Need for Glory and Fame
In the poem, Beowulf had a rough time accepting the fact that he is going to die later on in his life. This is hard for him to understand because he doesn't want to accept the fact that he will lose one of his battles, which will become fatal. Beowulf then tries to cheat his own death by creating his future based off of fate. By this, he can go around the fact of death and continue with his glory filled life. Fate, in the story, was definately on his side due to the fact that God didn't want Beowulf to die in certain battles yet, thus cheating death more than one time. Beowulf also wanted to have more glory and fame than what he already has to create a warrior-like staus for his name. Cheating his death would allow Beowulf to live a longer life and fight more monsters. Winning more battles would allow his name to be carried throughout history. Finally, Beowulf didn't want to accept his own death by waiting and planning out his own time of death. Planning his own death allowed Beowulf to die with style and create this epic tale of himself.
Quotes:
"Edthego's famous son stared at death,unwilling to leave this world, to exchange it for a dwelling in some distant place-a journey into darkness all men must make." (p. 43, lines 776-779)
" He'd traveled to the bottom of the earth, Edthego's son, and died there, if that shining woven metal had not helped- and Holy God, who sent him victory." (p. 41, lines 627-630)
Quotes:
"Edthego's famous son stared at death,unwilling to leave this world, to exchange it for a dwelling in some distant place-a journey into darkness all men must make." (p. 43, lines 776-779)
" He'd traveled to the bottom of the earth, Edthego's son, and died there, if that shining woven metal had not helped- and Holy God, who sent him victory." (p. 41, lines 627-630)