Examples Of Free Will In Beowulf

Fate is defined as, “the development of events beyond a person’s control.” Free-will is defined as, “the power of acting without a constraint of fate.” The poet repeatedly implies or states that Fate is prominent in the life of Beowulf. The poem could be argued to be either Fate or Free-will. Free-will is the is more prominent because Beowulf has the choice to fight kill and fight, he chose the reputation he received, and Beowulf played a part in choosing the way he died. These examples could be taken as Free-Will being more prominent in Beowulf’s life rather than Fate. First off, Beowulf has Free-Will prominent in his life because he has the choice to fight and kill, he wasn’t randomly chosen. During the epic poem, Beowulf goes to fight Grendel for the people of the town. Beowulf shows he wanted to fight when he said, “Might think less of me if I let my sword go where my feet were afraid to, if I hid behind some broad linden shield: my hands alone shall fight for me, struggle for life against the monster(Line 170-174)”. Beowulf had the choice to fight Grendel, and because he made that decision he had to fight Grendel’s mother. This has
Free-Will vs. Fate could be argued during this poem. Beowulf went through multiple tasks and problems but got through almost everyone. Beowulf chose how he was going to get through these and the actions he did to get through problems and tasks. Nothing was developing to stop something from happening beyond his control, everything he did was his control and he had the option to choose which path he was going to choose. Free-Will is more prominent when he chose to fight, when he chose the reputation Beowulf received, and the way he chose his death. The poet of Beowulf insists that Fate is more prominent, but Beowulf chose the choices he did, it wasn’t beyond his control. That makes his life more Free-Will rather than