Wealhtheow's Treatment Of Women In Beowulf

Wealhtheow is very honorable, having the respect of their guests and is able to address them directly. She speaks eloquently and scholar-esque as she addresses the hall and it is noted by the acknowledgment from Beowulf. As the cupbearer, she must designate the hierarchy, and at first, she passes on the cup to Beowulf last, as he is a newcomer to the hall. Beowulf is then asked a favor from the court, to defeat Grendel, who has been terrorizing them. After Beowulf agrees to the terms and defeats Grendel in a laborious fight, the queen says, “‘Enjoy this drink, my most generous lord;/ raise up your goblet, entertain the Geats/ duly and gently, discourse with them,/ be open-handed, happy and fond.’”( Lines 1168-1171). This quote shows her own hospitality, offering gifts and dignity to a great soldier and praising him by putting him on a pedestal. The offering of the gifts show that they’re praising the great works of Beowulf the Geat, but Wealhtheow is also speaking with confidence, protecting her own assets from being taken over by praising Beowulf, taking the offer to take Hrothgar’s nephew under his wing, while still being generous enough to bestow a beautiful

Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are both Anglo-Saxon poems that share a male dominated world with few female characters who have supernatural qualities. While the men in both stories have noble qualities, the women are portrayed adversely; they are disregarded even though they play an essential part to the story as either peace-weavers or goaders to exert some sort of power.

Being passed on by oral tradition, Beowulf is an accurate representation of the life of a male in ancient times. Although the story has been altered as it has passed from person to person, the roles of a man are easily preserved over time. In the society in which Beowulf is depicted, men are the focal point of the success of the community, for without the effect of men in the history of these peoples, they would be completely decimated. Beowulf depicts the life of a hero that is larger than life, Beowulf, a man on a grand quest for both gold and glory. Through his countless victories in difficult situations and the numerous defenses of his people, Beowulf's manly nature shines through in his ease of accomplishing these tasks. In addition to

In the book Beowulf, the women played significant roles at this period of time. It was actually a time when women were well respected. Some women were even referred to as a noble lady, like Wealtheow. So, why were the roles of the women in the story of Beowulf important? What did they do and how did they do it? Finally, did they offer an alternate prospective to the poetic story? Yes, all the women in the story of Beowulf, like Wealtheow, Hygd, Hildeburh, and Grendal’s mother had roles that offered an alternate prospective of the story.

In the story of Beowulf it seems that women play roles that do not effect the story in many ways, however when looking back to the original translation we see this is not true and that their roles have been altered and diminished in translation. When we look deeper we see that women played such roles as peace makers, hostess, and even monsters.

In Anglo-Saxon literature, “cup-passing”, or in other words creating peace, is a prevalent female notion. In Beowulf, Wealhtheow is seen as a peaceweaver, a woman who is married to someone of the enemy association in order to help create a

She is seeking peace and utilizing marriage to unite the fighting tribes, which was the way she married King Hrothgar. The image drawn for Wealtheow is of a humble wife who only supports her husband without having an independent role or ideology. This is shown in her simple and confined words in the poem. Also, she is sitting beside King Hrothgar, which minimizes her power and her ability to be independent. Wealhtheow has to praise her husband first before she speaks, which limits her ability to express her thinking.

Most people would state that Beowulf is a very male centered book that has very little female influence or even need but really women play a very important and special role in Beowulf. Women not only are peacekeepers, hosts, and wives or mothers, but gift givers, power establishers, and examples on how to act and for some how not to act. There are two types of women in Beowulf and they are the women who represent how women of the time period were wanted to act and women who represent how not to act in any generation. The women who represent how to properly act in Beowulf are Wealtheow, Hygd, and Freawaru.

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.

In a few literature classics of the Anglo-Saxon period, the absence of the female figure in this society is very noticeable. On various pieces, it is obvious that the portrayal of how a woman was nothing without her lord or husband, and how women merely depended on a male figure to be part of the society or even accept it. Throughout the years, society has been changing for women to what it is today. A woman today does not need a man to be recognized as successful, strong and independent in society. In Beowulf there is evidence of six women in the entire story while, if we count the male figures we can easily figure out the prominence of a patriarchal system. Starting with Grendel’s mother, seeking for revenge on her son’s death, gives an example of a motherly figure fighting for her youngster. Another example relating to the argument are Wealhtheow and Hygd. Wealhtheow and Hygd are both described as this perfectly lady-like of excellent heart girls, whose main job is nothing more than to pass around a cup of mead to the warriors and knights, just basically be hostesses. Meticulously analyzing it is an obvious conclusion that in comparison to the male

Queen Wealhtheow is a mother of two children. She shows the part of a regular Anglo-Saxon woman at the time. When Wealhtheow was aware of the crowd, she quickly falls into her part as a tranquil greeter and a mixed drink server. She hails every one of them talked her peace-words ventured to the blessing throne got to her lord the first beer glass" (612-6). Wealhtheow then continues through the mead hall "offering corridor bliss to old and to youthful with rich fortune mugs" (621-2). At the point when Wealhtheow first practices Beowulf and the Geats, she "bore him a glass with gold-shining hands held it before him benevolently welcomed the Geats ' warleader" (623-5). The author then fortifies that she is an individual from the weaker sexual orientation by coordinating Wealhtheow to her legitimate position behind the lord. At the point when the ruler is not serving beverages or welcome the corridor visitors, she might more often than not be discovered loyally taking after

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.

The Anglo-Saxon ‘s view on women’s role in society in the poem of Beowulf is very different than the role of women in the movie Beowulf. The role of women in the Anglo-Saxon culture is that women are more of a peacemaker or server to the men, not much of a prominent role in society.

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

I am writing a 4-6 paragraph essay on the women in Beowulf and women in the Anglo-Saxon Period. Women in these two time periods were very different. Such as how women were not favored, recognized, known as peace-seeker, and not even able to be apart of some things/ceremonies.