Heaney: Undaunted Courage And Fate In Beowulf

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Register to read the introduction… He was marked by honesty, courage, and trust. “Often, for undaunted courage, fate spares the man it has not already marked” (Heaney 39). This quote from the poem definitely refers directly to Beowulf. Beowulf continues to surprise the readers with this “undaunted courage” described in the poem. His courage caused fate to spare him. There were so many circumstances in which it would have been easy for Beowulf to die. He was put in situations where the reader’s teeth start gritting because of the brutality of the scene, but there was just something about Beowulf that wouldn’t let him die. For example, when Beowulf had his encounter with Grendel, due to previous descriptions of Grendel’s nature, it seemed almost certain that Beowulf had no chance of survival. Maybe, just like in the previous quote, it was fate that didn’t let him die. Whatever it was, it allowed Beowulf to come out of duels and battles victorious, and kept him marching

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