The Insignificance of Women

Within the first 1000 lines of Beowulf a strong emphasis is placed on the role of men while women are neglected and held to little value. Throughout this text, men are consistently portrayed as the characters who bring all sustainability to a community. They're described as the protectors, the food gatherers, and represent complete authority in the kingdom. The lack of attention the women receive is evident when all male characters are introduced and all their relations, yet Beowulf's mother, whom is part of the royal family, receives no name or introduction either then merely just being Beowulf's mother. The first real depiction of a woman is through Hrothgar's wife. 

Following the arrival of Beowulf, a huge feast is held in his honor. It's said that, "Queen wasn't present. Situation much too touchy" (140). This insinuates that certain conversations women were unsuitable to be a part of, or that important matters were not to be discussed in front of women. Upon her summoning into the large feast gathered for Beowulf, she was expected to treat the men by, "going on her rounds...offering the goblet to all ranks, treating the household" (620-624). Her purpose for entering the room was solely to please the men. She wasn't given a seat at the table but expected to offer each and every one of the men in the room a drink. Her entrance into the room was not something that she could decide on her own but she needed permission to enter as seen in Grendel's excerpt when it desribes her as, "listening behind her door" (143). 

Once the feast is finished it is stated that, "Hrothgar left mead-hall to lie with Wealhtheow, his queen and bedmate" (663-664). Wealhtheow is degraded to the point of being described as a "bedmate" insinuating her purpose is to please the king in the evening and provide him with a mechanism to bear his children. This is further reinforced in the Grendel excerpt when upon Beowulf's victory Hrothgar tells Beowulf that he is like a son to him. On the other side of things, "The queen's smile was distant...You already have more sons than you need, the queen laughed lightily. Hrothgar laughed too although he didn't seem to get it" (144). This seems to point towards the queen feeling exhausted from having to bear sons to her husband. She seems unhappy that Hrothgar is unsatisfied with what she has provided him with. 

Woman are consistently deemed throughout the beginning of Beowulf as insignificant and inferior to men, primarily there to provide men with the satisfaction they desire and to follow their orders.






Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 7, 2017 at 8:22 PM

    I like that you said "...yet Beowulf's mother, whom is part of the royal family, receives no name or introduction either then merely just being Beowulf's mother." This ties in really well to the discussion we had on Wednesday. I thought seeing the lineage drawn out in class was really shocking because, as you said, Beowulf's maternal side of the family is the reason he is of any importance. While on his paternal side, Beowulf is linked to a murderous crime. It is interesting that he would still choose to identify with his father. It shows the importance of the male figure over the female in this epic.

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    1. Paige ShrevesSeptember 7, 2017 at 9:05 PM

      I also agree that it is backwards that Beowulf's mother is neglected to be mentioned as more than just his mother. I feel that the only value they put to her as a character is that she gave birth to Beowulf. This is twisted because he would not be royalty if it was not for her. Finally, I noticed that after Beowulf defeated Grendel, it was mentioned that Beowulf's mother would be so proud because she gave birth to a warrior son. I interpreted this as the culture saying the mother should only find value or worth in herself through the achievements of her son.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 9, 2017 at 2:22 PM

    When you talk about the male characters are introduced by their lineage and the female characters are like Beowulf's mother, I completely agree how it devalues them. Also with the character Grendel's mother, I think by not naming her objectifies her and takes power away from her actions/ role in the story.

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