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Greed In Beowulf

Decent Essays

In the epic Beowulf, the author establishes the Anglo-Saxons view of wealth and treasure as a something worth acquiring and going to ward in order to attain more wealth. To be considered good, a king would possess a large assortment of “far-fetched treasures” (36). However, just controlling this treasure would not automatically earn a king the title of “ring-holder”. A leader also had to be willing to dispense their wealth to those in their court or their father’s court (21) and to “dispense [their] God-given goods to old and young” (70-71). They would do this to buy the allegiance and loyalty of their warriors and nobles to keep their throne or to ascend peacefully to their rightful place after the death of their father the king. For instance, Beow did so while his father was alive so that if or when …show more content…

A woman would have a role of a service position as stated, “Onela’s queen, a balm in bed” for the king after battle (62-63). Even as the Queen, she would be known in conjunction with her husband’s name and by what service she provided for him, not for whom she was. Hrothgar’s wife is referred to as “Wealhtheow his queen and bedmate” as if those are the only characteristics that matter about her and all that she does (664-665). Her only importance seems to be to sleep with the king and have his children. In addition to this, a daughter of the king could be given to a feuding tribe in the hopes that it will heal and resolve the feud as bartering tools to end the problems for the tribe, seemingly without her particular wish only the wish of her father or king (43, ft.9). Beowulf’s mother is referred to as the one who “brought forth [the] flower of manhood”. She is not known as whom she is, but as whom her son is and what he has done (942). The woman of that culture were defined by the deeds and valor of their male family members and they lived to service them in whatever area was

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