What gifts does Wealhtheow give to Beowulf at the feast?

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Wealhtheow, a good queen, is trying to cement the bond between Hrothgar and Beowulf, and extend it into the next generation. But her comments to Hrothulf about the unity of the Danes are ironic, in part because they follow the Finnsburg story, which shows how quickly peace can be destroyed, but also because the narrator has already revealed that Heorot, the heart of the Danish society, will burn after one member of the royal family (Hrothulf) betrays another (Hrethic).

Hrothgar hosts a great banquet in honor of Beowulf. He bestows upon him weapons, armor, treasure, and eight of his finest horses. He then presents Beowulf’s men with rewards and compensates the Geats with gold for the Geatish warrior that Grendel killed.

After the gifts have been distributed, the king’s scop comes forward to sing the saga of Finn, which begins with the Danes losing a bloody battle to Finn, the king of the Frisians, a neighbor tribe to the Danes. The Danish leader, Hnaef, is killed in the combat. Recognizing their defeat, the Danes strike a truce with the Frisians and agree to live with them separately but under common rule and equal treatment. Hildeburh, a Danish princess who is married to Finn, is doubly grieved by the outcome of the battle: she orders that the corpses of her brother, the Danish leader Hnaef, and her son, a Frisian warrior, be burned on the same bier. The Danes, homesick and bitter, pass a long winter with the Frisians. When spring comes, they rise against their enemies. Finn is then defeated and slain, and his widow, Hildeburh, is returned to Denmark.

When the scop finishes recounting the saga, Wealhtheow enters, wearing a gold crown, and praises her children, Hrethric and Hrothmund. She says that when Hrothgar dies, she is certain that the children will be treated well by their older cousin, Hrothulf, until they come of age. She expresses her hope that Beowulf too will act as a friend to them and offer them protection and guidance. She presents Beowulf with a torque (a collar or necklace) of gold and a suit of mail armor, asking again that he guide her sons and treat them kindly.

That night, the warriors sleep in Heorot, unaware that a new danger lurks in the darkness outside the hall.

Analysis

The bard’s tale of the conflict between the Danes and the Frisians—the Finnsburg episode, as this poem-within-a-poem is commonly called—contains some of the most beautiful and resonant language in Beowulf, utilizing many devices characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry. One such device is deliberate, emphatic understatement, as in the lines, “Hildeburh had little cause / to credit the Jutes” (1070–1071), where the point is that, in fact, she has enormous cause to discredit them. Also prominent is the use of kennings—compound words that evoke, poetically and often metaphorically, specific ideas, such as such as “ring-giver” (1101) for king (a king being one who rewards his warriors with rings) and “sea-lanes” (1156) for ocean.

Read more about the poem’s style.

The Finnsburg episode relates loosely to Beowulf’s central narrative. Although it isn’t relevant to the main plot, it invokes the idea of vengeance as a component of honor. The story also highlights a tension in the heroic code by presenting the point of view of the Danish princess Hildeburh. Married to the Frisian king but herself a daughter of the Danes, Hildeburh experiences a divided loyalty. She has a son fighting on one side and a brother on the other. Like many other women in the Germanic warrior culture depicted in Beowulf, Hildeburh functions as a “peace-pledge between nations”—an epithet that the poet later applies to Wealhtheow (2017). Through marriage, Hildeburh helps to forge a connection between tribes. Of course, the practice of using women as peace tools is problematic for the men too. Here an uncle and a nephew are on opposing sides, even though their Germanic culture prizes a particularly strong bond between a man and his sister’s son. In the Finnsburg episode peace proves untenable. Hildeburh must be taken back to Denmark—the ties between the two groups must be severed—before the conflict can rest.

Read a complete plot analysis of the poem.

The story also gives the reader a sense of the Anglo-Saxon idea of wyrd, or fate, in which individuals conceive of themselves as directed by necessity and a heroic code that compels them to act in certain fixed ways. The strong discussion of fate in this section is ominous, and the reader quickly gets the sense that the Danes and Geats are a little too exuberant in their rejoicing over the defeat of Grendel. The narrator compounds this troubling feeling by informing us that a reversal of fortune is coming: “how could they know fate, / the grim shape of things to come” (1233–1234). Beowulf’s plot often anticipates itself in this manner. It may even seem to us as though the narrator is giving away the plot and destroying the suspense. For the Beowulf poet, however, the pull of fate is so strong that an event that is fated to happen in the future already has a strong presence. Fate walks among these characters whether they know it or not.

Read more about foreshadowing and fate.

The narrator’s tendency to project forward to future events manifests itself as well in his hints that Hrothulf, Hrothgar’s nephew, will usurp the throne from Hrothgar’s sons. Wealhtheow’s statement that she is certain of Hrothulf’s goodness creates a moment of dramatic irony, as the poet is well aware that Hrothulf has evil in mind. The treachery related in the Finnsburg episode casts a similarly ominous pall over Wealhtheow’s speech and suggests that treachery will mark the future just as it has the past. Such continuity is symbolized in the golden torque that Wealhtheow presents to Beowulf. The poet’s glance forward to Hygelac’s death while wearing the torque (which Beowulf will have given him) reinforces how symbols link the past, present, and future in this culture.

Read more about the golden torque as a symbol.

• Everyone continues to celebrate Beowulf's defeat of Grendel. Danish warriors race their horses down the hills, the sun rises, and King Hrothgar and his queen return to Heorot Hall.
• King Hrothgar gives a short speech, thanking God for Grendel's defeat and claiming Beowulf as an adopted son. He's not literally adopting Beowulf, of course—hulking Geat warriors do okay without foster parents—he's just symbolically including Beowulf in his family.
• Now that Beowulf has Grendel's severed arm as a trophy, slimy Unferth isn't boasting anymore.
• Everyone works together to repair the damage caused to the inside of Heorot Hall by Beowulf's fight with Grendel.
• The narrator reminds us that we will all face death, just as Grendel had to face death.
• King Hrothgar comes to the hall in a formal procession for a victory feast. All the most famous warriors eat and drink together, and then drink some more, and some more, and everyone is friendly and at peace.
• Next, King Hrothgar presents Beowulf with gifts: an embroidered banner, breast-mail, an embossed helmet, and a sword. Last, but definitely not least, Hrothgar gives Beowulf eight horses with gold bridles, one of which has a fancy saddle designed for a king in battle. The narrator praises Hrothgar; this is exactly what a king is supposed to do to reward a hero.
• King Hrothgar also gives gifts of gold and treasures to the other Geat warriors.
• Hrothgar and Beowulf also have some morbid business to take care of. They negotiate a price for the life of the Geat who was killed by Grendel, and Hrothgar pays this money to Beowulf.
• In medieval Scandinavian culture, this "death-price" was to prevent a blood feud from happening when the relatives of the dead man became angry at whoever was responsible for his death. Think of it as life insurance that your family and friends buy after the fact instead of before.
• Now that all the eating, drinking, and gift-giving is done, all the Geats and Danes have left to do is listen to the minstrel sing tales of adventure. He begins his song with the moment when King Hnaef of the Danes dies in battle. Let the minstrel's tale begin.
• Hildeburh, the wife of King Finn, is caught in the middle of a war: members of her husband's tribe, the Frisians, are fighting a battle against her brother's tribe, the Danes. Hildeburh's son and brother are both killed and she mourns them bitterly.
• Many of King Finn's greatest Frisian warriors are also lost in the battle against the Danes. Finn is forced to negotiate a truce with the most important surviving Danish warrior, Hengest.
• The truce has two conditions. One, the Frisians will clear out a hall and throne-room for the Danes to use. Two, every day when King Finn gives out gifts and treasures to his followers, he'll give just as much to the Danes as he does to his own men.
• King Finn swears to the terms of the treaty and agrees that the surviving Danes will be guaranteed fair treatment. After all, they don't have a leader to give out treasure and hold them together anymore.
• The bodies of the slain Danes are burnt on a funeral pyre, still wearing their golden helmets and mail-coats. Hildeburh orders that her own son's body be burnt along with the body of his uncle, King Hnaef. She howls in mourning as their bodies are consumed in flames.
• The great days of the Danes are over now; they head back to their homes, saddened by the loss of many of their comrades.
• The Danish leader, Hengest, stays with the Frisians all winter, homesick and powerless, resenting King Finn and the truce. He can't go home because of the stormy winter seas.
• In the spring, Hengest longs to travel home across the seas—but he also longs for revenge against the Frisians and their allies, the Jutes.
• Another of the Danes, Hunlafing, goads Hengest into rebellion. There is an uprising; the Danes kill King Finn, murder his allies, loot his hall, and take Hildeburh back to Denmark with them.
• The minstrel ends his song there, with betrayal and rebellion.
• Back in the world of Beowulf and King Hrothgar, everyone is happy with the song. The wine jug passes around the room.
• Queen Wealhtheow comes to sit between King Hrothgar and his nephew, Hrothulf. Unferth is nearby, still praised for his courage in spite of the fact that he killed his own brothers recently. (If you're thinking, "He did what? Did I miss something?", don't worry. This is the first we've heard of it.)
• Wealhtheow gives Hrothgar a goblet to drink from and rejoices in their fortune and their family. She tells her husband that she is confident that Hrothulf is loyal and would take care of the tribe and Hrothgar's two young sons, Hrethric and Hrothmund, if Hrothgar were killed. (If you're starting to get lost in all the names starting with H, take a look at the "Characters" section to refresh your memory about the most important ones.)
• A goblet is brought to Beowulf, who is sitting between Hrothgar's sons. Beowulf is presented with even more expensive gifts: two gold arm bangles, a mail-shirt, rings, and a gold torque (a kind of necklace). The narrator describes what will happen to the torque in the future: Beowulf's king, Hygelac, will wear it in his last battle, and the Franks will steal it from his corpse. Cheery, eh?
• Queen Wealhtheow formally presents the torque to Beowulf, asking him to guide and protect her sons and wishing him luck and blessings.