Beowulf Group

Question:

eirikwarwick
eirikwarwick
Student
College - Sophomore

In Beowulf, how do the concepts of 'wyrd' and 'fate' influence or affect Beowulf's actions throughout the poem?

Are there any good lines that represent this

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Posted by eirikwarwick on Wednesday January 28, 2009 at 8:49 PM and tagged with beowulf, characters, fate, themes, wyrd.

Answers:

  1. shauger
    shauger Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    There are several examples of this.  One example is when Beowulf decides he will fight Grendel barehanded my translation (Burton Raffel) reads "Fate will unwind as it must."  Later when Beowulf fights the dragon, my translation reads: "... And for the first time in his life that famous prince fought with fate against him, with glory denied him. He knew it, but he raised his sword and struck at the dragon's scaly hide..."

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/beowulf

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    Posted by shauger on Tuesday February 10, 2009 at 4:15 AM