The role of fate in Beowulf

A detailed Summary of The role of fate in Beowulf

Fate was a major factor in the life of pagan cultures of any time period. This is well

documented in the epic poem Beowulf, in which a pagan warrior wins because it is his

destiny to win, not because of any free will. This is amply demonstrated throughout the

For instance, in line20, the text states "then Scyld departed at the destined hour."

This is but one of many examples that demonstrate the role of fate in death in pagan

societies. They believed that a man could not do anything to avoid it, but had to embrace

it. This may be one of the reasons that Beowulf goes to confront the dragon; he feels the

pull of fate, and realizes that if it was his time to die, he would die. If, however, he was

fated to live, that would allow him to triumph. Therefore, there was nothing he could've

done to alter his future. This is partially elaborated on by the text in lines 1580-1583: "The

strange since it seems to be at odds with the idea of an omnipotent being that can't know

the future because we're still creating ours, yet is still omniscient. Yet other factions in

in 11th century Norse society. Many modern cultures, including ours, subscribe to the

doomed, and soon to die."; and lines 1694-1697: "Thus, the son of Ecgtheow had survived

which free will can be excercised in details, but the big picture is already set. Either way,

for everyone implies some amount of fate.

from this world, was destined to be wretched, his migrating spirit was fated to travel far

into the power of fiends."; lines 955-956: "But one of the feasters lying on his bed was

Christian idea of free will, the idea that we are in charge of our own destinies. This is

an omniscient point of view. The mortals in the story do not know the outcome of their

Approximate Word count = 614
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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