Student Question
Do the concepts of fate and chance in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Beowulf affect characters' free will and ability to act?
Quick answer:
While in Beowulf, fate is presented as the "overseer" of human beings, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain's actions are the result of his own moral failures rather than of an outside force.
In both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, despite the prevalence of statements attributing the flow of events to God or destiny, the heroes of each story are not entirely controlled by fate. They make their own decisions and suffer or benefit from those decisions. However, this does not mean fate plays no hand at all, though fate is a much stronger force in Beowulf than it is in Sir Gawain.
In Beowulf, the titular hero calls fate the "overseer of men," suggesting that a higher power governs history more than any agency on the part of human beings. When Beowulf fights Grendel, it is emphasized that God's strength is the deciding factor in who wins the match:
No battle-skill has he, that blows he should strike me,
To shatter my shield, though sure he is mighty
In strife and destruction; but struggling by night we
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
In strife and destruction; but struggling by night we
Shall do without edges, dare he to look for
Weaponless warfare, and wise-mooded Father
The glory apportion, God ever-holy,
On which hand soever to him seemeth proper.
While Beowulf's victory relies upon being part of God's will, he does make some decisions on his own. For example, in the last third of the poem, the elderly Beowulf decides to face the dragon himself. Fate did not prompt him to do this, and it is presented as his own choice—one that saves his people from immediate destruction but also dooms them to a defenseless position without their warrior-king to protect them from neighboring tribes.
Out of the two heroes, Gawain is certainly more accountable for his decisions, since the whole point of the Green Knight's game is to test Gawain's chivalry and sense of honor. Were his response dictated by fate, then his failure to reject Lady Bertilak's kisses or her offer of the allegedly enchanted green girdle would mean nothing. However, Gawain fails the test and feels great shame in that failure, suggesting that he is accountable for his actions, not fate. In fact, fate in Sir Gawain does not take the form of some invisible force driving men onward, but the guise of Gawain's honorable goal to follow through the Green Knight's wager until the end. Even Gawain's choice to accept the wager was his own—no outside force demanded it of him.