Women in Anglo-Saxon England

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Women in Anglo-Saxon England

Anglo-Saxon literature was based on Germanic myths about battles, heroes, diseases, dragons and religion. Writers did not pay much attention to female issues, and there are only few poems that talk about them. Beowulf and “"The Wife’s Lament"” are two examples that briefly consider women’s lives in that time. Anglo-Saxon history and poetry portray women’s lives as uneasy and dependent on their husbands’ positions. Women had to endure arranged marriages, abuse and male dominance.

Marriage meant very much to women particularly for their status and economic security. In the medieval era, people wed within their class and only a slave could sometimes find his match and marry for true love. Wars and family feuds forced females to play the role of peace-weavers. They were often married to their family’s enemy to make a truce between warring tribes. The poem “The Wife’s Lament” is about a woman who, at one time, apparently, was a peace-weaver. The wife and her husband are separated against her will; she feels very unhappy and lonely. The husband has committed a murder and then has abandoned her: “I am overcome with longing. These dales are dark, and hills high, bitter bulwarks ever grown with briers, a joyless dwelling. Here very often my lord’s going away has wrenched me” (102). In Anglo-Saxon England, a marriage did not mean happiness or love. It put women in a very tough position since they had to assume the role of peace-weavers and to unite two families that hated one another.

In many cases men treated women as sexual objects and did not respect them. In Anglo-Saxon England, there was a law called wergild, which meant “man price.” When someone got ki...

... middle of paper ...

... is aware of her sexuality and sovereignty over men. I think that her character is controversial even though I think that she is a great woman and deserves credit for her actions.

Citations

Abrams M. H, et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. New York: W. Norton & Company, 2000.

Fell, Christine. Women in Anglo-Saxon England and the Impact of 1066. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984.

Catholic Encyclopedia. Online. October 24, 2000. http://www.newadvent.org Harvard University. Online. October 24, 2000. http://www.icg.fas.Harvard Luminarium Organization. Online. October 22, 2000.

http://www.britannia.com/history/biographies/guinever.html

http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/subjects/women/women.html

http://www.r3.org/life/articles/women.html

http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/chaucer.htm

http://www.infoplease.com

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