Wealtheow

Character Analysis

Queen of All She Surveys

Of all the characters in the novel, Wealtheow is the only one who doesn't leave us feeling like we have to scrub ourselves with turpentine. While she does have a slightly mysterious past—we never learn her real name—Wealtheow is the real thing. She allows herself to be traded to a hostile king to save her people, and she smooths over drunken brawls in the meadhall.

She's a diplomat extraordinaire and a beauty queen all rolled into one. Hardened warriors bow to her judgment, and even Grendel—sensitive to beauty and murderously manic—can hardly bear to watch her from a distance. He finds her goodness and beauty at once infuriating and completely dreamy:

I could see myself leaping from my high tree and running on all fours through the crowd to her, howling, whimpering, throwing myself down, drooling and groveling at her small, fur-booted feet. "Mercy!" I would howl. (101)

In short, Queen Wealtheow brings together the best traits of Anglo-Saxon womanhood under one bright red-gold roof.

Fated

And that's too bad for her. We learn pretty quickly that terrible things happen to women who get traded away to keep the peace. Other "bargaining chips" before her—like Hildeburh, who also appears in the Finnsburh Episode in Beowulf—risk everything for their people... and often lose it all.

From the hints given by Grendel and Beowulf (not to mention Hygmod and Hrothulf), we can see that Wealtheow may be headed down the same path. And guess what? Wealtheow's daughter Freawaru has been promised to Ingeld, king of the hostile Heathobards. Do these guys never learn?

Love/Hate

Wealtheow's plight fascinates Grendel. After all, she too is a stranger in a hostile land. But as with all the things he loves, he can't decide whether he wants to crush her skull or throw himself at her feet and beg for mercy. Would Wealtheow's kindness and ability to overlook ugliness (she's okay with Unferth, after all) be enough for her to accept Grendel as something other than a monster?

The answer to that question, sadly, is a resounding "NO." Wealtheow may be smokin' hot and well-mannered, but no amount of human goodness seems to be enough to see through Grendel's horrifying monsterness. Sorry, dude.

Because Wealtheow is so kind and just, her response to Grendel might be the right one. He is pretty scary, inside and out, even if that scariness is complicated by his good qualities. On the other hand, maybe her resistance to Grendel is meant to show us that real communication is an impossibility. If anyone should be to bridge the gap, it's Wealtheow. Why do you think this doesn't happen?