In the world of Old English poetry, children are rarely seen, the lower-classes are seldom mentioned and the women are marginalised, for this is a world of constantly warring tribes where the class of elite male warriors is the most important one. This class is a brotherhood of men who are defined by their actions; they adhere to the heroic code, where a man must act with strength and courage and has a duty to win glory in battle. There seems to be little room for women in this world, yet, some women actively erode the boundaries of the gender divide, while others are complicit in keeping men as the dominant gender, and any transgression of the social boundary between men and women is swiftly contained.
In Beowulf, Heorot is the centre of the civilised world, with Hrothgar, the Danish king as its patriarch. In fact, it is such a patrilineal society, that a significant portion of the poem is concerned with tracing Hrothgar’s lineage through the male line. Men are defined by who their fathers are e.g. “Beowulf, son of Edgetheow”. Loyalty to one’s lord is as important as kinship ties, and Hrothgar wins the loyalty of his men with gift-giving, which cultural
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The lessening of Grendel’s Mother’s abilities because of her sex continues with Beowulf’s vow that “she’ll not protect herself by hiding” (1391b), she may have her own feminine space but he, as a man, will break in easily. Retelling the story of their fight when he returns home, Beowulf dismisses it in a couple of lines compared to the longer time he spent telling the story of the fight with Grendel. Beowulf describes her decapitation at his hands “with a sword of huge size” (2139), the sword a phallic symbol and the metaphorical rape her carries out on her is a warning that any woman who defies the homosocial order will be subjugated by the more powerful male