In both texts, Beowulf and Grendel, the
main purpose of the
Queen's are to serve the courts as
"weavers of peace". In Grendel
however, Queen Wealththeow is described in
much greater detail and
serves a further purpose. The reader gains
insight to a part Grendel
that is not present in Beowulf, his desire for
a human.
It was not unusual for women to be
offered as tokens of peace
within the noble courts. In the novel Grendel,
Wealhtheow's brother,
King of the Helmings, bestowed her to King
Hrothgar to promote peace
amongst the Helmings and Scyldings. "She
had given, her life for those
she loved. So would any simpering, eyelash
batting female in her
court, given the proper setup, the minimal
conditions"(Grendel,
p.102). It is ironic how she promoted peace
from her arrival because
she was an essential part in keeping peace, as
the "weaver of peace"
in the later of both texts. Queen Wealhtheow
however is not the only
woman in the texts that was forsaken to
encourage appeasement amongst
feuding courts. Queen Hygd was offered to
Hygelac under very similar
circumstances as told in Beowulf, and
portrayed the same role in
Hygelac's kingdom. There is reference in both texts
concerning this
tradition, and it is evident to the reader
that this is not an unusual
Anglo-Saxon custom.
Queen Wealhtheow and Queen Hygd served as
excellent role models
for the courts in which they served. They
exemplified the mannerisms
and etiquette of the noble people. Queen
Wealhtheow showed excellent
poise from the very beginning of both texts.
She was admirable as she
passed the mead bowl around Heorot. The
offering of the bowl was
symbolic, being that the bowl was first given
to Hrothgar and then
passed to Beowulf, as if she presented him
with her trust. Beowulf
gave Wealhtheow his guarantee that he would be
successful or die in
battle. After she presented Hrothgar and
Beowulf with the mead bowl
she served the Scyldings, and did so as if
they were her own people.
She was not a Scylding, nor did she desire to
be one, but she
never made her unhappiness known, as described
in Grendel. There is
not great detail on Queen Hygd in Grendel, but
from what the reader
can gather from Beowulf, she is as much of a
female role model as
Queen Wealhtheow. She was young but very
intelligent. In fact King
Hygelac felt intimidated by Hygds
intelligence. Queen Hygd was unlike
Wealhtheow in the way in which she did not
bare many gifts. Hygd was
more concerned about the future of the people
of her kingdom
succeeding Hygelacs death than Wealhtheow.
Hygd offered Beowulf the
kingdom because she believed it was in the
best interest of the
people, she loved the warriors and wished
peace amongst all the
people. Wealtheow on the other hand felt that
the kingdom should be
preserved for her sons.
Wealhtheow spoke after the "fight at
Finnsburg" about the
importance of her sons taking over the kingdom
in the poem Beowulf,
and this reminds Hrothgar of his age. This
same speech affected
Hrothgar in both texts. It forced him to
contemplate his worthiness of
Wealhtheow. He realized that she was young and
beautiful, and need not
be with an old man. Which made his sorrow even
worse is the fact that
she knew all this as well.
Queen Wealhtheow put up an excellent
disguise when hiding the
pain she experienced from being forced to be
Hrothgars wife. Unlike in
Beowulf, in Grendel the reader was given
insight into Wealhtheow's
sorrow. The only time she would display her
unhappiness was when she
would lie in bed at night with Hrothgar with
her eyes full of tears.
Sometimes she would leave the kingdom to dwell
in her sorrows but she
would be immediately surrounded by guards, and
escorted inside.
Wealhtheow was homesick, she missed her land,
and her brother. When
her brother visited Heorot she paid no
attention to Hrothgar, and
Hrothgar fulfilled passing around the mead
bowl. In Grendel, it told
of Hrothgar's love for wealhtheow. He would
often stare at her in
admiration. Despite her resentment she treated
Hrothgar with much
respect, she always looked up at him and
referred to him as "my lord".
Although Wealhtheow has much resentment
towards serving the
Danes, she puts all that beside her and
fulfilled her duties as an
praiseworthy queen. In Grendel it told how she
came between drunken
men in the mead hall, as if she was their
mother. Her intervention
reminded them of their responsibilities toward
the kingdom. Her
presence "brought light and warmth, men
began talking, joking and
laughing, both Danes and Geats
together"(Grendel, p.163). She created
a positive feeling throughout the kingdom. In
her presence the Shaper
vocalized on a positive note about comfort and
joy. Wealhtheow gave
Beowulf advice about proper etiquette , how to
speak to the Geats with
"mild words". She advised him to
make sure he shared his gifts. After
all that was a rule by which she lived. Before
Beowulf left the Danes,
Queen Wealhtheow gave Beowulf a precious
collar , the Brosing
necklace, in appreciation for his duty. She
gave him the gifts so that
he could make known who he was, to be proud of
his accomplishments.
She wished him the best of luck and asked him
to take care of her
sons. There was much focus on Queen
Wealhtheow's outer beauty in the
novel Grendel. It went into much further
detail than in the poem,
Beowulf. From Wealhtheows entrance into the
novel, the reader was told
in great detail of her physical beauty.
Beowulf primarily focused on
her inner beauty. She was described as
"having hair red as fire, as
soft as the ruddy sheen on dragons gold. Her
face was gentle,
mysteriously calm" (Grendel p.100). This
combination made her a very
desirable woman. So desirable that Unferth was
attracted to her.
Unferth flirted with Wealhtheow often in
Grendel. When she would offer
him the mead he would glance at her and look
down and smile. Unferth
felt embarrassment after he made a comment
about men killing their
brothers while they were drunk. Few people in
Heorot found the comment
humorous, the queen was caught off guard. He
respected the queen, as
did every one throughout the kingdom. He was
humiliated at what he had
said, he felt regret and ridicule by his
mistake and glanced at the
queen without looking away. Being the kind
person that she was she
forgave him, and he was put at ease.
The
lust for Wealhtheow did not stop with Unferth. Perhaps the
most significant difference in the two texts
is that in Grendel,
the monster, was attracted to Wealhtheow.
There is no suggestion in
Beowulf that Grendel posses any feelings
toward the humans. This
desire for Wealhtheow gives the reader better
insight into Grendels
character. Up until this point the reader was
given no hint that
Grendel possessed anything except hatred
toward the human race.
Grendel was touched the first time he saw
Wealhtheow, he was struck by
her innocence and beauty. He wanted to sob at
the sight of her; the
reader had never been introduced to this
sensitive side of the
monster. The reader wasn't the only one who
had a problem
understanding Grendels feelings, Grendel
couldn't understand them
either. He was "tortured by the red of
her hair and the set of her
chin and the white of her shoulders".
There is definitely a sexual
overtone in Grendels desire for Wealththeow.
Upon his attack of her he
ripped her out of bed by her feet as if he was
going to split her in
half. He wanted to kill her but he was torn by
his feeling for her,
all the pain he wanted to inflict was sexual.
He wanted to "cook the
ugly hole between her legs, and squeeze out
her feces with his fists".
His motive for killing her was justified by
wanting to teach the Danes
reality, but he refrained because it would be
"pointless pleasure".
Grendel was clearly unhappy about his desire
for Wealtheow, and was
disconcerted. He contemplated killing her
because he wanted to get rid
of these feelings, instead he decided to focus
on the undesirable side
Wealhtheow, "her unqueenly shrieks"
and "the ugliness between her
legs(the bright tears of blood)."
Although the two texts are fundamentally
the same, there is a
significant difference in how Queen Wealhtheow
is portrayed. In the
novel Grendel, the reader is given not only
further insight to the
beauty and charm of Wealhtheow, but the sensitivity
and needs of
Grendel. Both texts allow the reader to gain a
further understanding
to the position of women in the Anglo-Saxon
society by means of the
development of the characters, Queen
Wealhtheow and Queen Hygd.
No comments:
Post a Comment