Beowulf: The Role Of Women In Anglo-Saxon Women

In Beowulf, there are inferences about women and how they were treated in Anglo-Saxon society. Beowulf is an eponymous text about a Geat warrior who goes to save the Danes from monsters plaguing their lives. The main story may center around Beowulf, but by looking deeper into the text itself there are hints about Anglo-Saxon society. The lack of any documents from the Dark Ages make it difficult to identify key elements of any cultures who existed during that time. Lore passed down from those cultures are the only way to get insight on how they lived and how their social systems functioned. In Anglo-Saxon society, women were treated as lesser beings to men and are barely mentioned in their stories. By looking at Beowulf through a feminist and historical perspective, one can find proof of how women were treated in Anglo-Saxon society because the only female character, Grendel’s mother, was treated like a monster, and Beowulf feared her, as she was a more masculine character.
In Beowulf, there was only one female character who appeared or was mentioned at all in the text. The lack of any other female characters in the story showed how women were viewed in Anglo-Saxon culture. …show more content…
Grendel’s mother played both the stereotypical male and female family roles for her only son, Grendel. When Beowulf fought Grendel’s mother, there were clear signals that he felt inferior compared to her power over him. Beowulf felt “...angry / And desperate… struck with all the strength he had left” (lines 536-538). Feeling overpowered frustrated and angered Beowulf to the point where he was so desperate that he ignored his boast and used a sword to slay her. Beowulf loathed feeling inferior to a female character and out of rage and frustration at himself, he killed her. Beowulf was afraid of being seen as feminine even though he was alone at the bottom of a