FEMALE CHARACTERISATION IN OLD ENGLISH POETRY by ANNE LINGARD KLINCK M.A., Oxon., 1969 M.A., British Columbia, 1970 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES/ (Department of English) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA © A n ne Lingard Klinck, 1976 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of English The University of British Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V5T 1WS 97 .g^pmhPr 1976 ABSTRACT A survey of Old English poetry suggests that greater originality is to be found in the presentation of situations involving female, rather than exclusively male, characters. This phenomenon can be related to a double background of social and literary conditions. An investigation of the social position of Anglo-Saxon women on the basis of con temporary historical records reveals that, contrary to the received opinion, the status of Anglo-Saxon women was mainly a subordinate and passive one. However, there are certain exceptions to the general rule, and the position of women improved in the course of the era. An examination of the techniques of characterisation in Old English poetry shows that they are based on a series of contrasting and inter locking stereotypes, which, allowing for a degree of archaism and selectivity, for the most part correspond to the typical conditions of actual life. Almost a ll the examples of significant departures from the stereotypes occur in association with women characters. The proverbial poetry and the poems treating traditional Germanic subjects present some rather sketchy portraits of women based on the stereotype of the good queen. However, the highly skilled Beowulf poet takes this standard type and uses it for his own ends: as a vehicle of pathos and tragic irony in the poem. The poems belonging to the "saint's i ii l i f e" genre utilise the other main female stereotype: the saint. Because the outlines of this type are rigid and unnatural, l i t t le individual characterisation is to be found within this category. The two Old English love lyrics, The Wife's Lament and Wulf and Eadwacer, take the traditional subject of exile, and, with considerable psychological insight, apply it to a new situation: the separation, not of a warrior from lord and comrades, but of a woman from husband or lover. The most striking examples of originality are to be found in the temptation scene of Genesis B and in Division VII of Christ I. Here, the encounters between Adam and Eve, and Joseph and Mary, respectively, are treated with freedom, and a realism most unusual in Old English poetry. The explanation for the greater originality present in the treatment of female characters, and situations involving them, lies in the passive roles to which women were normally confined, both in Old English poetry and in Anglo-Saxon society. This passivity led the poets into a deeper exploration of thought and feeling, and into a portrayal of intimate relationships not provided for by the ready-made traditions of the poetry. Paradoxically, the very category of female characters which is not restricted to a passive role, i.e., that containing the saints, is the most rigid and least lifelike. If we leave out the saints' poems, it is possible to show a chronological development in the pattern of female characterisation. The proverbial poetry and the poetry on iv traditional Germanic themes constitute an early stratum, the two love poems are somewhat later, and Genesis B and Christ I latest of a l l. A corresponding increase in psychological insight can be traced in these three groups. A growing humanism in the Anglo-Saxon era is, thus, reflected in the poetry in an increasing interest in the situation of passive, female characters. This development foreshadows wider movements in medieval Europe, notably, the rise of the lyric, and the growth of the literature of courtly love. V TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter I. THE SOCIAL STATUS OF WOMEN IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND 19 II. CHARACTER-TYPES IN THE POETRY 67 III. FROM THE PROVERBIAL POETRY TO BEOWULF: THE TRADITIONAL FIGURE OF THE IDEALISED WOMAN AND ITS EXTENSION 93 IV. THE POEMS IN THE SAINT'S LIFE TRADITION . . .. 129 V. LYRICAL POEMS FEATURING WOMEN: WULF AND EADWACER AND THE WIFE'S LAMENT 169 VI. DRAMATIC SCENES 'INVOLVING WOMEN: GENESIS B AND CHRIST I 203 CONCLUSION 234 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 250 1 INTRODUCTION Probably the f i r st observation that springs to mind in connection with the female characters of Old English poetry is that they are few. In the corpus of Old English poetry as a whole, women characters play a distinctly minor part. However, it has struck me that some of the more interesting effects created in that poetry in fact involve female figures: the Beowulf poet makes an evocative use of his female characters, especially Wealhtheow and Hildeburh, in showing the tragic effects of feud; the temptation of Adam by Eve in Genesis B is a highly dramatic and strikingly heterodox presentation of the Fall of Man; the dialogue between Joseph and Mary in Division V II of Christ I is a miniature drama presented with a great deal of human sympathy; the two love lyrics with female narrators, Wulf and Eadwacer and The Wife's Lament are unique in Old English poetry in dealing seriously with sexual love.-*- It looks as i f, in these cases, the treatment of female characters has inspired the poets to greater inventiveness. One is l ed to ask how and why this may be so. Is there indeed a greater originality in the creation of female figures? What general tendencies l ie behind this trend? Is the relatively minor role of women characters in the poetry a contributing factor? What historical circumstances might be relevant? 2 And' how can the pattern of female characterisation in Old English poetry be related to the broader trends of European literature in the Middle Ages? The following thesis aims to answer these questions. Since the pattern emerging from female characterisation in the poetry is to be related to broader influences, it is important to establish the immediate historical and literary background. This study, then, begins in Chapter I with a thoroughgoing analysis of the social position of women i n. Anglo-Saxon England. The conclusions which emerge in this preliminary investigation form the basis of my final inferences about the nature and significance of trends in the poetic treatment of women. The broad outlines of the literary background are subsequently presented, in Chapter II. That i s, the characterisation of women implies a comparison with the characterisation of men, and, therefore, the general techniques of character-drawing, mainly seen in the creation of male characters, are summarised in this chapter. The remaining chapters focus directly on the poems and passages which make significant use of women characters. Chapter III deals with what we may call the traditional poetry, i.e., the poetry rooted in native, Germanic material. The subject of Chapter IV is the Christian poems which depict the career of a saint or holy woman. Chapter V is devoted to the two love lyrics, and Chapter VI to the passages from Genesis B and Christ I. In arranging the chapters in this way, I follow a development from a sketchy 3 presentation of women, very much indebted to traditional Germanic conventions, to a more extended presentation, as evinced in the succeeding chapters. Also, there is a movement towards greater individuality, noticeable expecially in Chapters V and VI. The Conclusion defines the pattern established and suggests i ts implications. The reasons for originality in female characterisation are here set forth, and the question of a chronological development in female characterisation is discussed. Finally, this development in Old English poetry is related to wider trends developing in European literature. But, to begin with, the scope of this study should be defined a l i t t le more precisely, both with reference to previous scholarship, and to the connections that might be made beyond the limits of Old English poetry. The volume of criticism devoted to female characterisation in Old English poetry is very small, and, as far as I have been able to discover, no work has focussed specifically on the subject of my own investigation: an explanation of the greater originality to be found in the creation of female, as opposed to male, characters. The works that have been written on women in an Anglo-Saxon context have more frequently been historical than literary in approach. Thus, in the first chapter of her book, The English Woman in History,2 Doris Mary Stenton stresses the independence of the Anglo-Saxon woman, which she later contrasts with the subordinate position of the woman in 4 post-Conquest England. George Forrest Browne, in "The 3 Importance of Women in Anglo-Saxon Times," describes the prominent women associated with the Christianisation of England, and with the double monasteries in the seventh and eighth centuries. Other studies, such as F. T. 4 Wainwright1 s ".ZEthelflaed, Lady of the Mercians," and Miles W. Campbell's "Queen Emma and JElfgifu of Northhampton: Canute the Great's Women,have been devoted to individual women who influenced the secular course of Anglo-Saxon history. A recent study which combines the specific and the general approach is Carole Elizabeth Moore's "Queen 6 Emma and the Role of Women in Anglo-Saxon Society." Moore regards Emma as epitomising the influential position of women in Anglo-Saxon society, a position which she finds distinctively Germanic and non-Christian in origin. The vindication of the Anglo-Saxon woman's independence which appears in a ll these works is a point of view which I shall find occasion to question in Chapter I. Several studies have been concerned with social attitudes to women, rather than with historical women in themselves. Betty Bandel, in "The English Chroniclers' 7 Attitude toward Women," argues that in Anglo-Saxon times it was regarded as normal for women to take an active part in the organisation of society. A similar position is adopted by J. A. Crawford in "The Position of Women in Q Anglo-Saxon England." Crawford treats Old English poetry, along with the prose, as a direct record of social custom,