Essay On Good And Evil In Queen Wealtheowulf

Queen Wealtheow portrays the opposite side of that same coin, as she is anything but animalistic in nature, although she still has very little dialogue in the text. The first time readers actually hear her speak is when she bids Beowulf to “enjoy this drink, most generous lord / raise up your goblet” (1168-9). She functions only as a companion to her husband, King Hrothgar, and to present goblets of mead to important guests. Her distance from the events and main plot lends to her air of royalty and gives her character the feel of a fairy godmother--aloof and removed, but with everyone’s well-being at heart. In this way she is different from Grendel’s mother; Wealtheow is a warm, benevolent presence whereas Grendel’s mother is evil and cruel, but both are unrepresented in the dialogue of the story. The way these characters’ personal traits are viewed by others also influences the reader’s perception of them. Grendel’s mother is “sullen … pitiful, foul” and is virtually unknown to anyone but her son (Gardner 55). In Beowulf, Hrothgar recounts how country folk have legends of her and Grendel and is disgusted by both, referring to them as monsters. Grendel’s mother’s internal qualities must qualify her as the archetype of a monster because her bloodline is descended from Cain. Cain committed the first act of murder against his own brother, and “moved into the wilds / shunned company …show more content…
The narrator of Beowulf describes her as “queenly and dignified”, conveying a sense of regal loftiness and grace. Characters value and revere her as an authority figure without knowing exactly why… ADD textual support! This is evidence of how compelling beauty and grace are, and it forms a perception of her to counter that of Grendel’s mother. Again, the two characters are like yin and yang; one represents good and the other evil, but those concepts are conveyed with the same