Reading Response #6

I found this saga enjoyable. It was interesting to “watch” as Ofeig used the power of persuasion and manipulation against the very confederates that were trying to manipulate and ruin his son. Again, the importance of familial ties and loyalty is demonstrated at the lengths Ofeig goes to clear his son of a wrongful charge. It states at the beginning that Ofeig “treated Odd coldly most of the time and cared little for him,” but yet Ofeig still tries to obtain justice for his son (465).

Another element of previous sagas, advice, is also present in this saga. Ofeig tries to give Odd advice or hints at the right thing to do numerous times as the story unfolds, but Odd generally ignores him and learns his lesson the hard way.

The fact that this saga was written after the saga age can be seen in a few ways. First, there is no poetry. While poetry served to give insight into characters’ emotions and explanations for events in past sagas, this absence of emotional presence is made up for through a large amount of conversation between characters. Conversation was never a big aspect of prior sagas, but in this saga it allows the reader to follow the characters, understand their actions, and observe personality traits.

Another way this saga differs from others written during the saga age is the detailed attention it gives to the law and system of justice. Prior sagas, like “Hrafnkel Frey’s Godi,” mentioned the law system and even described it slightly in a few passages, but none went into the depth found in this saga. Much of it takes place during a hearing at the Allthing, showing us how this process worked as well as the corruption of its confederates at the prospect of money.

Reading response #5

One of the things I first noticed about this saga was the concept of letting your child be reared by another, a topic we’ve discussed in previous classes. On p.440, Einar is told he must find his own work because his father Thorbjorn can no longer support him. At this point, he goes out and finds a job on Hrafnkel’s farm, working and living on his own. I thought it pretty impressive that Einar would take his burden in stride and promptly go out to find work at presumably still a somewhat-young age. I can see this concept of taking on responsibility in response to family need as another timeless idea that can be traced to our culture today. Although in America now it’s not really the norm to send a kid out to find work on their own, if a family is struggling to make ends meet, it’s almost an unspoken understanding that the kid will work for the family business however they can or at least start work elsewhere when they turn 16.

As the story of Einar continued, I was reminded a little of the Greek story of Icarus, when he fell to his death after not heeding the caution of his father to stay away from the sun. Einar didn’t see how anyone would find out about riding the stallion and was pleased with how well the horse rode. Thus he didn’t heed Hrafnkel’s warning and met his death. And, just as Einar didn’t listen to Hrafnkel, neither did Sam listen to anyone who tried to give him advice about seeking vengeance against Hrafnkel. First, Thorbjorn told him to give up the case against Hrafnkel, but Sam became stubborn and took it on as some sort of personal sacrifice. Then, everyone else Sam asked to help him out told him how stupid his mission was, but he still didn’t listen. His final act of thoughtlessness came when he refused to kill Hrafnkel, a move which pretty much ensured his own death.

Reading Response #4

I found this saga to be pretty interesting. I enjoyed finding that the Icelanders pretty much valued the same things we try to in our culture today. While reading, I couldn't help but be reminded of the 7 deadly sins that we try to avoid today. I think they're pretty much all represented in some form or another in this poem: gluttony and greed were addressed with food and drink moderation, envy and lust in the admonishments against wanting another man's wife, sloth in the passages about hard work (p.40), wrath I suppose was represented more vaguely with passages the importance of being friendly and true (instead of angry and vindictive), and pride in the stanzas stressing the importance of keeping silent when necessary and not boasting (p.30-34). I found that they really stressed honesty, moderation, and wisdom, and the importance of friendship, loyalty, hard work, and living a simple life.

Most of all, though, I felt the Icelanders placed the most importance on wisdom, for a lot of the stanzas focused on this quality. The poems spoke of how important it was for a man to be in control of his mind, to think critically, and to know the right time to speak. It intrigued me that knowing how to speak and communicate well was of such importance in this culture, because a lot of the images of the vikings today show them as a violent culture instead. This poem shows that there was much more to these people.

I also found this poem used repetition as a literary device. I think its purpose was to really make the qualities they were preaching about hit home. Since this poem was told orally for a long time, saying something over and over would be an effective way to stress the important points.

My favorite stanza was 47: "Young was I once, and wandered alone / And naught of the road I knew / Rich did I feel, when a comrade I found / For man is man's delight." I really liked this because I feel the same way when I find a true friend. Friends are extremely important to me, and having a good friend by your side means you have someone you can implicitly trust, be comfortable with, rely on, and laugh with. It's nice to see that the love of a friend is a timeless concept (especially when it is expressed so well--"man is man's delight.")

Reading Reponse #3

I didn’t enjoy this saga as much as the others. It sort of felt to me like a recitation of facts, one after another, that went on for a long time. I also got confused with all the characters that popped in and out of the saga. I did, however, enjoy Gisli’s poems more than the others we’ve read so far. To me, they sounded more straightforward and flowed a little better. Perhaps this was because there wasn’t as much confusing poetic vocabulary used in reference to simple nouns (like “bearer of the ale-horn” for “women”). Also, he wasn’t using his poems to impress anyone, merely to state his dreams, which I found to be refreshing.

As in the previous saga, fate played a major role in this story. I remember in class, we talked about how often, characters learn of their fate and try to do everything in their power to change it, but by doing so, just make it happen faster. I was reminded of that comment in this story, when the four men learned that they were fated to break apart, and tried to make a blood oath in order to prevent it the split. But Thorgrim won’t bind himself to Vestein, and Gisli then won’t be tied to Thorgrim for this, and already they see their fate coming to pass.

Dreams were also very prevalent in this saga, as in the Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue. Gisli had quite a few more dreams, though, showing the importance the Icelanders placed on them. He relied heavily on his dreams, and they always turned out to be true.

I also noted how loyalty played out in this saga. It seemed to me to be an important quality. There were two examples that stuck with me: Helgi and Aun. I was kind of shocked to find that Helgi, as Ingjald’s son, would betray his father by revealing him to Gisli’s enemies (p. 536). It seemed odd to me that a son would do this when being loyal to one’s family through revenge is so heavily stressed. Also, I was impressed by Gisli and Aun’s loyalty to each other. Gisli always came back to his wife because “they loved each other greatly,” even though he was a hunted man (p.534). And Aun stayed with and helped her husband despite his dangerous status.

Reading Respose #2

To begin, I found the preface given by the translator to be helpful for me as a beginner reader of the sagas. I liked knowing the general gist of the saga before I started reading it. It helped to orient me to the general plotline, as well as to the focus and purpose of the saga (i.e., fate).

For the most part, I enjoyed the plotline of this saga. It kind of reminded me of the old princess tales I read/watched as a kid in which the noble princes fight for the hand of the beautiful princess. When Helga was sent away into hiding from her father as a baby, I was reminded of Princess Aura in Sleeping Beauty (sent to live in hiding from the queen as an infant). However, this saga had a more serious tone and ending than those tales. As the preface indicates, this was a tragic story—no one could obtain happiness: Gunnlaug never obtained his rightful wife; Hrafn got the girl but lived in a loveless relationship in which he was both emotionally and physically reminded he wasn’t wanted; Thorkel also suffered from living in a loveless relationship with Helga, and lived very unhappily after her death; Helga loved a man she could never have, had no say in her future, and mourned the loss of her true love; and all their relatives had to live with their tragic (and somewhat unnecessary) deaths.

I noticed that there was a lot of emphasis put on features in this story. The men that were the best were “manly,” “handsome,” “athletic,” “wise,” etc. Men who did not have all these features pretty much didn’t make it into the sagas because they weren’t worth talking about. Gunnlaug himself was “manly” and very good at poetry. On the female side, Helga was praised only because she was the most beautiful in Iceland. Her purpose seemed more as a pawn in the wedding than the celebrated bride, for she was given no say in her future husband. Her beauty was quite useful to bring about the fated deaths of the two men, though, so perhaps that is why this is her only stressed trait.

While the style of writing is different than what I am used to, I find myself kind of liking the fact that once a character had served their purpose in the saga, they simply were “now out of this saga” (p.564). The Icelanders didn’t mess around with characters or events that they felt didn’t add to the story’s meaning/purpose. I also enjoyed the concept of fate in this saga. The dream’s straightforward foreshadowing of later events gave me as a reader something to look forward to. I felt it also let me focus more on the characters because I didn’t have to focus as much on the already-outlined plot.

Reading Response to Sagas #1

With this first experience with Icelandic sagas, I found that as the introduction described, the sagas were told with an unadorned prose that successfully told the tale and moral of the stories. What stuck out to me most from these stories were the traits of the characters. While this was also touched upon in the introduction, I found for myself that honor was one of the most important values in their culture. This could be seen on p. 681 where it was more important to Thorarin as a father to see his son Thorstein die trying to regain his honor than be a coward. Thorarin later proves the importance of honor again as he tries to avenge his son’s “death” with an attempted stabbing of the “killer,” Bjarni (p.683).

Another important concept in these sagas was upright character and generosity. For example, “The Tale of Audun from the West Fjords” tells of Audun’s good virtue in his gift and his religious journey, as well as King Harald’s, for permitting Audun to live. This pays off for both in the end, as Audun not only gets to keep his life, but gets all he needs to live back in Iceland, and King Harald receives a gold ring. Generosity can be seen with King Svein in his numerous gifts and kindness to Audun.

The sagas also seem to incorporate some humor into their stories, as in the poems of Sarcastic Halli to Queen Thora and in with Thorstein and Thorkel the Thin (the demon). This helped me as a reader to enjoy the sagas more as well as make them a little more realistic than preachy, since humor is part of the day-to-day life.

I also wondered what the forfeit cup was on p.688 that Halldor had to drink. Maybe I missed that in the introduction…?