World Literature

Gender Roles in Beowulf and The DecameronThe Anglo- Saxon epic Beowulf and Giovanni Boccaccio s Decameron tell really different stories , but nevertheless can be express to sh atomic number 18 one common literary elework forcet : the mold of gender . Both Beowulf and many of the stories in the Decameron represent wo manpower as being the subject to men in all view . Beowulf is a masculine epic altogether , in which women argon absent , silent or former(a)wise merely a tool that serves the world of men . In The Decameron on the other hand , although women argon present in all the stories , Boccaccio makes them the victims of his irony most of the times , picturing them either as adulteresses or as very simple beings that completely lack penetration , like the charwoman who lets herself be persuaded by her lover that he is the angel Gabriel himself . However in both Boccaccio s tales and in Beowulf the purpose of the women is even more interesting to notice when the authors intend to beget a irresponsible representation of them , in the form of type women . The ideal women for the two texts , Griselda in Boccaccio s hundred story and Wealhtheow in Beowulf offer indeed a good insight into the centering in which women were represented : they are intended to be positive figures , but they are ideal only insomuch as they are perfect tools that serve in the men s worldThus , Beowulf is as Gillian Overing notes , an absolutely masculine epic , which focuses only on resolution . The world of men is accurately constructed : it is entirely composed of men s wishes , men s actions and so on : Beowulf is an overwhelmingly masculine numbers it could be seen as a chronicle of male intrust , a tale of men dying .There is no stray for women in the masculine economy of Beowulf . (Overing , 69 ) Beowulf is the hero and later(prenominal) the king , who saves the Danish people of the powerful monster Grendel and of his return .

The very few women who appear in the story are mostly mentioned directly as instruments in the world of men , as love-in-idleness-weavers more exactly , like Hrothgar s daughter for font , who is mentioned directly as a promise to a certain man , as a means to bring peace to the kingdom : Oft to the heroes Hrothgar s daughter / to earls in turn , the ale-cup tendered -- /she whom I heard these hall-companions / Freawaru name , when fretted gold / she proffered the warriors . Promised is she / gold-decked / maid to the joyful son of Froda / Sage this seems to the Scylding s-friend kingdom s-keeper : he counts it wise / the woman to wed so and ward off feud / stick in of slaughter . But seldom ever /when men are slain , does the murder-spear sink / but briefest while , though the bride be fair It is quite clear that this woman will probably fail even in her modest role as a peace maker , according to the prediction of the unidentified author Wealhtheow , queen to Hrothgar is the only woman who is given a...If you trust to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com

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