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Queen Wealhtheow, Hrothgar’s wife, is the gracious queen of the Danes. Readers meet Wealhtheow shortly after Beowulf arrives in Denmark, when Hrothgar throws a banquet in his honor. Wealhtheow enters the hall with the ceremonial goblet, which she offers to everyone in the room. She thanks God for sending Beowulf to fight Grendel, and Beowulf replies with a formal boast, stating that he will either distinguish himself with a heroic deed or die in the mead-hall. Pleased, Wealhtheow takes her seat next to her husband. She then joins her husband in honoring Beowulf after he is victorious and presents him with a torque (a collar or necklace) of gold and a suit of mail armor. She also asks him to guide her sons and treat them kindly as they grow older.
Wealhtheow highlights the gender roles inherent in Beowulf’s warrior culture. She is celebrated throughout the epic for being the ideal woman—she is attractive, gracious in bearing and manner, attentive to the men around her, and loyal to her husband and lord. In other words, she is entirely subservient, and her role is largely ceremonial. Like the Danish princess Hildeburh, Wealhtheow is a “peace-pledge between nations,” a means of forming alliances through marriage. As the ideal woman in Germanic society, she offers a stark contrast to Grendel’s mother, her literary foil. In some respects, the two characters are not so different—like Grendel’s mother, Wealhtheow cares deeply for her sons, as we see when she attempts to ensure their success by aligning them with the great warrior Beowulf. However, her more peaceful nature and comparatively passive role serve to highlight the vengeful bloodlust of Grendel’s mother, who is viewed as monstrous. That Wealhtheow gets a name while Grendel’s mother doesn’t further solidifies the high esteem with which society viewed a beautiful, peace-loving, and deferential women like Wealhtheow.
