Essential Question #3

In the poem, Wealhtheow is Hrothgar's queen, playing hostess to all the men of Heorot. We see her as as "adorned with gold"(606). First, she offers the mead-cup to the King, then to all others of the hall until she comes to Beowulf, to whom she hands the cup and praises God that he has come, and that she "might depend on some warrior for help against such attacks" (619). Since she is the only "good" female in the poem (the only other female being Grendel's mother, whom we can assume is a villainess), and a queen as well, we can assume that she is meant to portray the ideal Anglo-Saxon woman. It is interesting to note the meaning of her name. In the footnote concerning her name, it is said that "Wealhtheow" means "foreign slave". Wealhtheow may be British or Celtic as well, explaining the foreign part. In the poem, it also describes her as "mindful of ceremonial" (605) and "excellent in mind" (615) This shows that her actions are the proper, ceremonial mannerisms to be exhibited by Anglo-Saxon women, and she is mindful of her place. Anglo-Saxon women, therefore, are expected to be inferior to Anglo-Saxon men, somewhat of a "slave" to them, mindful of their place in society, and dependent on stronger men. Anglo-Saxon women, as Wealhtheow, appear to be the common "damsel-in-distress" type.

Essential Question Numero Dos

To understand the social obligations of a hero, I think you first need to settle on your definition of hero. I do not know about most people, but when I hear the word 'hero', I think of masks, capes, and technicolor spandex, with witty catchphrases and crime-fighting gadgets. Comic books, no matter how nerdy they are, help to discern the heroes from the plain old good guys. Fighting the villain, setting an example for society, and saving the day--these are all thing heroes should do, but I don't think they are absolutely necessary to be a good hero. In fact, not all of them have to be 'good'. Batman was a vigilante: He didn't fight for good, nor evil, but he fought for Gotham City. Batman fought for what was right,and right is not necessarily 'good'. Sometimes you have to break the rules to truly do the right thing. That is the obligation of a hero--to fight for what's right, even if it's not thought of as good. A Hero can be the epitome of virtue or a poster child for vice--all that matters is that they endeavor to do whatever it takes for the right reasons.

Ess? Part B

I believe that Shakespeare is rather progressive in his portrayal of Lady Macbeth because she is not like we would expect women of that time to be. In Macbeth's time, I doubt it would be suitable for a woman to speak out of turn let alone plot to kill the current King of Scotland, and succeed in doing so. She exhibits a level of cunning and mastery that rivals the other men of the play, including her own husband. Macbeth was apprehensive of murdering the King, but Lady Macbeth was in fact the one who stepped up and told him to put on his big boy pants and kill the guy. She took charge when her own husband could not. Compare her to another Shakespearean leading ladies--Juliet Capulet and Desdemona. Both are the typical archetype of a woman in Shakespeare's time: inferior to the men in their lives, be it Juliet with her father or Desdemona with Othello. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, ordered her husband around and stood up as a progressive woman of her time. Even if she was a villain, that only proves how progressive Shakespeare has written her character. It shows that she was cunning and calculating enough to become a villain in the first place, where most other women of her time probably would not have had the gall to even do that.