Women In Beowulf Research Paper

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Thomas Casillas III 11/12/14 Per.1 The Women in Beowulf Beowulf is an epic poem that was written over twelve hundred years ago. In the poem, several different women characters are introduced, and each have their own detailed and unique characteristics. The women in Beowulf are portrayed as head high, strong individuals, with each having their own specific role in the poem. Some woman are cup-bearers and hostesses of the mead hall, such as Wealtheow and Hygod, while other woman, like Grendel’s mom have the role of monstrous characteristics .The women’s role of the time period, and social expectations for women are shown throughout the poem. Welhtheow is Hrothgar’s queen and the mother of his two sons. She shows the role of a traditional Anglo-Saxon woman in this time period. When we first see Welhtheow she is quickly goes into her role as being a kind greeter and a mead server, “Haerreth’s daughter moved through the spacious building with mead-cups, cared for people, carried flagons of drinks to the hands of the Haethnas”. This shows what she does in the mead hall and her duties. Also, she offers Hrothgar a cup of mead, first, making it clear that she is the most powerful person in the mead hall. The role of being a mead server is an unimportant “job”, but it actually establishes hierarchy in the hall. Secondly, we have Grendel’s mom.…show more content…
She was guilty of many crimes, killing anyone that walked into her hall, and putting many innocent people into jail for no real reason. The main difference between Grendel’s mom and Thyrth is that, Grendel’s mother is not human, but Thyrth is human. Because she is a princess she has social status among the people and the society also, “famous for virtue, while living made good use of the life destined for her, maintained a profound love for the chief of heroes”(1951-1954). As for Grendel, she prefers to stay in her cave away from civilization, better yet, to isolate herself from
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