Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1992, Page 259

Reykjahólabók
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courtiers’ friendship. The static quality of the scene is extraordinary, as is the
summary manner in which such an important decision, with its attendant
rejection of a sacred vow, is taken. The scene lacks suspense and a sense of
the dramatic. The emperor’s emotions remain a mystery, while he appears to
be nothing but a pawn of his retainers, subject to their will.
In Reykjahólabók the negotiations between the emperor and his
counsellors are depicted quite differently. Two chapters (4-5) are devoted to
the deliberations and negotiations as well as the emperor’s efforts to arrive at
a decision (1:42:21-44:28). The episode is divided into three scenes, signalled
by entrances and exits, and extending over time. The first encounter between
the emperor and his retainers is presented as dialogue. Hendrek does not
respond to the request but asks instead for time to reflect on the matter
(42:21-43:2). The second scene presents the emperor’s quandary in what
approximates an interior monologue (43:3-22). He not only considers the
consequences to himself and his realm if he refuses to marry, but also attempts
to fathom God’s reaction were he to break his vow. Finally, the third and
longest scene is subdivided into the counsellors’ repetition of their request and
the emperor’s objection to the same on the grounds of his vow of chastity; the
counsellors’ objections with arguments that reiterate the emperor’s earlier
private deliberations; and the emperor’s subsequent decision to seek a wife.
The protracted tripartite episode of the saga, with its dialogue and
interior monologue, is quite unlike the predominantly third-person narrative
of the Passionael. The action in the saga is developed in as leisurely a manner
as in a novel, while the reader is permitted a glimpse into the psyche of the
main character. This latter aspect is lacking not only in the Passionael but
also in Ebernand von Erfurt’s thirteenth-century verse-legend; yet this
ultimate literary source of the legend already contained a hint of the
extended and repeated deliberations that characterize the saga. When the
counsellors approach their emperor,
sie táten só die heren tuont,
die ere gerne héten:
mit bete und ouch mit réten
wart ez genuoc ane getriben,
ungezwít sie dannoch bliben,
sie báten, er versagete,
ze lest man ez dó tagete,
wan daz er sich beriete baz:
daz liez der hére sunder haz. (vv. 764-72)33
33 They did what lords do who are concerned about honor: they reiterated their pleas
and counsel, yet they failed to come to an agreement. They pleaded, he refused;
finally the decision was postponed, until he could reflect on the matter further;
amicably everyone agreed to this.