February 8, 2011

The mead hall boast: The boast of an Anglo-Saxon warrior was not considered an instance of conceit but was instead a method of inspiring heroic deeds.Your boast should appear similar to Beowulf’s boast and must be a minimum of 20 lines long.Boasts should be typed. According to the legend of Beowulf, the ‘great and splendid hall’, had been commissioned by Hroðgar so he could share with his warriors and his people the gifts God had given them. Craftsmen came from far and wide to work on the hall, and before long it was finished. Gold, Treasure, and Gifts The mead-hall is the symbol of a society: it is in this central place that the people gather to feast, socialize, and listen to the scop (bard) perform and thereby preserve the history of the people. Heorot, as the largest mead-hall in the world, symbolized the might and power of the Spear-Danes under Hrothgar.

Bollermann

Lord or Lady:Wealhtheow's role as cupbearer in Beowulf

..Wealhtheow came in,

Hrothgar's queen, observing thecourtesies.

Adorned in her gold, she graciouslysaluted

the men in the hall, then handed thecup 615

first to Hrothgar, their homeland'sguardian

urging him to drink deep and enjoy it

because he was dear to them. And hedrank it down

like the warlord he was, with festivecheer.

So the helming woman went herrounds, 620

queenly and dignified, decked out inrings,

offering the goblet to all ranks,

Beowulf Mead Hall Scene

treating the household and theassembled troop,

until it was Beowulf's turn to take itfrom her hand.

With measured words she welcomed theGeat 625

and thanked God for granting her wish

that a deliverer she could believe inwould arrive

to ease their afflictions. He acceptedthe cup,

a daunting man, dangerous in action

and eager for it always. He addressedWealhtheow; 630

Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, said:

“I had a fixed purpose when I put tosea.

As I sat in the boat with my band ofmen,

I was meant to perform to the uttermost

what your people wanted or perish inthe attempt, 635

in the fiend's clutches. And I shallfulfill that purpose,

prove myself with a proud deed

Mead Hall Beowulf Definition

or meet my death here in themead-hall.”

This formal boast by Beowulf the Geat

pleased the lady well and she went tosit 640

Mead Hall Description

by Hrothgar, regal and arrayed withgold

Women inAnglo-Saxon society were expected to fit certain roles that woulddeem them as honorable and valuable to their community. These roles,namely cupbearer and peaceweaver, are associated with the honor ofthe society and the bonds of friendship between communities. Thecupbearer is the more active role, by which a woman bestows themead-cup to the warriors as a symbol of the community's valor as wellas the individual honor of the soldiers. The role of peaceweaver isascribed to a woman who is given away through marriage to anothertribe in order to establish peace. In both of these roles, the femaleacts as a symbol through which the tribe's honor and valor isdisplayed. In Beowulf, Queen Wealhtheow embodies the idea of a goodqueen, and exemplifies the qualities and role of an honorable womanin Anglo-Saxon society. Early in the narrative, Wealhtheow acts as acupbearer in the mead-hall, inciting Beowulf's boast to defeatGrendel, and while this may seem like a passive role in which she isobjectified, her role as cupbearer is empowering; it honors her aspowerful, especially for her femininity, and even allows her to takeon responsibilities and privileges bestowed to a lord.

Wealhtheow isdeemed to be a good queen; therefore, she must exemplify what isconsidered to be good behavior for a high class woman in Anglo-Saxonsociety. The first description of her is of her being “adorned ingold” (Heaney line 614). She is dressed in treasure which signifiesboth the prosperity of the tribe and her worth to her people. Whileshe is acting as a figurehead, she is given great honor by heradornments which is essential in Anglo-Saxon culture. Besides being apassive symbol of honor and wealth, the passage also describes heractive role of serving the men from the mead-cup in a decadent andhonorable fashion, describing her as “queenly and dignified,/decked out in rings,/ ” (621). Here it becomes clear that her honoris not only tied to her physical beauty and adornments, but that thephysical aesthetics are ornamenting an actual purpose or role that isworthy of being hailed or honored through material wealth, which inthis instance is the role of the cupbearer. Wealhtheow, while livingin a patriarchal society, is empowered by her role as queen, and morespecifically cupbearer and symbol of cultural valor, as seen by thephysical adornments bestowed upon her.

Wealhtheow's roleis therefore not only physically symbolic of honor, but she is alsodescribed as “observing the courtesies” (613), which ascribes herwith the proper decorum expected of her royal status. Here it appearsthat the courtesies in the mead-hall, clearly the most importantestablishment in Anglo-Saxon culture, greatly involve respect to theking, Hrothgar, who she serves first and hails as the guardian of theland. She then continues her rounds and serves each of the warriorsin the comitatus. While this appears to be a subservient role, thisrole of cupbearer is actually one of great importance. By serving themen from the cup, she becomes a symbol for the glory of their landand society by nourishing them.

The cup itself is asymbol of battle and wealth, both important aspects of the warriorculture of the comitatus. However, it is also a symbol of nourishmentand, in the dogma of the Christian monks who are responsible fortranscribing the poem, a symbol of the power of Christ who heals andredeems. Thus, the cup becomes a dual symbol, representing themasculine aspects of the warrior culture as well as the traditionallyfeminine aspects of nourishment and healing. The cup itselfrepresents the maternal role that Wealhtheow fills for the warriors.By giving the mead-cup to her lord, she becomes a life-giver,replenishing him. The passage also makes sure to point out that sheserves Hrothgar first since he is “their homeland's guardian”(616). Thus she nourishes the warrior who protects the land, givingher a natural motherly role. This notion is quite pagan and brings tomind the idea of the correlation between nature and woman,exemplified by woman's ability to bear children. Nature itself is apowerful force in Anglo-Saxon society. For example, a storm may beused to represent the dangers and uncertainties in life, this is seenin Bede's analogy of the bird in the hall. Bede describes life as abrief interlude of pleasure and warmth in a hall surrounded by astorm. Femininity in Anglo-Saxon culture then becomes somethingrelated to the power of nature, and thus garners some respect. Womenbring together the power of nature and the structure of society. Therespect that this relationship garners in Anglo-Saxon society is seenin Wealhtheow's maternal role in the mead hall.

Wealhtheow ishonored as a woman in the cupbearing society, but the ceremony alsoallows her powers that would normally be given only to a lord. Forinstance, the role of gift-bearing is an essential practice inAnglo-Saxon society that provides a link between a lord and histhanes. The lord gives treasure to his servants in order to bestowhonor upon them and to show their rank to the other thanes andcivilians. In the cupbearing ceremony, Wealhtheow takes on this role,becoming a gift-giver in that she bestows honor on the warriors withthe physical and symbolic reward of the mead-cup. She establishes astrong bond with all of the warriors:

So the helming woman went her rounds,

queenly and dignified, decked out inrings,

offering the goblet to all ranks,

treating thehousehold and the assembled troop (620-4),

This descriptioninvokes the image of a lord giving treasure to his thanes afterbattle, but instead of being on the battle field, the cupbearingceremony is the domestic equivalent of this tradition. She gives themead-cup to all of the men, giving all of her people their fair due.She starts, however, by giving the goblet to Hrothgar, urging him to“drink deep and enjoy it/ because he was dear to them” (616-7).Wealhtheow gives the first drink to the person of highest respect,the king. This shows a connection to the practice of gift-giving inwhich the lord gives the best treasure to those he holds in thehighest esteem. Her command to the king to drink deeply from themead-cup