| The study represents the first systematic analysis of Wealhtheow, the queen of the Danes in Beowulf. This inquiry into Wealhtheow's literary and legendary heritage limits its comparative investigations to Old English and Old Norse literature and culture. The discussion questions traditional assessment of the queen--her seeming one-dimensionality and passivity, her supposed alienation from other female characters in Germanic heroic poetry, her apparent anonymity--and argues that Wealhtheow is not only a character constructed along the lines of the female-warrior figures of Old English and Old Norse heroic literature (the concern of Chapters I through IV), but that, in addition, following generic expectations, she has a legendary base as well (the matter of Chapters V through VII).;Chapter V offers a more extensive consideration of Wealhtheow as a vestigal valkyrie-figure. It addresses itself to a textual and thematic comparison between Wealhtheow and Svava-Sigrun character in the Helgi lays with whom, it is argued, the queen of the Danes is closely allied. Chapter VI and VII extend the inquiry into an examination of Old Norse prose documents--particularly Hrolfs saga kraka--that deal with the Scylding legend in an effort to determine what might be Wealhtheow's connection with Yrsa, Helgi's queen in the sagas. The affinities Wealhtheow shares with these Nordic figures point to the strong possibility that the queen in the Anglo-Saxon epic and the Scylding King Helgi's wife--Svava-Sigrun in the heroic lays and Yrsa in the sagas--are reflections of a single legendary figure.;The study's cumulative evidence serves to transform Heorot's enigmatic queen into a generally recognizable rendering of a legendary personage central to the Scylding tale, whose character is an embodiment of interwoven ideas and images imbedded in the tradition of Germanic heroic literature. Further, it presupposes a literary milieu that was rich, vigorous, and far-reaching, and whose probable center was the courts of the English kings.;Chapter I examines the queen in the context of the poem. A formal analysis of her sequences, its purpose is to establish her rank in the poem's hierarchy of characters and to confront the problems that arise from the structural positioning of her episodes. Chapter II examines Wealhtheow in the context of heroic literature, with emphasis on her relationship to the Christian female-warriors of Old English epic--Elene, Judith, and Juliana--and to the valkyrie-brides of Old Norse heroic poetry. Striking correspondences arise, parallels that are further explored in Chapter III, where an investigation of the valkyrie-figure in Old English and Old Norse literature is undertaken. The results reveal that the valkyrie-figure is as prevalent in Old English literature as it is in Old Norse, and that there exist certain attributes that, in function and nature, are reminiscent of Wealhtheow's person. Chapter IV investigates the queen's association with the valkyrie-figure through a lexical examination of her epithets. These first four chapters provide examples of characterization devices--lexical similarities, formulaic patterns in speech, metaphorical allusions, recurrent narrative motifs (in character traits, physical objects, and activity)--that reasonably support the belief that Wealhtheow, rather than being an anomalous figure in the literature, is compatible with the female warriors of Old English epic and like them is in harmony with the valkyrie-brides of the Eddic lays. |
