John Gardner's Grendel & Ang Essay

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Coming across Hrothgar and Unferth, Grendel further realizes that the human society is immoral and that people having nothing against harming other people. Unferth, however, presents Grendel with the concept that life sometimes has a meaning, but that only heroes can discover it.

The final scene, where Beowulf battles Grendel, contributes in having the monster understand the meaning of life, as it is informed by the Geatish hero that life is mainly important because of its continuity.

Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

A great number of epic quests have been written through history, most of them having men as their protagonists. In epics, women generally have the role of assisting male heroes in their quest, without intervening in any way to obstruct them. Epics from Ancient Greece, from India, and from Mesopotamia all have women as secondary characters. This does not necessarily have to be considered an example of discrimination, as it is very possible that writers have chosen to have men as protagonists in epics because men are generally more powerful when considering their physical abilities.

Director Ang Lee has gone at making a film that will come in contradiction with most values that epics normally have. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon definitely provides people with a different picture of the standard hero, as it presents women exercising their abilities by using both physical power and free-will as they struggle to discover themselves. Set in the eighteenth century, the movie also comes against history, as it is generally known that Chinese women had not been appreciated for values during the time.

Governor Yu's daughter, Jen, shows jealousy when she finds that Shu-lien is free to do whatever she wants whereas she is obliged to marry someone that she doesn't love. Being motivated by her meeting with Shu-lien, she is determined to become what she wants, instead of following orders from others.

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As a result, she goes on a mission to find herself, so that society would accept her for who she is.

Surely, the Chinese community does not initially seem interested in having Jen accomplish her aspirations, as she is merely a tool in the hands of her family. It is mainly the other characters that influence Jen in wanting to become recognized by society, with their ignorance fueling her fury.

The other female characters in the movie, Shu-Lien and Jade Fox, have also gone through great efforts in order to create a name for themselves in the Chinese society. They had both succeeded in having society go over its traditions in order to accept them as influential persons that are able to act out of their own will. In spite of the fact that Jen appears to fall victim to society in the beginning of the movie, she regains her honor by demonstrating her skills and her unwillingness to subject to her family.

Jen is actually different than Jade Fox and Shu-Lien, as she is more powerful because of her ability to express her emotions. While the other female characters are reluctant to show any of their feelings, Jen simply expresses her discontent with society's rules, and, furthermore, she shows her need to become free.

In the end of the movie, Jen is still unable to accept continuing her life as a wife, next to Lo, and, therefore, she chooses to jump of a mountain, achieving one of the final stages in a hero's typical quest.

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