Essay On Sexuality In Beowulf

Since the early days of writing and even spoken word, stories often tell of the time in which they were first told, even if that story may be about dragons, mythical kings, or even magical beings. We learn from these stories and the insight they have to offer us in modern day education and observation. We learn how things operated, how people were treated, the views on religion, and sexuality, and in this particular case, women’s sexuality.
It is no surprise that in history women are more than likely treated to be treated as second-class beings and seen as less. Women often had no say and little rights to their names or their gender. So it can be perplexing when there are two definite portrayals of women in writing from the around 800 AD all the way up to the early 13th …show more content…
There are not many women in the story one can use to learn from or to gather a great standing point on what is and what isn’t. Though from what little is said (or isn’t) in Beowulf about women it is easy to say they are not a main focal point or of much importance in society or in writing. Sexuality in general isn’t much of a topic or even a glimmering concept either but we learn from that as well. There are three main women who play integral roles throughout the story: Wealtheow, Grendel’s mother, and Hidleburh. The roles of these women are best described as either bring peace, entertain, or to cause chaos and upon closer examination they are not all confined to the usual constraints or portrayal of their time. One is simply a tool to aid in the peace among men as a gift and the other is simply a wife and possibly another “gift” to settle disagreements and make peace. Perhaps the most sexual thing pertaining to women is when Onela’s queen was described as “a balm in bed to the battle scarred Swede” (lines