Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1994, Page 92

Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1994, Page 92
90 Fredrik J. Heinemann that Freyr is a bad god in the way he tricks Einarr into riding Freyfaxi. The sheep disappear and then miraculously reappear after Einarr has searched for them in vein. AJl the mares which Einarr is permitted to ride flee, and Freyfaxi stands ready to be mounted, as if he were rooted to the earth. Freyfaxi himself is a type of bad Lassie, an animal-agent that tempts Einarr to ride him and then betrays him to Hrafnkell after he has done so. Freyr seems intent on having a human sacrifice, and Einarr falls into the trap.11 Other sagas replace paganism with Christianity, but Hrajhkels saga stops short of this option, perhaps on chronolog- ical grounds (Andersson 1967:282-83). III. The Punishment. And thus the shepherd meets his sad end. The essential ingredient here is that Hrafnkell’s act appears unjust and the result of his rash oath. Whatever the causes of his other killings might have been — and the saga suggests that his sole motivation is that they are all men of Jökulsdal and thus his enemies — he kills Einarr only because of the oath. Even in committing the act, Hrafnkell is perfectly conscious of the rashness of his oath. He does not want to commit the reprehensible deed, regrets it immediately, and blames it on his oath — and thus his faith in the gods. If we regard the saga’s treatment of Hrafnkell in the first three segments, he loosely fits Aristotle’s defmition of the tragic hero as “a man not pre-eminently virtuous and just, whose misfortune, however, is brought upon him not by vice and depravity but by some error of judgement” (Aristotle 1988:50). Hrafnkell’s tragic flaw is his paganism and the pride he takes in the protection he falsely believes Freyr provides him. What he does not recognize — and all classical tragic heroes possess incomplete knowledge — is the unreliability of this belief system. His remorse at killing Einarr and his humiliation at the hands of his enemies teach him this bitterlesson. Hrafnkell’s experiences “purge” (Andersson 1967:282) him of the debilitating pride that brought him low. But such judgments really cannot be made at this point in the saga. Much is left to come. IV. TheArbitration. This segment characterizes Hrafnkell favorably and Þorbjörn negatively during their unsuccessful arbitration of Einarr’s death. Initially amen- able, Hrafnkell makes an offer but then breaks off negotiations when Þorbjörn demands that the case be submitted to public arbitration. This scene portrays the breakdown as occurring not because Hrafnkell offers too little but because Þorbjörn demands too much, namely social equality with Hrafnkell {þáþykkiskþú jajhmenntr mér, 106). Þorbjörn desires the honor to be 11 This is a point that emerged in a seminar discussion at the annual Viking Society meeting for students on March 7, 1992, held at the University of Leeds. Participating at this point in the discussion, if memory serves me correctly, were Diane Whaley, Richard North, Peter Orton, Bernard Standring, and myself. The insight developed as a joint effort, each of these speakers adding a bit as the discussion progressed. Another point was made later by a Leeds student who suggested that Freyr was testing Hrafnkell, saying, in effect, “you made the oath to kill anyone who rides the horse, well, then, prove your devotion to me”!
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
Page 49
Page 50
Page 51
Page 52
Page 53
Page 54
Page 55
Page 56
Page 57
Page 58
Page 59
Page 60
Page 61
Page 62
Page 63
Page 64
Page 65
Page 66
Page 67
Page 68
Page 69
Page 70
Page 71
Page 72
Page 73
Page 74
Page 75
Page 76
Page 77
Page 78
Page 79
Page 80
Page 81
Page 82
Page 83
Page 84
Page 85
Page 86
Page 87
Page 88
Page 89
Page 90
Page 91
Page 92
Page 93
Page 94
Page 95
Page 96
Page 97
Page 98
Page 99
Page 100
Page 101
Page 102
Page 103
Page 104
Page 105
Page 106
Page 107
Page 108
Page 109
Page 110
Page 111
Page 112
Page 113
Page 114
Page 115
Page 116
Page 117
Page 118
Page 119
Page 120
Page 121
Page 122
Page 123
Page 124
Page 125
Page 126
Page 127
Page 128
Page 129
Page 130
Page 131
Page 132
Page 133
Page 134
Page 135
Page 136
Page 137
Page 138
Page 139
Page 140
Page 141
Page 142
Page 143
Page 144
Page 145
Page 146
Page 147
Page 148
Page 149
Page 150
Page 151
Page 152
Page 153
Page 154
Page 155
Page 156
Page 157
Page 158
Page 159
Page 160
Page 161
Page 162
Page 163
Page 164
Page 165
Page 166
Page 167
Page 168
Page 169
Page 170
Page 171
Page 172
Page 173
Page 174
Page 175
Page 176
Page 177
Page 178
Page 179
Page 180
Page 181
Page 182
Page 183
Page 184
Page 185
Page 186
Page 187
Page 188
Page 189
Page 190
Page 191
Page 192
Page 193
Page 194
Page 195
Page 196
Page 197
Page 198
Page 199
Page 200
Page 201
Page 202
Page 203
Page 204
Page 205
Page 206
Page 207
Page 208
Page 209
Page 210
Page 211
Page 212
Page 213
Page 214
Page 215
Page 216
Page 217
Page 218
Page 219
Page 220
Page 221
Page 222
Page 223
Page 224
Page 225
Page 226
Page 227
Page 228
Page 229
Page 230
Page 231
Page 232
Page 233
Page 234
Page 235
Page 236
Page 237
Page 238
Page 239
Page 240
Page 241
Page 242
Page 243
Page 244
Page 245
Page 246
Page 247
Page 248
Page 249
Page 250
Page 251
Page 252
Page 253
Page 254
Page 255
Page 256
Page 257
Page 258
Page 259
Page 260

x

Skáldskaparmál

Direct Links

If you want to link to this newspaper/magazine, please use these links:

Link to this newspaper/magazine: Skáldskaparmál
https://timarit.is/publication/1141

Link to this issue:

Link to this page:

Link to this article:

Please do not link directly to images or PDFs on Timarit.is as such URLs may change without warning. Please use the URLs provided above for linking to the website.