Day 2

Beowulf Lesson Plan

Discussion of Thought Questions

  1. 1

    How does the line, “Fate saves / the living when they drive away death by themselves!” complicate Beowulf's understanding of Fate as discussed in the last section (lines 572-3)?

    Here, Beowulf acknowledges that he has more agency in the outcomes of his actions than it seemed initially. He argues that Fate may preordain several outcomes based on the actions that a person takes themselves. There is a greater sense of responsibility and accountability in this view than in the simpler view (that fate determines everything that will happen) that we discussed in the previous section.

  2. 2

    Why does the poem include the story of Finn?

    Ask a student to summarize the story...

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