The Positive Roles Of Women In English Epic Beowulf

As one of the earliest English literary work, Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf is, worth studying badly. Beowulf scholarship has developed rapidly during the modern era. Scholars from different disciplines employing a multitude of critical methodologies have studied Beowulf. Until about 1970, most Anglo-Saxonists assumed that, since men are responsible for public functions like king, warrior, and avenger, and since women held roles viewed as purely private such as hostess, peaceweavers, and ritual mourners, women were passive in the social world depicted in Beowulf. They also assumed that women were therefore marginalized by the poet. After 1970, women in the poem and in Anglo-Saxon society have more often been viewed as active and powerful figures that function on a nearly equal footing with men.Since the epic mainly depicts the heroic saga of the hero Beowulf to eulogize male heroism, the description of women is proportionally small:Among the eleven females in the poem, only the five queens are named and only one of them has direction speech in it. Women's role in poem is usually despised to all appearances. Thus women's importance is minimized. But this paper studies the positive roles of women in Beowulf, and finds out that the result is quite the contrary.At a close examination of women's roles in the poem as hostesses, peaceweavers, counselors, ritual mourners and monsters, it is concluded that women are by no means passive, private and suffering as assumed traditionally, but positive and active. They actually enjoy high status and power:as hostess, woman, especially Wealhtheow or Hygd, not only preserves social order by passing mead cup in the order of one's prestige and power in the royal ritual feast, but also is influential to the warriors by giving treasures to her subordinates to remind them of fulfilling their loyal duty; as peaceweaver, woman is indispensably significant by pledging peace between nations, especially Hilderburh or Freawaru. They are not just passive victims of peaceweaving politics, but very active and important politic figures. Under the circumstance in the society at that time, peaceweaving marriage can be considered as the only feasible way to avoid violence between hostile tribes. The peaceweaving women make their contributions to peace to the last minute; as counselor, woman is wise and farsighted when giving influential political advice, such as succession of the kingdom. Wealhtheow and Hygd are also typical ones. And their advices are heeded and taken, which is proved to be wise; as ritual mourner, woman is strong and enduring. They use words as weapons to incite male warriors to action, and Hilderburh is a good example of it. They are also prescient for foretelling future, for example, the mourning woman at Beowulf's funeral; as monster, woman is challenging, rebellious and heroic. Grendel's mother is a powerful female monster and a loving mother at the same time, which deserves respect. Her action of revenging her son Grendel is even approved and sympathized in the feud society comitatus. She also works as the equivalent of male hero Beowulf both virtually and symbolically. Offa's queen Thryth is also considered the monster type of women, because she executes each man that stared at her with his eyes by day. That means she objects objectification by refusing to be held in the masculine "gaze" psychologically. Through the close study of all the named queens Wealhtheow, Hygd, Hildeburh, Freawaru and Thryth, the female monster Grendel's mother and the other nameless ritual mourners, it is concluded that women is by no means marginal and excluded. Though the heroic epic has often been described as quintessentially masculine traditionally, it is in fact concerned extensively with women whose roles are positive and active.