Wyrd In Beowulf

Imagine a slimy swamp like place where only the most horrid monsters with the most disgusting features live, this is the fen. Now imagine A wonderful bright beautiful hall that’s almost castle like, these are the two elements of the story Beowulf a New Telling.

The Anglo-Saxons’ cultures and traditions are rooted in their beliefs of the perfect hero. Their ideal hero has many key characteristics influenced by their culture including courage, strength, bravery, thick skin, loyalty, humbleness, and the ability to create strong trustworthy friendships. Beowulf is an epic poem that exhibits the ideal Anglo-Saxon hero. The Anglo-Saxon traditions illustrated in Beowulf accurately represent the Anglo-Saxon traditions of the time period. This is accomplished through the distinct correlation of heroic characteristics between Beowulf and the culture’s traditional depiction of an Anglo-Saxon hero.

The story “Beowulf” is an epic poem written by an unknown author. In the story Beowulf, our protagonist, is the strongest man in the world who has to take down three monsters and faces challenges when facing two of them. In the story lof, comitatus, and wyrd is shown in the story and plays an important part of the Beowulf’s culture.

The actions following fate when spoken about in Beowulf humanizes it. As it is shown in the epic poem, “fate spares the man it has not already marked” (pg 39, line 573). When Beowulf dies while fighting the dragon, “that final day was the first time when Beowulf fought and fate denied him glory in battle” (pg 173, line 2573-2575). Using words like spare and deny gives the persona of fate human qualities. Because of this, it is as if fate could actually represent a far greater being, an example of this being God. The Anglo-Saxon origins of this epic poem have a word for fate known as wyrd. Although wyrd is of a religion that no longer exists, “the pagan concept of wyrd has been pressed into the service of Christianity by Brodeur and Marie Padgett Hamilton, who argue that wyrd in Beowulf is subject to the dictates of God and therefore cannot be considered as an entirely pagan concept” (Tietjen 160). The author, May Tietjen, of God, Fate, and the Hero of Beowulf expresses that even Christianity has honed in on the idea of wyrd. With the Christian inputs in the epic poem, which were most likely inserted later on, it is clear that fate plays a ginormous role in the legend. This is further evidence as to why the plot depends on fate since Tietjen makes it seem as if fate was an

In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the element of fate versus freewill shows up frequently all through the play. It is foreseen to Oedipus' parents, Jocasta and Laius, that their child would grow up to slaughter his father and wed his mother. Jocasta and Laius endeavor to dispose of their child, however, fate triumphs. Oedipus' fate all through the play has been chosen by the fate which adds to his annihilation. Various societies and cultures all through history have embraced similar perspectives, accepting a fate or destiny for their lives. Such points of view are very common is Greek myths who had confidence in "the three Fates" — goddesses who controlled the lives of individuals and the world in general. Clotho the youngest spins the thread of human life. She decides who will be born and when. Lachesis, a matron, measures the thread deciding a person’s lot in life. She is shown with a measuring stick, a scroll, a book, or a globe that represents the horoscope. Atropos, the oldest, choses the mechanism of death and ends the life of each mortal by cutting their thread. She is usually portrayed with a cutting instrument, a scroll, a wax tablet, a sundial, or a pair of scales. Even in modern day, some Christian philosophies incorporate destiny as fate. Many Jews acknowledge that their God has an arrangement for their people and nation.

Instances of fate are scattered throughout Beowulf. Something seems to be in control of Beowulf's life, and it drives him to achieve things that no one else has ever been able to achieve. Though he is a mere mortal, he defeats monsters even when it seemed like he was doomed to failure. Further, he rises to the level of King of the Geats even though he is not directly in line by birth to do so. Whether Beowulf is meant to be a Christian piece or a pagan one or not a religious piece at all, Beowulf becomes the

What are the challenges of the Anglo-Saxon life, that Beowulf faces? The strongest competitors Beowulf faced were Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon.

Fate and free will played major parts in creating the characters and stories in many of the Greek mythologies and tragedies. The Greeks believes that the Gods and the Oracle's could predict a person's fate before or after birth, and that no one, even the Gods could intervene in that person's fate. They also believed that a person's or God could not create their own fate. This belief stems from the three fates: sisters, The Moirai or Fates were three sister deities, incarnations of destiny and life. Because of these three old women, fate could not be avoided or altered. As such with these stories, in the Iliad fate leads Achilles down his path of glory and his early demise, and cause Oedipus to sleep with his own mother and kill his father. Free will is the power of acting without constraint and fate; acting by one's own decisions. Even though Achilleus and Oedipus have fate, they both also have free will. For instance, Achilles has a double fate: if he goes home, he will live long without glory or if he stays at Troy, he will have lots of glory, but a short life. As such, in Sophocles Oedipus the King, when Oedipus was born he was fated to kill his father and lay with his mother, thought his ability of free will caused his fate to come true.

The final aspect of Anglo-Saxon culture that was present throughout the novel was the belief of wyrd. In Anglo-Saxon culture, warriors fought with the belief not that they could control the outcome of everything, but that fate was in the end responsible for how things turned out. In the poem, Beowulf has gained

The idea of fate ruled the lives of the pagans. Their belief was that you were born with a fate, and there was nothing that could change this destiny. This idea becomes apparent in Beowulf several times. As Beowulf is dying he refers to his leaving this earth as just part of his destiny when he says that "[m]y days have gone by as fate willed" (Norton 1604). The idea of fate is called on again when Beowulf asks Wiglaf to succeed him as king of the Geats. He tells Wiglaf that he would have given the honor to his son, if he had one, but fate did not allow it. We see a reference to fate a final time when Wiglaf speaks of Beowulf after his death. He offers that as much as Beowulf's people tried to convince him to leave well enough alone, to allow the monster to live on forever, there was no changing Beowulf's destiny. Beowulf's "[f]ate, and his will, [w]ere too strong" (Norton 1611). Fate is clearly a non-Christian idea, and its presence in the poem helps the case for Beowulf being a pagan story.

It is consistently difficult to understand in old world literature, from Homeric epics to Virgil's work, The Aeneid, what the relation of fate is to the Pantheon of gods. There seems to be an ongoing debate within the texts discussing whether "fate" is the supreme ruling force in the universe and the controlling element of the lives of men, or whether fate is the will of the king of gods, Jupiter. In, The Aeneid, several situations and instances of the use of fate are presented to the reader. The direction and destination of Aeneas's course are preordained, and his various sufferings and glories in battle and at sea over the course of the epic merely postpone his unchangeable destiny.

Fate, as described in the Oxford English Dictionary, is “The principle, power, or agency by which, according to certain philosophical and popular systems of belief, all events, or some events in particular, are unalterably predetermined from eternity.” To the western world, fate is perceived as “a sentence or doom of the gods” (Oxford). They often sought prophecies of the gods, especially from Apollo, the god of knowledge. The Greeks would seek prophecies usually when they had doubts about something, or if they were afraid or in despair. When the gods made a prophecy, the Greeks put all their faith in it and believed that it would happen. When their prophecies did come true, was it really fate that

Many may tell themselves, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul”, William Ernest Henley’s, Invictus. Individuals often believe life is independent of outside forces; one does not often ponder whether situations that introduce decisions or experiences are controlled by fate and the gods. In Virgil’s The Aeneid, he introduces the notion that we are all subject to the workings of fate regardless of our will or desire; this is shown through the tragic romance between Aeneas, a Trojan, and Dido, the queen of Carthage. Their love and lives are a combination of free will, fate, and the work of the gods. We are all brought into the world without choice, thus lack the will to change our destiny from birth. In the end, however it

The concept of fate and the influence of gods on mortals’ lives are prominent aspects of Greek mythology. While the gods of Olympus are commonly presented as the primary manipulators of human lives, the Fates are the true creators of destiny. Gods may be able to affect human lives in monumental ways, but predetermined destiny and the Fates’ intentions ultimately reign. The gods have respect for this authority, as well, as they’re aware that a limit on their ability to intervene is necessary to maintain the order of the universe. This leaves one to question the amount of knowledge that the gods themselves have of fate, and whether they have their own free will to refrain from intervening or if they truly must submit to the authority of the Fates and their plans. The gods do have some knowledge of the Fates’ plan, but they are also wise enough to avoid too much interference and therefore don’t necessarily need to be commanded; they sometimes help guide mortals by sending them messages and symbols—and sometimes even influencing them for their own advantage—but ultimate fate cannot be avoided.

You glossed over some good points, for example the idea of fate and God being similar, I agree with you that they are but I found "Fate will unwind as it must" (455). Meaning fate will happen, not much you can do to change it, if your fate is to be eaten by the dragon, than it shall happen. Fate is knows for being a Christian trait, meaning that God knows there is a beginning, middle and an end. My understanding of the word Wyrd, is fate or personal destiny, showing that God is in control of our destiny in Christianity and in pagan meaning, I wonder with many pagan ideas symbols and stories may have been adapted to or for Christianity to help with the conversion of pagan people to Christianity, what do you think? You also present that