"Beowulf" Blog Post #2

For my second blog post, I would like to address two aspects of the story that interested me. First, I would like to share my thoughts on the first images of woman that I read in this story. The first description of woman in Beowulf is Hrothgar’s wife, Wealhtheow. She basically comes into the scene to serve the men as she is described as dressed in gold jewelry. The next part is that she was impressed by Beowulf boasting and showing off to her. Finally, she is only described with her husband as comforting him by being his“bedmate”. Next, Beowulf’s mother is brought up after he defeats Grendel, the novel states that the mother should be so joyful and proud because she gave birth to her son who is now a hero. From these two parts in the novel I am making a prediction that the role of women in this novel is to be completely obedient to the men. These women are not described as valuing themselves but instead, they derive their value from their sons or husbands. Finally, I would like to explain my view of Beowulf so far in the novel. As I read further, I have gotten the impression that Beowulf is acting like a stereotypical male from this time period. I believe this because he boast and brags everytime he speaks in this novel and he believes because he is strong man that means he can save the whole community of Heorot. First, he comes into this foreign place and announces he can save the whole village, next he brags about how he defeated nine sea monsters. So far my impression of Beowulf is that he is very full of himself. To wrap up, I think the woman are going to portrayed more like objects and the men are going to be described as strong men that always save the day, even when they are not asked to.