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Gender Roles In Beowulf

615 Words3 Pages

Beowulf is an epic poem which is a long narrative poem dealing with heroism that have power to transport a person to another time. Beowulf is filled with male characters like Beowulf the main character that is strong, brave and fights for his people. However, the poem doesn't have much female characters including only one. Grendel's mother is the only female character mentioned in the poem. Grendel is a male character that keeps attacking the Herot, which is a hall where the strongest men celebrated in; he used to kill men for joy. After Grendel's death his mother took into action and decides to get revenge. Grendel's mother got very furious and cruel and kills the king's closest friend for revenge. She wanted him to feel her pain for losing someone really close to her. Her plan worked and so the king decides to call Beowulf for help. This shows us how much Grendel's mother cared about her son and how much she loved him. This also links to mothers today; they would do anything and everything for their children. They would even lose their life for their children. There is always a special bond between the mother and the child that is very hard to break easily. The mother is always attached to her children no matter what. Grendel's mother was an example of mothers in society today. …show more content…

They were usually looked down at because of being female and not male. Women were treated very poorly and harshly; they were treated like a piece of furniture that didn’t have feeling and goals in life. Women were awarded less than men and had lower social positions for no reason. Men were chosen over women in many economic, political and social decisions. In the other hand, the poem did not have many female characters because women were not strong enough to be heroes, soldiers, warriors, and rulers who fight for their people and protect them. They weren’t as important as men so they didn’t have important roles in the poem

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