Women's Role In Beowulf

The role of women has been a controversial issue for many centuries. The idea of women being equal to a man, was never considered until the women’s rights movements of 1848. Since then women have gained the right to vote, and are able to work jobs just like a man, but in many ways women are still viewed as the subservient submissive housewife, as they once were in anglo saxon times. Anglo-saxon women were assumed to withhold specific roles in their society, such as peaceweaver, hostess, and as seen in Beowulf especially, monster. Although the anglo-saxon period was predominantly a patriarchal society, women did however play very significant roles, as seen in Beowulf.

A key role of a woman's status is seen in Wealhtheow, as her position is a cupbearer, and hostess. A cupbearer is a woman who passes cups of mead or beer around to the men as they frolic and rejoice in merriment after winning a battle. When the Geats and Hrothgar rejoice with a feast it is then that we see the prominent role of Wealhtheow, “then Wealhtheow,...greeted the warriors; a noble woman who knew what was right...raised a flowing cup to Hrothgar first… then Wealhtheow went from warrior to warrior pouring a portion from the jeweled cup for each…,” (pg.28-29), the reader can see here the role of a cupbearer as she first passes the cup to King Hrothgar …show more content…
Grendel’s mother is a monstrous savage who seeks vengeance upon those who killed her son. Unlike her son however, who solely looks to kill out of pure hatred, Grendel’s mother’s key motivation for being a monster, is the love she has for her son. Although Grendel’s mother is certainly not a peaceweaver or a cupbearer, her role in the poem of Beowulf highlights her uniqueness of how she stands apart from the average woman during this time