Question

When Grendel fights Beowulf, the reader learns that the monster’s “time had come,” and he will soon die. What does this idea say about the Danish belief in fate? Write a short essay in which you show how the belief in destiny influences the thoughts and actions of the characters. Provide several other examples from Beowulf to support your position.

Answer 1

This shows that they believe that Grendel's death was determined by the creators and that Beowulf was bound to defeat him. A similar example can be Beowulf's death and Wiglaf's rise which is also considered to be a matter of fate. Beowulf's hubris was bound to lead him to that.

Answer 2

Unlike one-god Christian culture, there are not any gods related to the destiny of man in the Anglo-Saxon tradition. In Beowulf there are several direct references to fate. This trend continues towards the end of the epic. The poem puts Christian and Anglo-Saxon concept of fate vis-a-vis, foreshadowing death and fate simultaneously throughout the epic. Generally, fate in Beowulf means not to look back and just to move forward.

Towards the end of his life, Beowulf says,

''I meant to stand,

Not run from his shooting

Flames, stand till fate decides

Which of us wins.''

At the deathbed, Beowulf's tribe is in trouble because he has no heir. There is a reference to fate at this point:

"You are the last of our far flung family

Fate has swept our race away."