Beowulf Women Roles

In early Anglo-Saxon society, the predominate rulers of the time were almost always men and thus the female’s roles were never believed to be as important as a man’s. Through three main female characters in Beowulf we can analyze what they contributed to society in the Anglo-Saxon time period. Also, because the story of Beowulf is mainly centered around male figures, the women in the story portrayed smaller and less important roles. The first woman introduced in the text is Queen Wealhtheow, husband of King Hrothgar. In Beowulf her main role was one many women represented: the hostess. This is exemplified in lines 614-616 when “ Adorned in her gold, she graciously saluted/ the men in hall, then handed the cup/ first to Hrothgar…”. In the
Her name was never spoken but she was characterized as a “monstrous hell-bride” (line 159). Her role was unlike any of the qualities that the other women typically represented. Her vengeance and rage against Beowulf were closer to that of a man than of a women in Anglo-Saxon society at the time. She went against these typical roles of women when she acted as a male warrior and terrorized the mead hall in order to get revenge on Beowulf. As she does not achieve her female responsibilities, she is portrayed as a monster with more male qualities than traditional female qualities of the time in the story. From these three female characters in Beowulf we can make inferences on how men treated women in early Anglo-Saxon society. We can see that men, such as Hrothgar or Beowulf, did not fully respect these women. Men undervalued women such as Wealhtheow and also objectified them. This is shown by Hildeburh’s story because she was married off to another country just to maintain peace for them both. On the other hand, Grendel’s mother does not necessarily fit into these stereotypes as her actions were portrayed with more masculine