Female Characters In Beowulf

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I disagree with the given statement that the female characters only play minor roles in the poem Beowulf. The poems main themes revolve around loyalty , bravery and revenge and heroism. it does appear to be crammed full of male characters from the very start but it is obvious that the female characters that are mentioned, though sometimes infrequently, do play important roles and one would find them to be important to the plot of this poem.This poem is governed by the male characters , Beowulf, Hrothgar and Grendel for example. they all show the main traits as listed and prove that it is a male dominated poem yt the women's participation in certain aspects of the poem prove to be important and show the different roles that the female characters …show more content…
Wealhtheow and hygd are both queens, wealhtheow is married to Hrothgar and is queen of the danes, Hygd is married to King Hygelac and is queen of Geatland. Hildeburh was a Danish princess that was married off to the Frisians and Grendel's mother was a monster who killed numerous people in revenge of her sons death. I believe that the female characters fall into three categories in this poem, the monster, the peaceweaver and the hostess. Wealhtheow and Hygd both assume the roles of hostesses, they welcome people into the hall and make sure that everything is merry and is running smoothly. the hostesses show the social customs of the lands they inhabit and they proceed to show the status of the men that dine with the King. Wealhtheow reinforces the social status of the men in the hall by passing around a cup filled with mead. She would first had it to her husband as he is the king and the most important member of the gathering. She offers the cup around to the men showing who is of the highest ranking ad who is of the most importance in the eyes of the Queen and the KIng. In Beowulf's first feast with them he gets served last as he is new to this group and is not of much value or importance in this first meeting. in the second feast, after slaying Grendel he is severed second directly after the king which shows that he has earned his place among the
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