Journal 7 - Motifs

            While the works of the Anglo-Saxons, such as Beowulf, “The Seafarer,” and “The Wife’s Lament” are very different from each other in terms of story and plot, they all share certain motifs.  One such motif is exile.  In Beowulf, the creature Grendel is exiled by the Scyldings to the cave which he has to live in because of his monstrous nature.  In “The Seafarer,” the narrator/author is exiled from wherever he came from and has to live out his life on the sea.  This is evidenced from the lines 55 through 58: “Who could understand,/In ignorant ease, what we others suffer/As the paths of exile stretch endlessly on?”  And thus this man has spent much of his life on the sea and has grown old and bitter towards life.  The narrator of “The Wife’s Lament” also is exiled, in her case it is by her family.  As evidenced by lines 11 through 13 saying “My husband’s kinsmen plotted secretly/How they might separate us from each other/That we might live in wretchedness apart,” and line 5 which states “I ever suffered grief through banishment.”  This all points to her having been banished from her husband by his family.  Thus, while they may differ in their plots, all three of these stories share a common motif.