Essay On Shakespeare 's ' Beowulf '

Wealhtheow is the main example of welcoming nature, and the author focuses specifically on how excellent she is at it. She goes to the main chamber in Heorot and greets Beowulf and his men, offering each of them a drink from a goblet. The author calls her “gracious”, “queenly”, and “dignified”, marking her as an excellent woman. She is also the benefactress of Beowulf’s Formal Boast, as the author makes sure to include that this “pleased the lady well, and she went to sit with Hrothgar, regal and arrayed with gold”. It is obvious that Beowulf cared about Wealhtheow’s approval enough to make a short speech to reassure her, almost as a token of gratitude to her and her husband for their kindness and acceptance of him and his men, which shows that hospitality was not just an expected feminine trait, but a highly prized one.

A further example of Wealctheow being treated as a sexual object is right before Beowulf fights Grendel. If Beowulf kills Grendel, then Hrothgar will reward him with prizes. Hrothgar says to Beowulf, “If you destroy my Grendel for me, she’ll be yours forever and ever and ever.” The king is going to reward the hero with his precious horn and his precious queen. Wealctheow is clearly treated as an item in this situation. Later when Hrothgar commits suicide, the queen is passed on to Beowulf. She goes from king to king like an object. Wealctheow would be nothing without a king. As she gets passed along, the queen becomes a pawn and becomes more and more detached. Her resistance dies down as she is passed from king to king. When Beowulf is king, she acts very gloomy the younger woman tells Weachtheow, “What happened to us? Too many secrets.” Also, Weachtheor’s expression and tone of voice is very disconnected. Her resistance to Hrothgar ends up being useless because she still doesn’t gain equality at the end of the movie. The queen looses power because she isolates herself from the king and society.

1) Describe how we find King Hrothgar and his response to learning that Beowulf has come to his kingdom.

Within the pages of the well-known epic poem are many extraordinary and warring narratives of the Middle Ages. Beowulf is important because it is one of the most ancient European epics written in the vernacular, or native tongue. The seemingly super natural heroes of this exciting and famous writing have a great impact on the typical roles of their women. As declared through out the many lines of the astonishing poem, the women have many purposes and serve a variety of roles. Wealhtheow, Hygd, Hildeburh, Freawaru, and Grendel’s Mother give examples of the historical roles that are expected of the women of this ancient time. The women in “Beowulf” have the significant roles of hostess, peaceweaver, and mother.

Beowulf and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” are both narratives in which gender acts as an important theme within their individual communities; yet they use different tools to define the roles of men and women within a good community. Or, in other words, both stories paint a vivid picture of the role of women, by suggesting that one gender had more power over the other. However, these two narratives vary in their expression of such views; Beowulf conveys its message through what is missing, while “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” incorporates satire and uses explicit narrative when relaying the experience of a woman that is highly different from that of other women of her time. Furthermore, another difference that is apparent to the reader is that men become the heroes in Beowulf, while “the wife” becomes

She does not want her husband to give up the throne to Beowulf, but instead to give it to her nephew who can hold the throne until her son can rule. Queen Wealhtheow in these two occasions shows the expected roles of women in a epic as well as the non-expected behavior of a woman during this period.

Wealhtheow shimmers like gold as not only a queen, but as a woman in Beowulf. Women are set up to have one purpose in the epic poem— they are “balm[s] in bed” to war heroes (line 63). In this quote, a woman’s only duty includes pleasing a man in bed. Is this the only way a woman, or queen, can serve her husband? Beowulf is a man’s tale, but a strong feminine influence, like Wealhtheow, is necessary for a man of esteemed stature who belongs to the chaotic culture of Heorot.

During the celebration of Grendel’s death, Wealhtheow addresses her speech to Hrothgar and then to Beowulf. It can be said that she has some influence on Hrothgar’s decisions. She proves she is such a great hostess, showing her generosity and kindness through her presents. Because she urges Hrothgar to accept the presents she has given to him.

As sophisticated women of the Anglo-Saxon time in the epic poem of Beowulf, the women have three major roles to fulfill: servant, peace weaver, and a mother. To be a servant can mean many things. Many women of this time were servants to their families and husbands. The biggest role that women like Queen Wealhtheow play is servants in the mead-hall.

Boats are used in a subtle metaphor for women and sexuality in Beowulf. The boats Beowulf sails upon are described with surprisingly sensual language that stands out from the rest of the poem’s descriptions. The author writes of the “foam at her neck”, “her curved prow”, and his intention to “ply the waves”, all of which seem sensually coded. It is a small detail that boats, graceful and powerful objects, use female pronouns in Beowulf, but it is interesting. Using feminine pronouns mixed with vague sensuality shows some admiration and appreciation of female sexuality. There are more explicit parts of the poem that could have had some sensual detailing, but instead, those moments are coyly and respectfully handled. This shows us that women

My serpent messenger slithers silently down the corridor of my lair hidden under the waves. I sensed a sort of apprehension within his soul.

It is obvious that Beowulf is centered around men through its prowess, valor, and violence. But the women in Beowulf, Wealhtheow, Hygd, Hildeburh, and Grendel’s mother, filled the places that the men in the story couldn’t fill. For example, Queen Wealhtheow fills the role of the peace maker. She uses words of encouragement and gifts to successfully fill her role. The women in Beowulf gave the perspective of the humanity of

The narrator later revealed the backstory of Modthryth to show the comparison between Queen Hygd and her. Here the qualities of a good queen were presented to set up the reader’s expectation on what to look for when a new female role was presented. A good queen as described by the narrator, was selfless, pure, generous, kind and devoted to her king and country. Both Hygd and Wealtheow fit those descriptions. Hygd had “her mind…thoughtful and her manners sure. [She] behaved generously and stinted nothing when she distributed bounty to the Geats.” (1928-1931). At the celebration feast given to Beowulf for slaying Grendel and the beast’s mother, Wealtheow “herself appeared, peace-pledged between nation, to

      Are women in this poem active equals of the men? Or are they passive victims of the men? The role of the women in Beowulf is not a stereotyped one of passive homemaker, but rather one having freedom of choice, range of activity, and room for personal growth and development, such as is reflected in Anglo-Saxon England of the time.

According to Michael J. Enright, because of this she is seen as “an extension of and a support of his kingly power”[3].  Then, she passes it to the rest of the knights, and finally to Beowulf. He promises to get rid of Grendel, and Wealhtheow, pleased with his words, returns to her seat. He is the last man to receive the cup because he is a newcomer, a foreigner that just arrived to Heorot. Because of this, Hrothgar needs to show his power, by receiving the goblet first, in the presence of the stranger Beowulf. This act makes Beowulf aware of who is the master of the place. When Wealhtheow offers the cup to the king first, as usual, and right after that to Beowulf. Since he kept his promise and killed Grendel, he has risen in status now. He has the honour to receive the mead cup right after the king, in representation of his newly earned status. The other hostess-queen is the young and beautiful Hygd, king Hygelac’s wife., she is contrasted in the poem with the legendary queen Modthryth and her innate cruelty and wickedness; because of her gentleness and kindness