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Beowulf's Tears of Fatherhood
- Author(s):
- Mary Dockray-Miller (see profile)
- Date:
- 1998
- Group(s):
- Anglo-Saxon / Old English, Early Medieval, LLC Old English
- Subject(s):
- Masculinity, Literature, Medieval
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- Beowulf, masculinity, Old English, Gender studies, Medieval literature
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6H97J
- Abstract:
- The figure of Hrothgar, aging king of the Danes, forces an analysis of the relationships among age, maleness, and masculinity in Beowulf. Masculine characters, while enacting the poem's complex reciprocities and social transactions in the hall and on the battlefield, accrue status and power through assertions of control and dominance, through knowledge and use of the rituals of hierarchy, and through manipulation of the variety of relationships that exists in the social world of Beowulf. Two specific incidents within the text exhibit Hrothgar's growing inability to exert power over others and to enact this masculine heroic ethos. The first is heterosexual, a departure to and return from his wife's bed; the second is homosocial, his leave-taking of Beowulf.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 7 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
- Share this:
Open access, open source, open to all
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