“Man as a creative artist making his soul”: G. K. Chesterton’s Defence of Free Will as Presented in His “The Man with Two Beards” and Other Writings

Abstract

The article aims to present, on the basis of G. K. Chesterton’s selected writings, how significant, if not crucial, the issue of free will is in his thought. References to free will in the writer’s non-fictional works, including, for instance, his Autobiography and Everlasting Man, form the background for a more detailed analysis of the issue under discussion in one of Chesterton’s Father Brown stories, “The Man with Two Beards.” For Chesterton, man’s free will prevents them from being paralysed and enchained, guaranteeing, for instance, the culprit’s potential to become reformed. The writer’s article “The Mediaeval Villain,” with its reflection on mediaeval mentality in the context of approaching villainy/human wickedness and free will, proves to be especially noteworthy when reading it along with the short story mentioned above. Mentions of other selected Father Brown stories featuring motifs relevant to the discussed topic also appear.