Theme Of Fate In Beowulf

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There are many characteristics that make up the Germanic code in the Anglo-Saxon culture spread throughout Beowulf.. The author shows that Beowulf is the archetypal Germanic hero through his fate, trust, and reputation.
Fate, or wyrd in the Anglo-Saxon culture, is defined as “the principal, power, or agency by which events are predetermined; fate; destiny” (Yewdaev). Fate is an unforeseen force that guides a person’s life regardless of the individual’s actions, and in Beowulf this applies despite conflicting Christian and Pagan points of view. To the modern reader, the poem seems to shift between the “wise God” (Bloom 83), a Christian ideal, and “the man’s courage” (Bloom 83), a Pagan belief, as the deciders of fate. The narrator is explaining that it is a mixture of both. Bloom stated, “an arrow by any other name would kill you. Your choice, then, was whether you took that arrow in the back or head-on.” (84). This is stating that fate is inflexible, definite, and already planned, but the person can determine how it happens by their own free will.
Fate plays a major role throughout the plot of Beowulf. There are three major events: the battle with Grendel, the battle with Grendel’s mother, and the battle …show more content…

These actions of loyalty lead to many of the kingdoms and families to give their trust to Beowulf. His purpose for helping the Danes kill Grendel was to repay a debt that his father owed to Hrothgar. Beowulf also exemplifies trust by believing that by helping the Danes, he would settle the score and remove the unjust done between the two tribes. He went out of his way to not only make peace with another tribe, but to settle turmoil that could have potentially brought harm to his father and his father’s tribe. Beowulf does not appear to even question his father and simply acts with blind faith to his

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