Examples Of Fate In Beowulf

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Adrienne Michelle Horn English 12 Mr. Harrison October 10, 2006 Fate Is Not Up for Debate During the time period that Beowulf was written, everything was considered to be determined by fate. No matter how good or how bad a situation was, the goddess of fate, Wyrd, was the fault for all events that occurred. In Beowulf, fate saves lives, causes death, and aids God Almighty as Christians know Him to be. Surprisingly, fate has the power to save lives. Presently, when one hears of a life being saved from some horrible event, it is considered a miracle. However, in this epic poem, the saving of one’s life is just seen as fate working its power in the lives of many. “Often, for undaunted courage, fate spares man it has not already marked.”(39)…show more content…
In this instance, fate is looked upon as being cruel towards mankind. It seems as though fate took the liberty to destroy life where ever it saw fit. “Fate swept him away because of his proud need to provoke a feud with the Frisians.”(85) Fate also causes death to keep people out of misery. For example, “Fate swept [them] far way sent [his] whole brave high-born clan to their final doom.” Fate made it so that neither Beowulf nor his army would be able to fight in battle ever again. Many were saddened by this event, but they understood that fate is the reason why things happened in this…show more content…
This story is a representation of how religion in Britain was changing from pagan to Christian. In the beginning of the poem it tells the readers that Grendel “would have killed more, had not the mindful God and one man’s daring prevented that doom.”(72) Anyone who is a Christian understands that God does not need any help making decisions. At times in the poem, the writer seems to make Beowulf acknowledge that fate has risen above God. For example, on page 171 Beowulf says “…what occurs on the wall between the two of us will turn out as fate, overseer of men, decided.” God is the ruler over all. If God wanted Christians to know that he had helpers other than Jesus and the Holy Spirit, He would have made sure to include that in the Bible so that there would not be any
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