Powerful Words: Wealhtheow’s Use of Imperatives in Beowulf

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11320%2F25%3A7QTQUW7R" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11320/25:7QTQUW7R - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/scientia/article/view/2487" target="_blank" >https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/scientia/article/view/2487</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Powerful Words: Wealhtheow’s Use of Imperatives in Beowulf

Original language description

How powerful were the women in Old English poetry, particularly in the well-known poem Beowulf? There are few female characters within the poem, and only one of them has a speaking role. Wealhtheow, queen of the Scyldings, is a peace-weaving wife to Hrothgar, one of the primary characters alongside Beowulf. Discussions of the specifics of her role as peace-weaver between her home nation and that of Hrothgar are mired in gender role assumptions on the parts of critics throughout the ages. Some have viewed this title as one denoting property: Wealhtheow is traded to Hrothgar as a gift to create peace between nations. Others acknowledge that peace-weaving is more of an active position, wherein Wealhtheow is a diplomat between nations, weaving peace herself. I argue that her power as a leader is best exemplified by her use of the imperative case. By examining the frequency of this case and the choice of imperative verbs within Wealhtheow’s speeches, I demonstrate that she issues commands more often than any other speaker, often with long-standing expectations on those to whom she speaks.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_ost - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10201 - Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8)

Project

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Continuities

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Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Scientia et Humanitas: A Journal of Student Research

ISSN

2470-8178

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

14

Issue of the periodical within the volume

2024

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

13

Pages from-to

42-54

UT code for WoS article

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EID of the result in the Scopus database

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