Masculinity In Beowulf And The Wanderer

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Merriam-Webster defines exile as the state or a period of forced or voluntary absence from one’s country or home. Both the Wife in “The Wife’s Lament” and the narrator of “The Wanderer” have their own form of exile that results in inner conflict. The Wife suffers from the estrangement from her husband, and she constantly mourns for happier times. The Wife despises the fact that women must be serious, strong, and well-held together for their family and husband and never show a frowning face. Both of these elegies are based on loss, sorrow, and grief. The Wife goes on an emotional and physical exile as her “husband's kinsmen plotted secretly/How they might separate us from each other/That we might live in wretchedness apart” (lines 9-13). The …show more content…

The ideas of masculinity in “Beowulf” are focused around loyalty. This is shown through the numerous nights that the warriors kept watch over the kingdom to protect the king and their people. A warrior’s code was the strict duty of working and being willing to die an honorable death to defend Hrothgar’s kingdom. Beowulf is seen to have all the heroic traits from bravery, inhuman strength, intelligence, and trust. He gained the people’s honor by traveling from another country just to slay their monster. During the fight with Grendel, it was stated that there was no “power or person on earth/capable of wrecking their horn-rigged hall/unless the burning embrace of a fire/engulf it in flame”(778-781), but yet Beowulf practically destroyed the …show more content…

Grendel’s Mother is a female antagonist with the sole purpose of taking revenge on Beowulf for killing her son. She is a single mother with no man or any supporter in her life. She is the opposite of every theme of a woman of her time. Grendel’s Mother is shown as a severe threat and challenge to Beowulf since he had never fought a woman, let alone, an angry spiteful mother. Women of the time in this area were seen as food gatherers, caretakers, and cooks. The fact the Grendel’s mother goes against these ideas shows how she has to be both the masculine and feminine figure for her

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