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Virginia W oolfs concept of the “androgynous mind”^" as the ideal
writer’s consciousness. Woolf used this to great effect in Mrs. Dalloway,
for example, with the character of Septimus Smith, whom she frequently
acknowledged was based on her own experiences with mental illness.
D.H. Lawrence also often preferred a female persona to project
wholesomeness and the affirmation of a female point of view.^' A male
persona gives Oldham greater access to the story’s male characters, their
society and rituals. He can interact with them in settings other than those
of the female domestic sphere, and his status as guest also puts him in
contact with the women, who offer travelers hospitality (29). The choice
of gender therefore gives Oldham the opportunity to depict as large a
multiplicity of voices as possible.
The scop wrests control of the story from Hrethric from quite an
early point in the novel, when Hrethric, and the reader first encounter
Beowulf and his warriors. But from a practical standpoint, Hrethric’s
companionship gives the scop the opportunity to get the “inside scoop”
on the Scylding royal family, and through the questions asked by the
eager young prince, the scop slowly reveals his own methods of
observation, derived from his experiences as a storyteller, warrior, and
traveler, which show he can size up people quickly and understands
military structure. “A fine troop of men” remarks Angenga when he sees
Beowulf with his Geats, but then he astutely observes that the “retainer
on the horse was not one of them.” Hrethric is able to explain that this
retainer “is the guard on the far most headland.” Beowulf readers would
know that this is the case, since the character Beowulf in the poem gives
speech to this guard to gain access to the kingdom, telling him “you are
looking at men from the land of the Geats” (Osborn, line 260). Oldham
does not recreate that speech in the novel and the scop and Hrethric have
not heard it, yet the scop, imbued with great powers of perception,
concludes: “Then they come from the eastern sea” (Oldham 23). Inspired
by their appearance on the scene, the scop improvises a song on the
newly arrived warriors in verse, indented, italicized and complete with
caesura!
On fa r waters weaving, the wave-fast vessel
Bent to the breeze, beaded with spray
Skimmed the green flood, her prow foam-feathered
Like white gull gliding, grace on the wing
(Oldham 23-24)
After this recitation, the scop self-consciously comments on his work, as
“a bit rough” and in need of “some polishing” (Oldham 24). This kind of
meta-narrational conceit, an example of Oldham’s commentary on her
own production of the text, reoccurs throughout the novel, with the scop