Beowulf

In my English class, we have been reading Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye.

In a few places, Robert Nye describes queen Wealhtheow as having a blue cloak. In chapter 5, she also is described as having blue eyes. Why all the blue?

In the Christian bible, Mary, the mother of Jesus, always wears a blue cloak. She is known as the Holy Virgin. She is, in some branches of christianity, queen of the heavens. Blue is known as the color of purity, of virginity, of innocence.

All babies are born with blue eyes. Not many people know this, but all babies are born with blue eyes. The scientific reason is that people are born without melanin, the pigment that accumulates over time and darkens your eyes. People with blue eyes have less melanin in the genes they get from their parents.

In times when the bible was written, however people didn’t know that. They thought that the color of the baby’s eyes was because of innocence. Therefore they made Mary’s cloak blue.

Because of that cloak, blue became known as the color of the heavens, of benevolence and goodness.

Having queen Wealhtheow wear blue and posses blue eyes signifies that she is a good, innocent person. Someone that can be trusted.

One thought on “Beowulf

  1. Yes! The blue, the blonde, the light–I agree that Wealtheow’s coloring is very deliberate. I think Robert Nye has made many purposeful decisions in his writing of this book. Thank you for sharing your thoughts here on your blog!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *