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To Compare or to Contrast?
By Logan J. Viet
In the stories of Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic, Paradise Lost, a Christian epic poem, and
Macbeth, an Shakespearean Play, there several similarities and differences between the group of
famous stories though it is likely that none of the other authors have ever heard of the other’s
poems, epic or . The story lines are similar, with an exception for Macbeth which starts with a
great king getting murdered, because there is a great king, God or Hrothgar, whose mighty
kingdom are in peaceful times, that is until a great evil appears, Grendel or Satan, and starts
disturbing the peace.
Beowulf is the main character in the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf; he represents
youthfulness, strength, perseverance, and is the Hercules of the story; he can be easily compared
to the Jesus in Paradise Lost. Beowulf sacrificed himself in his final battle to have Geatland live
on forevermore and Jesus sacrifices himself to the Romans when they crucify him for crimes
against the emperor. However, there are differences between them; for example, Jesus only lived
to be around 32 or 33, Beowulf sacrificed himself much older, in his late 50’s to early 60’s. This
difference is key part that sets these two epics apart from each other.
Hrothgar is the king of the Spear-Danes who calls in Beowulf to slay a hideous monster
that I will bring up later. Hrothgar is comparable to God, in Paradise Lost, and Duncan in
Macbeth. Hrothgar has a problem with Grendel killing his thanes, or men. Duncan is a Scottish
king, who is at war with the king of Norway, who has turned the thane of Crawdor, Duncan’s
loyal friend, against Duncan in a full out revolt, mean while Macbeth is plotting his vengeance
on him. God is the Head honcho up in his kingdom. He is the ruler of all that is good and great
and he seems to have all in order, but an uprising is being planned by Satan, an angel, who will
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soon fall from grace. And end up in a hell storm of fire and flames. They all seem to be having
the same problems with people getting killed by some beast, adversary, or even mortal enemies.
Grendel, the monster who Beowulf is sent to slaughter, is a poor misunderstood beast in
this epic; he attacks and kills Hrothgar’s men for shunning him and showing off their grand
Mead halls. Grendel’s Mother, who pathetically does not even have her name mention in the
epic, finds her son dead in her layer and avenges his death by killing a few more of Hrothgar’s
men. Being a victim of a robbery, the Dragon has his favorite, solid gold chalice stolen from him
and goes crazy, scorching towns; he is also the adversary in Beowulf’s last battle. While Grendel
was more bloodthirsty and hideous monster that tears unfortunate souls to shreds, Satan is more
manipulative, sly, and demonic than the any of the last three evils in the stories. But unlike the
other evils he had a fallen out from grace, and lost his shining halo and grew some gruesome
horns. Satan had his falling out with god and lost his place in heaven. His punishment is at first,
to be nose deep in a lake of fiery flames and not be able to leave, however he escapes and lands
on ground that is less than pleasant. The villains of Macbeth, other than Macbeth and his lady,
are the weird sisters or the three witches. They are an influential part of the play. As they say
they cannot control the wind but they can persuade the wind to blow the same direction. They
use this same thing with Macbeth’s fate. As you can see the villains of the story are not as
stereotyped as the heroes and the kings of the old are.
Since the colorful characters of Beowulf are all long before the time of Macbeth and his
mighty thanes, here is a more modern play, if you can call the 15th century modern.
In the epic, Beowulf, Hrothgar hires Beowulf, a famed warrior from Geatland, to kill this
great evil. In Paradise Lost however God punishes Satan to sit in a burning lake with just his
nose and eyes above the flames. However, for action there is an opposite and equal reaction,
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Isaac Newton third law of motion. The reaction for the Beowulf epic is that Grendel Mother
wants to avenge her son’s death and murder Hrothgar’s men. In Paradise Lost, Satan and
Beelzebub escape the blazing lake to dry land that is “if you can call it land, since it was as hot as
fire” (Paradise Lost 225-229).
In conclusion, Beowulf, Macbeth, and Paradise Lost are not as different as it may seem,
even though they were written hundreds of years apart. They have similarities and their
differences. They created great images for the imagination with these stories and even with a few
minor flaws in the plot.