The Social Centrality of Women in Beowulf: A New Context
Porter, Dorothy Carr
The Heroic Age Issue 5 Summer/Autumn 2001
Abstract
This paper examines the roles of the women in Beowulf, focusing on those of hostess, peaceweavers, and monsters. When read through an anthropological lens, Beowulf presents the female characters as being central both in the story itself and in the society presented in the poem.
In her 1995 book article “The Women of Beowulf: A Context for Interpretation,” Gillian R. Overing writes that “[t]he women in Beowulf, whether illegitimate monsters or pedigreed peaceweaving queens, are all marginal, excluded figures . . .” . In this article, Overing’s approach is that of a literary critic, and although valuable for Beowulf studies (and required reading for anyone interested in the women in Beowulf) she fails to take into account possible anthropological approaches to the text. Read within the context of the society presented in the text, it is clear that the women are central and important to the poem as a whole. This paper will not take issue with Overing’s article or approach to the sources, but instead analyze these women in a complementary, anthropological fashion. Through these discussions I will show that, when read carefully, Beowulf presents the female characters as women central both to the story itself and within the society presented in the poem, and far from “marginal, excluded figures”.
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