Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1994, Page 83

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injustice is upset. The most immoderate act of all, Hrafnkell’s devotion to Freyr,
sets the narrative in motion.
Structure
The following analysis of the structure of the saga owes much to the method of
the French semiologist Algirdas Julien Greimas.3 Without giving anything like a
complete description of his method, I will employ his insights into the structure
of narrative both to show that Hrafnkell reforms in the course of the saga and
also to justify his killing of Eyvindr. Greimas attempts to reduce the structure of
any narrative to certain basic elements without which the story cannot be told.
According to his system, if we take any one of the following twelve elements out
of the saga, the nature of the saga would change drastically. These elements are
not summaries of the plot, but rather key thematic points which move the
narrative along. First the twelve:
I. Oath
IV. Arbitration
VII. Enforcement
X. Revenge
II. Transgression
V. Recruiting
VIII. Restoration
XI. Self-Judgment
III. Punishment
VI. Trial
IX. Return
XII. Appeal
The twelve syntagmatic segments indicate key junctures in the saga. They are
points at which a significant strain of action ends and a new action commences.
They can be imagined as links in a narrative chain. As with any chain, each link
is a detachable part of the whole. As links are added or removed, the chain is
modified. We can also think of the links as synapses, points at which narrative
energy is transferred as it moves along the circuit. The segments are more abstract
than plot details in that the latter are interchangeable with virtually any other
narrative events. For example, in summarizing Hrafinkels saga, we might explain
how Einarr came to Aðalból, why he rode Freyfaxi despite the prohibition, and
how Freyfaxi betrays Einarr. The following diagram represents this course of
action and the relationship between a segment and plot details:
NARRATIVE SEGMENT: (II. TRANSGRESSION)
PLOT
(Hrafnkell hires Einarr as shepherd/
Einarr searches for sheep/Einarr rides Freyfaxi)
3 For an application of his method to the saga, see Fidjestol (1977).