Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Page 118

116
Alison Finlay
having a right of veto when her husband is chosen. There is no suggestion of any
disharmony in the marriage that follows.
Even in a saga where the woman is known to be interested in another suitor,
the father’s right to dispose of his daughter is not challenged. In Hallfreðar saga,
when the hero objects to Kolfmna’s betrothal to another man, she rebukes him
with ‘Láttu þá fyrir því sjá, er ráða eigu’ [Leave that to those whose business it is
to decide]. This despite the fact that, moments later, she is sitdng on his knee
while they exchange kisses — as, thesaga tells us, theyfrequentlydo (ÍF 8,145-46).
Here the heroine herself endorses the rebuke of one of Hallfreðr’s opponents,
‘mun Avaldi eiga ráð dóttur sinnar’ (146) [it is for Avaldi to arrange his daughter’s
marriage].
We may, however, read authorial comment into the account, in Gunnlaugssaga,
of the arrangement of the two betrothals of Helga, first (informally) to Gunnlaugr
and then to his rival Hrafn. These are conducted through a multiplicity of
consultations, involving not merely the suitors and Helga’s father, but also the
male patrons: Gunnlaugr’s father Illugi, and Hrafn’s kinsman Skafti Þóroddsson.
The fact that Helga’s opinion is not referred to is brought into focus by the
retrospective comment, at the end of the chapter detailing the negotiations:
‘Helga hugði illt til ráða’ (IF 3, 82) [Helga was not pleased with the match].
(ii) Where a woman is consulted about a prospective marriage, this is presented
as a concession to her on her father’s part. Jochens rightly seeks to explain those
apparently pointless examples where autonomy is, as it were, offered only to be
snatched away, where a woman is consulted but meekly refers the decision back
to her father. For example, from Þorsteins saga hvíta:1 ’
Var þetta mál upp borit fyrir Helgu, ok fundusk eigi afsvpr í hennar máli. (IF 11, 8)
The matter was raised before Helga, and no refusal was to be found in her speech.
But the formula can have a more constructive effect, as in Bjarnar saga, where
it is used to affirm the love between the couple:
Þorkell tók þessu vel ok skaut mjpk til ráða dóttur sinnar; en sakar þess, at henni var
Bjprn kunnigr áðr, ok þau hafði elskazk sín í millum mjpk kærliga, þá játaði hon. (IF
3, 114)
Þorkell received this favourably and put great weight on his daughter’s opinion. And
because Bjgrn was already known to her, and they had come to love each other very
dearly, she agreed.
15 Further examples of women who are consulted but leave the decision to their fathers are given
byA.C. Kersbergen, Littemire Motieven iri de Njála (Rotterdam, 1927), 109.