The first page of the Beowulf manuscript.
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Grendel’s mother has been adapted in a number of different mediums (film, literature, and graphic/illustrated novels or comic books).
Angelina Jolie portrayed Grendel’s mother in the 2007 Robert Zemeckis film, Beowulf. Some teachers and scholars have stated that her portrayal in this cinematic adaptation deviates from the original poem including being portrayed as a shapeshifting “seductress” who seduces Hrothgar (making him the father of Grendel) and Beowulf (making him the father of the dragon) as well as the the elimination of the battle sequence between Grendel’s mother and Beowulf which (in the poem) ends with her death. [37][38][39]
According to a Southern Methodist University press release, SMU’s Director of Medieval Studies Bonnie Wheeler is, “convinced that the new Robert Zemeckis movie treatment sacrifices the power of the original for a plot line that propels Beowulf into seduction by Angelina Jolie — the mother of the monster he has just slain.’ What man doesn’t get involved with Angelina Jolie?’ Wheeler asks. ‘It’s a great cop-out on a great poem.’ [...] ‘For me, the sad thing is the movie returns to…a view of the horror of woman, the monstrous female who will kill off the male,’ Wheeler says. ‘It seems to me you could do so much better now. And the story of Beowulf is so much more powerful.’”
