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The author reserves other publication rights, and neither the L'auteur se rCserve les autres droits de publication; ni la thes~snor extensive extracts from it may be printed or other- these ni de longs extraits de celle-ci ne doivent itre irnprimCs \\ wise reproduced without the author's written permission. ou autrement reproduits sans l'autorisation Bcrite de I'auteur. Carol Jean Halstead B.A., University of British Columbia, 1952 THESIS SUBHITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF !•÷ASTER OF ARTS in the De~ar~trnent of English @ Carol Jean Halstead 1984 SIMOB FRASER UNIVZRSITY August, 1984 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, uithout permission of the author, APPROVAL NAME': Carol Hal ste.ad DEGREE: Master of English TITLE OF THESIS: The Beowulf and the Brimwylf EXAMINING COMFIITTEE: Chairperson: Professor Michael Steig Professor Harvey De Roo Senior Supervisor Assistant Professor of English, SFU Professor Andrea Lebbwitz Lecturer of English, SFU - Professor Virginia Evans External Examiner Sessional Lecturer, U6C PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Slmn Fraser Unlverslty the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational Institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shal l not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thes i wExtwn&dfssq- Author: (signature) ABSTRACT The combination of feminist and textual criticism with reader response techniques produces new ins$ghts into an ancient epic, Becoming a t'resisting reader", the feminist critic .avoids the alienation hnd confusion of identifying uith Beouulf, and instead searches the text for a female character who displays assertiveness and competence, and who is engaged in interesting and significant endeavour within the narrative. Seeking a redef'inition of the female hero, she identifies ---Brimwqlf, the warrior woman who is Grendel's mother. The resulting search for just treatment leads to a close --- study of the vork of the scholars through uhose efforts the modern reader contacts the poem, and of the @eg+?q/f poet himself, Tables of forty terms used by the poet to refer to Grendel's mother, with the translations given for these by each of twenty-three inter~ediateagents, show that at times the male editors, translators, and even lexicographers have been operating uith a demonstrable misogynist bias, The poet's own treatment of the female hero is less sexist, but shows a number of startling inconsistencies. She is a grim destiny, a formidable avenger, but on the other hand a timid creature who flees from men's sight. He describes her at first as a lady, using the same term he uses for ths queens, then refers to her as "hew four times. The terror of her appearance in Heorot is mini~al,he assures us, since she is, pfter all, only a uoman, but the warriors are plunged into consternation, \ Though Beowulf is not at all afraid for his life. he goes heavily armed, when preparing to exterminate her, uhereas to fight the terrifying Grendel he chivalrously refuses to use anything but his hands. She is defined both as existential Other, since she is a woman, and perhaps even more since she is a mother, and as Self, since she is a warrior and an avenger in a blood feud, roles the Anglo-Saxons reserved for males. It is the poet's ambivalence to this ambiguous character that leads to . the interesting irregularities in the work. TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval ......................................................ii Abstract ...................................~,......,.........iii B. TH>AEBIVALEHCE Of THE POET AND THE IIJTERHEDIATE AGENTS PTQUARDS S& g~zm~gAS A UARRIOR WORAH .................. 31 PI >' I( AN EPAHINATIOH OF THE INTERl•÷EDIbTE AGENTS ............-32 7 1, The Process of Encountering Klaeber ...............33 2. Control: An Examination of Other Editors .......... 38 3. The Skewed Vision of the Translators ............. -43 4. The Lexicographers: Reverence Misplaced ...........48 11. AN EXAHINATTON OF THE POET IN HIS OWN WORDS .......... 52 5.50 Brimwplf Introduced: Whose Irony? 54 '0 -- --- ............. 2. Preparations for a Brace of Battles ...............58 3. The Problem of the Sexually Confused Pronouns .....64 4. How the Poet Deals with Other Women ...............76 CONCLUSIONS ........,.............Q............................ 84 C, APPENDIX: TERHS REFERRING TO Sgg BRLB!Y&P ................ -86 I. TABLES OF THE FORTY TERMS, ARRANGED BY AUTHOR .........87 EDITION: I? KLAEBEB: 1922 ...........................93 TRANSLATION OF THE GERHAN (OF HEYNE-SCH{CKING/VON ' SCHAUBERT) INTO aODERN ENGLISH, by ELIZABETH WEX3, GASSELL'S GEBqAJ DJCTIONAEP, 1888 ...*.*o*o-99 TRANSLATION: JOHN 14ELE: 7892 ....................... 114 TRANSLATION: JOJB 3, CZUBE HALLA 1413 ............... 116 TRAHSLATION: CHARLES a. UNNEDY: 1222 ...............121 TRANSLATION: EDW/H IlQRFIMi 1952 ..................... I23 TRANSLATION: DAVID WRIGHT: 1952 ... ................J25 TRANSLATION: BJRIJN RAYFELL 1963 ..................... 27 TRANSLATION: LUCIEI XAtSQl; 1265 .............. 130 TRANSLATION: DeH* CRA@PGBDi 1955 --e.e,.-oeoeeeoee-e,tj2 ' I TRANSLATION: E, TALBBT DONALDSONi 1964 .......4.... .. 134 TRAHSLATIOH: KEVIN CRQSSJ?l?Hg&&BLQ; 1968 ...........I37 TRANSLATIOH: &H, GARu)~s~A_Y;1954 .................-139 ----LINE -----1500: ----------AEL-RIHTA++ ..............................196 ----LINE ----1502: ----ATOLAN -------CLounurl .......................... -198 ---LINE -----1538: --------GRENDLES -----HODOR ...........................208 --LINE ------1540A: ---g--GRIM AH -----GRAPUH ..........................210 ---LINE ---1540B: - e...'.e...............-2 12 ~zng1999; .. ....................2 I 4 ---LINE ----%37: --------------ELLOB-GAEST++4.. .........................'% 216 vii A. THEORETICAL, PEBSOHAL, AlD EETHODOLOGICAL IlTRODUCTIOP Exploring an wcient world such as that of the J33qqu&f, bringing the people we find there to life so that they can speak directly to w, is a quest that, for modern women, needs new ,' ', ways of thinking, new dimensions of understanding, We must re-invent the experiencing of Beowulf's uorld as ue go along, Searching4 for ou5stoots, we most be prepared to be radical; seeking the sources of our literature, we must push our way skilfully but firmly through the inaccessibility of the text.as terrain, the possibly antiquated directions of earlier travellers, and%he alienation by which the centuries obscure for us, initially, the utterances ,of the