ABSTRACT
This essay collates and synthesizes many works of feminist Old English scholarship in the service of a thought experiment: what if Beowulf was written and/or inscribed by a woman, by women, and/or for an audience of women? How might these possibilities shape our interpretations of the text? In particular, the article identifies possible connections to the Encomium Emmae reginae, to the lives of women and transgender saints, and to women’s and dual-house monastic foundations. The themes of monstrosity and travel are shown to resonate with gendered anxieties about childbirth and maternity, and Beowulf the “bear-man” is read as a gender-neutral confessor figure who models the ideal virtues of both abbots and abbesses.
