Gender Roles In Beowulf

710 Words2 Pages

Gender Roles
In the article, “The Women of Beowulf: Power and Duty in Anglo-Saxon Society”
Robert Harris states, “It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals. We should stop defining each other by what we are not, and start defining ourselves by who we are.” Throughout history, men and women have been given certain standards on how they should act and behave on a day to day basis. However, in the epic Beowulf, there are many examples of gender roles exposed through certain jobs, activities and everyday task. Beowulf features numerous gender roles which can date back to the Anglo-Saxon society in the Dark Ages justifying that men and women are dissimilar as well as unequal. To begin with, gender …show more content…

As a peace-weaver, the woman is responsible for joining tribes as well as maintaining solid relations between groups. In the epic, Hildeburh, the Danish princess, is said to be the strongest representation of a peace-weaver. She was married off to the King of Jutes as a gift from the Danes to the Jutes in a desire to bring peace between the countries as well as establish an alliance. Throughout the epic, Hildeburh acts as though she is departed from the male dominated activities and relationships, fulfilling her duty as a peaceweaver by maintaining loyalties with her homeland and also the land of her …show more content…

Gender roles have had a great impact on society during the Dark Ages as well as pieces of literature such as, Beowulf and continue to make a great deal of impact today. Men and women were individually expected to act and behave in a certain manner causing many misfortunes in society while also influencing much of history, concluding that Beowulf features multiple different gender roles, helping to prove that men and women were unequal during the Anglo-Saxon society in the Dark Ages just as they are

Show More
Related

  • We Have Always Lived In The Castle Gender Roles Essay

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    But even through a gap of almost 1,200 years, we see in We Have Always Lived in the Castle, written in the 1960’s, that the views of women having a say in the community is a minority, and not everyone agrees. Yes, there has been some sort of progress in women’s right, from 800 AD, alike in Beowulf, a person who wants revenge on her son’s death, is considered a hell-bride, but in the mid 1900’s, it would receive a little bit of a less negative reaction. But in both in Beowulf and We Have Always Lived in the Castle men are considered the ruler of them family, well at least until Merricat kills everybody. In my opinion, Merricat’s way of looking the hierarchy of gender, is different of having women in control, that symbolizes that idea that began as a minute topic in the time period of the 1960’s, and has expanded into the situation of women’s role of

    Read More

  • Comparing Gender Roles In The Odyssey And Gilgamesh

    548 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gender plays a role in literature, often reflecting the culture at the time of their creation. In such cases, it is also easy to tell the expectations of men and women in society. Gender roles in the works The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh are similar to which there is an obscure line between the two genders. Although most women are presented as maternal figures in both works, they are mainly seen as tools at the disposal of men.

    Read More

  • Power of Women in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

    1463 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the poems of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight show, women have always had power, yet not as overt a power as wielded by their masculine counterparts. The only dynamic of women’s power that has changed in the later centuries is that the confines and conditions in which women have wielded their power has become more lax, thus yielding to women more freedom in the expression of their power. The structure, imagery, and theme in the excerpts from Beowulf (lines 744-71) and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (lines 2309-30) support the concept of more power in the later centuries, by contrasting the restriction of Wealhtheow and the power she practices in Beowulf with the Lady’s more direct assertion of power in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight five centuries later.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Role of Women in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    Men exemplify heroic qualities in both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, however, women are depicted differently in the two stories. In Beowulf, women are not necessary to the epic, where as in Green Knight, women not only play a vital role in the plot, but they also directly control the situations that arise. Men are acknowledged for their heroic achievement in both stories, while the women's importance in each story differ. However, women are being equally degraded in both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles: Men and Women from the Anglo-Saxon to the Renaissance Era Part 1

    1199 Words  | 3 Pages

    What if women never established rights? The world would not be the place it is today if that was the case. Women are able to do just as much as men are and even more. What if men were treated the same way as women were one thousand years ago? They would have felt just as the women did, hurt because the treatment between men and women was unfair. The fact that men and women were not treated equally was wrong in many ways, but that was the way of life during those times. In the British culture, from the Anglo-Saxon to the Renaissance time period, the men were respected on a higher level than women, and women were to always be subservient to men, which were demonstrated throughout many works of literature.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Grendel

    1759 Words  | 4 Pages

    The fictional world of Grendel has great divides between male and female characters. While the novel is written in a fairly contemporary society, the world that Gardner constructs still follows under the same logic and principle as the ancient writings of Beowulf. The men are overtly masculine and tough, and the women are constructed with extreme passivity; there is marginal middle ground in both worlds. The constructions of how certain genders act are crucial to interrogate in order to understand one’s bias and become cognizant of the variety of gender roles men and women can endorse. The world of Grendel is full of symbols that construct men as violent, sexual creatures and women as passive objects.

    Read More

  • Anglo-Saxon Women: Objects or Individuals?

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anglo-Saxon women are objects who are gifts to generate a fragile peace. Bloody combat between men attempting to earn fame embodies the Anglo-Saxon era. But does history include women? No, in fact, most women in the epic poem Beowulf are unworthy of even a name. Men trap women as objects; those who rebel become infamous monsters in society’s eyes. Because Anglo-Saxon men view women as objects, they are unable to control any aspect of their lives--no matter if she is royalty or the lowest of all mothers.

    Read More

  • Roles of Women in Beowulf

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, the women of “Beowulf” play the key roles of peace weaver, hostess, and contradiction to the standard woman. They host the men, attempt to keep peace, and defy social expectations of the tenth century of what it means to be a woman. Despite the fact that the women are not the main focus of “Beowulf”, they are necessary to the story. Fortunately today, women play all kinds of important and leading roles in literature and in society.

    Read More

  • The Roles of Women in Different Works of Literature

    549 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Beowulf, the role of women is greatly different then that of old Greek literature and epic. Women in Beowulf are presented as peace-makers and they are respected, compared to the Greek view that women are on the same level as spoils of war and livestock; something you own and show as a trophy. Hygd is one of the generous, gracious, and wise woman portrayed in Beowulf. But even the wild, cruel, and ruthless women can be civilized and grow to be good, such as Modthrytho. Once she got married, she changed and became virtuous and kind.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In A Knight's Tale

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    The roles of women was an issue in medieval times and in The Canterbury Tales. In A Knight 's Tale, the women were portrayed as objects. To men they didn 't mean much. Women for them were there to help only when needed and didn 't hold an important role in society. Women were treated differently and had not much of importance.

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Beowulf:The Anglo-saxon Women

    1518 Words  | 4 Pages

    Promp: what does beowulf have to say about women? Specifically, what is a women’s proper role in Beowulf? Consider actual Anglo- Saxon queens

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Beowulf

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    The women characters in Beowulf show that during the time period in which this was written, the roles of women were clearly defined. While, the author's views on women may never be fully revealed, it is made apparent that he believes in male superiority, and disobedient females ought to be suppressed. Like Wealhtheow, females were to exert minimal power and influence, but should always keep the drinks coming.

    Read More

  • Medieval Women Roles

    1848 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women in different societies around the world, during the Middle Ages, experienced different hardships and roles. These hardships and roles helped shape how they were viewed in their society. Some women were treated better and more equal than others. In Rome, Medieval England, and Viking society, women’s legal status, education, marriage and family roles were considered diverse, but also similar. In certain nation’s women have more or less power than women in other nations, but none equal to the power that women have in America today.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Feminism In Beowulf

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    The middle English poem Beowulf also defines the important ways in which the feminist heroine is part of an ancient poetic tradition in the depiction of empowered women in patriarchal society. For instance, the plot of the story revolves around Beowulf’s indoctrination into the court of King Hrothgar, since he has been chosen to destroy to the monster Grendel. However, an unusual break with patriarchal tradition finds Wealhtheow, the wife of King Hrothgar, passing the mead cup to Beowulf as part of this indoctrination. In this ceremony, the tradition of the king passing the mead cup has been disavowed due to the power of the Wealhtheow in the royal court: “Wealhtheow came in,/ Hrothgar’s queen, observing the courtesies./ Adorned in gold, she

    Read More

  • Construction of Feminine Gender Roles in Game of Thrones

    1735 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Tears aren’t a woman’s only weapon. The best one’s between her legs. Learn how to use it.”

    Read More

More about Gender Roles In Beowulf

Open Document