Beowulf is a story of the early Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons were a pagan people for generations. However, after arriving in England they began to convert to Christianity. But aspects from their pagan beliefs, such as the role of fate, remained. Fate was seen when bad things happen or when the future was uncertain, but good things and successful battles were mostly credited to God. Ultimately, God’s plan was more evident in Beowulf because the Anglo-Saxon people looked to him for guidance and praised him when they succeeded. Fate was only a scapegoat when things went wrong.
The Anglo-Saxon culture was shown in the different appearances of fate and God’s plan during the journey of Beowulf. As transitioning Christians, the Anglo-Saxon people were still adjusting to their new beliefs. During this transition, aspects of their former culture were seen, such as the appearance of fate amid God’s plan. Although Beowulf is a work of fiction, it is also an epic poem. Therefore, its story represented the culture and history of its characters, the Anglo-Saxons. Epic poems were stories of heroes and legends that were written during or near the time period in which their characters lived.
They were meant to share the culture and history of the people with future generations and others around the world. Because of this, Beowulf is an accurate account of the culture, including the religion, of the AngloSaxons in the sixth century, the time period in which Beowulf takes place. Historically, Beowulf takes place sometime after the Anglo-Saxon people traveled from Germany to England and settled there. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in A. D. 449, “then came the men from three powers of Germany; the Old Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes” (48).
Once the Anglo-Saxons arrived in England, they began to be influenced by the missionaries of the Romans, who were “joy[ful] that the souls of the [Anglo-Saxons were] being drawn through outward miracles to inward grace” (Bede 93). Therefore, Beowulf was written during the conversion and transition of the Anglo-Saxons from paganism to Christianity, as they “renounced idolatry, and professed [their] acceptance of the Faith of Christ” (Bede 130). Not only is Beowulf significant to the history of the AngloSaxons, the historical context of Beowulf is significant to the story itself.
The distinct presence of both fate and God’s plan in the culture of the Anglo-Saxons characterize the story of Beowulf. The intertwinement of these concepts stems from the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity after their arrival in England. In Germany, the Anglo-Saxons were predominantly a pagan culture. Their pagan customs included idols, sacrifices, festivals, and a reliance on one’s fate. Fate is one’s destiny, a life path determined by external factors. Fate is described as the “shadow of despair” (Mayr-Harting 237) and “the powers of darkness” (Mayr-Harting 239).
In Anglo-Saxon culture, fate often meant one’s death or some other negative event. Although good things were also part of one’s fate, a person’s fate rested in their death. Contrarily, Christians rely on God’s divine providence to have a plan for their life. As Jeremiah 29:11 says, “”For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (New International Version). Christians trust in God’s plan for their life and his divine outcomes. A person’s birth, death, and achievements are all part of God’s plan for their life.
As the Anglo-Saxons slowly converted to Christianity, they began to rely on God’s plan as well. However, as a transitioning people whose past culture was transforming into a new culture based on new principles, aspects of paganism, specifically fate, were present in Anglo-Saxon culture after their conversion. As MayrHarting says, “It would be the crudest mistake, then, to imagine that pagan religion was… to be cast off at the first moment that the Anglo-Saxons were presented with a real religion… The old religious instincts died hard” (29). A group of people cannot bandon part of their culture in an instant, and even over time, pieces of that former culture remain. Bede, a historian and an Anglo-Saxon, says this as well in his history of the English church, saying, “it is certainly impossible to eradicate all errors from obstinate minds at one stroke” (Bede 92). Aspects of paganism remained in the Anglo-Saxons’ culture because paganism wasn’t going to be erased all at once. Thus, after their culture underwent major changes because of their major belief change, the Anglo-Saxons still relied on fate to explain some things but depended on God to explain others.
The AngloSaxons in Beowulf provide a great example of this concept. Both fate and God’s plan are present in the story of Beowulf because of the Anglo-Saxons’ religious transformation from paganism to Christianity. Throughout the epic poem, the Anglo-Saxons refer to God’s plan when good things happen, such as a victory, but refer to fate when bad things happen, such as a death. In Beowulf’s first battle with a monster called the Grendel, he acknowledges God’s hand in the battle’s success, but also fate’s role in the deaths of the men who were killed.
The narrator says that Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, is “mourning the fate of his lost friends and companions” (Beowulf 130-131). When Hrothgar loses several of his subjects and his friends, the deaths are blamed on fate and God’s plan seems to have no part in the event. The Anglo-Saxon people don’t want their new God to have done something bad or allowed something difficult to happen, so they use fate to explain unfortunate events. As an emerging culture, fate and God’s plan are intertwined among events that take place.
For example, when Beowulf is preparing to find the Grendel, he is “firm with our Lord’s high favor and his own courage and strength” (Beowulf 669-670). God’s hand is in Beowulf’s fight with the Grendel as he protects him from harm and allows him to conquer the monster that had been tormenting the Danes. As Hrothgar gives Beowulf his gifts, the narrator acknowledges that “the monster would have murdered again and again had not God, and the hero’s courage, turned fate aside” (Beowulf 1055-1057). In the end, the Danes know that God has altered their fate and saved them from the Grendel.
In Beowulf, God’s plan seems to determine fate. The Christianity of the Anglo-Saxons has been skewed to incorporate both fate and God’s plan in a way that still places all authority in God’s plan. Beowulf’s other battles also reflect this intertwinement of fate and God’s plan, of paganism and Christianity. For example, in Beowulf’s battle with the Grendel’s mother, she almost kills him, and although his fate is unclear at times, Beowulf knows that it is God who brings him through his ordeal. The narrator ominously notes that the “Savage fate decreed for them hung dark and unknown” (Beowulf 1233-1234).
When the fates of Beowulf’s people are uncertain, they turn to fate to help them understand the future. As Beowulf fights the Grendel’s mother in her lair, “she drew a dagger, brown with dried blood, and prepared to avenge her only son” (Beowulf 1545-1547). Beowulf almost loses his life at the hands of the grieving mother but is successful through God’s assistance. Beowulf says that he’d “have been dead at once, and the fight finished, the she-devil victorious, if our Father in Heaven had not helped me” (Beowulf 1656-1658).
Beowulf recognizes God’s influence in the outcome of his fight and his triumph: his success with the monster is not through fate, but the result of God’s sovereign plan for Beowulf. This further shows that although the Anglo-Saxons were converted Christians, aspects of paganism remained in their religion, even though Christianity was dominant. In his battle with the dragon, the narrator hints that fate is against Beowulf and that he will mostly likely die. Even as he is dying, Beowulf thanks God for allowing him to accomplish so much in his life and for protecting him in his quests.
When Beowulf faces what is quite possibly his greatest trial yet, the narrator says “fate sent him to the dragon and sent him death” (Beowulf 2400). When Beowulf comes face to face with his demise, it is fate that is against him, determining the bad things that will happen to him. However, when he is dying and “he’d unwound his string of days on earth, seen as much as God would grant him” (Beowulf 2724-2726), God is in control of how long Beowulf had lived and what he had accomplished in life.
Beowulf says that he “can leave this life happy” (Beowulf 2739-2740) because he is content that he has fulfilled God’s plan and can die knowing he has lived a successful live with many triumphs. As Beowulf was dying, he determined that God planned his fate and his life. Throughout the story, Beowulf and his people relied on fate and God’s plan. The confusion of these similar but contradictory ideas stemmed from the conversion of Anglo-Saxons from paganism to Christianity.
As pagans, fate determined every event that took place, from rainfall to deaths to harvests. As Christians, their focus was God’s plan, but fate played a role as well: fate was often blamed when things went wrong. The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons led to a confusion of cultures in which aspects of paganism remained throughout their Christian culture. Because of their transition, fate and God’s plan contributed to different events in Beowulf, even though their new religion reigned victorious because the Anglo-Saxons placed ultimate authority in God’s plan.
