Women, Mead, and Peace

The frequency of women ebbs and flows throughout the text. The few instances of women typically involve them distributing alcohol to guests or trying to keep the peace between rival groups. Hygd’s hospitality towards guests exemplifies the expectations of society regarding women’s role: “Haereth’s daughter moved about with the mead-jug in her hand, taking care of the company, filling the cups that warriors held out” (1980-2). She conforms to societal norms by attending to everyone else’s needs. Hygd focuses her attention on others, including guests and her children, before thinking of herself. Her behavior reflects the belief that women should center their attention on the home. These tasks range from caring for guests to raising children. Also, the author refers to Hygd as “Haereth’s daughter” instead of using her name. This exclusion reinforces Hygd’s position as a background figure and the importance of ancestry and lineage to the characters. On the other hand, the author depicts women who go against these societal norms, such as Grendel’s mother and Modthryth, as evil and unladylike. Based on these differences, society expects women to act as a hospitality force to create an inviting atmosphere for men. In both cases, the text portrays women as “background noise” in comparison to the heroic acts of men like Beowulf.

Besides hospitality, the author presents the duty of women as peacekeepers and in betweens among the rival groups. The marriage of Hrothgar’s daughter, Freawaru, arises out of a desire to keep the peace, not simply because Freawaru loved Ingeld. The author describes the characters’ high hopes for the marriage: “The friend of the Shieldings favours her betrothal: the guardian of the kingdom sees good in it and hopes this woman will heal old wounds and grievous feuds” (2025-8). The reaction to the marriage revolves around peace, not the happiness of the couple. These marriages put major pressure on women to keep the peace and present themselves as cool, calm, and collected even in the face of difficult circumstances. People collectively must work together to reach their common goals, not simply rely on women marrying men from rival groups and nations to spark the change.

Comments

  1. Chelsea MannSeptember 22, 2017 at 8:16 AM

    I think that both of these points are very strong and help show how the stereotypes of women have been formed. As we see in Beowulf, in today's society the woman of the house is usually the one who is responsible for taking care of guests by cooking, cleaning, etc. Very rarely do we see men take on such tasks because stories like Beowulf have composed this idea that men shouldn't have to do these things. Another point on marriage that I noticed was that in Beowulf, the woman was always given away by the father, this idea relates to the idea of men today asking fathers for their daughter's hand in marriage. Both show that women are not in charge of themselves and need a man to help guide them to the right choice, even including who they spend the rest of their life with.

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  2. Raquel GorresSeptember 25, 2017 at 9:23 PM

    I love how you tied in the societal norms of the time, saying that it was the women’s “duty” to serve the men, or that they should focus their attention on the men and the household. It brings in the aspect of how the women are portrayed in other scenarios and how they act in the poem, instead of just how they are described in relation to their looks or what they’re like behind closed doors. I also agree with how you brought the idea of the “peacekeeper” forth, and compared the different groups of women; those who were, and those who weren’t. I love how you talked about women were thought of as having to be this peacekeeper, and if they weren’t, they were looked down upon, changed, or exiled.

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