City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Woman as hero in Old English literature, Jane Chance

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 137-148) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Woman as hero in Old English literature

bibliography

Jane Chance

"The first comprehensive study of heroic women figures in Anglo-Saxon literature investigates English secular and religious prose and poetry from the seventh to the eleventh centuries. Given the paucity of surviving literature from the Anglo-Saxon period, the works which feature major women characters - often portrayed as heroes - seem surprisingly numerous. Even more striking is the strength of the female characterizations, given the medieval social ideal of women as peaceful, passive members of society. The task of this study is to examine the existing sources afresh, asking new questions about the depictions of women in the literature of the period. Particular attention is focused on the failed, possibly adulterous women of 'The Wife's Lament' and 'Wulf and Eadwacer' the monstrous mother of Grendel in 'Beowulf' and the chaste but heroic figures and saints Judith, Juliana, and Elene. The book relies for its analysis on recent and standard texts in Anglo-Saxon studies and literature, as well as a thorough grounding in Latin and vernacular historical documents and Anglo-Saxon writings other than the focal literary texts.-- From the back cover

Peace-weaver, peace pledge : the Conventional Queen and Ides -- The Virgin Mary of Christ I as secular and ecclesiastical feminine ideal -- Brave Judith, Juliana and Elene : allegorical figures of the soul, Christ and the church -- The saint, the abbess, the chaste queen : wise, holy and heroic -- Eve in Genesis B : anti-type of the peace-weaver and the Virgin Mary -- The errant woman as Scop in Wulf and Eadwacer and the Wife's Lament -- Grendel's mother as epic anti-type of the virgin and queen