors in the past and today creating novels such as Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy by Rick Riordan. 

Many writings such as novels and comics have been adapted into films, such as Marvels Thor, Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and The 13^thWarrior is based off Crichton’s Eater of the Dead. Along with films there are also series such as Vikings that have concepts adapted from Norse Mythology. 

References:

Grenby, M.O (2014) The origin of children’s literature. Retrieved March 12, 2019. From https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-origins-of-childrens-literature

Heaney, S. (1999) (trans). Beowulf: a new translation. London: Penguin, 

Martinez, M. (2011) Why did J. R. R. Tolkien write The Hobbit? Retrieved March 11, 2019. From https://middle-earth.xenite.org/why-did-jrr-tolkien-write-the-hobbit/

NewWorldEncyclopedia. (2018) Norse mythology. Retrieved March 10, 2019. From http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Norse_Mythology#Modern_popular_culture

Terry, P. (trans). (1990, 1966). Poems of the Elder Edda. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 

Tolkien, J.R.R. (1997; 1937). The Hobbit, London: HarperCollins 

Tolkien, J.R.R. (1993;1954). The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. London, HarperCollins 

Wikipedia (n.d) J. R. R. Tolkien. Retrieved March 11, 2019. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien

Wikipedia (n.d) Early medieval literature. Retrieved March 12, 2019. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_medieval_literature