The Icelandic Canadian - 01.11.2007, Qupperneq 18

60
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 61 #2
Gudrun the visionary
The Hovering Metaphysical Love
by Robert Tate
The depths of winter can wreak havoc
in the mind, far, far from warm waters and
rays glistening on skin. Somberness brews
in shadows of constant fire where smoke
seeps into the lungs, blocking clear passage
of long forgotten clean air. Bed becomes
profane in the perversion of passivity, at
once a welcome respite amidst autumn’s
death, then decaying into the chaos of nyc-
tophobia, insomnia, fatigue. What mysteri-
ous periods are those that are now equated
with medical illness and disregarded as,
shall I say, invaluable lulls, important for
questioning our complexities of nature?
Did not Descartes do his best thinking in
the comfort of his bed? These extended
durations, lurking incessantly on the brink
of sleep and sentience are not desirable to
many, albeit living in a culture of vanity
and harsh realism, bereft of emotion-shar-
ing, it may be difficult to accept the thau-
maturgical benefits of deep sleep.
However, to the Icelanders in the saga ages
through today, the dream-state is not
shrugged off the shoulder of significance
too quickly. The interpretation of dreams
has been a tradition in Iceland since settle-
ment in the 9th and 10th centuries, brought
from other lands and locked in that land-
locked nation ever since, putting fate forev-
er close to home and the superhuman near
to earth.
Gudrun Osvifsdottir of Laxdxla Saga
may have gone out to cleanse more than
just her clothing at the hot-springs of
Stelingsdale on the day she recited her
dreams of the previous winter to Gest
Oddleifsson, a wise chieftain, of which four
in particular “disturbed (her) greatly.”1 It
was spring; a time to purge the collected
demons of winter, which can only be
understood at a visceral level by those that
dwell in climates that experience extreme
fluctuations in perennial shifts, like
Icelanders or, say, Winnipeggers. I am
speaking of spring to be a period of rebirth
or awakening.
Gudrun asks Gest to interpret her
dreams and is not scared of hearing any-
thing that may be dissatisfying, as she
mentions that previous allegorizations
have not satiated her, presumably due to
their positive attributes. Rightly so, for if
Gudrun had experienced a winter depres-
sion, as I am implying, why would she
have accepted anything that made light of
her anxious state? It is then obvious that
Gudrun knows her dreams are not posi-
tive ones and assurance from a respectful
outsider would confirm any inhibitions to
believe such a terrible destiny. Her dissat-
isfaction of these previous interpretations
is indicative of her stubbornness, indepen-
dence and strength of personality that is
exemplified in the first dream, which
makes Gudrun stand apart from many
medieval female characters in world litera-
ture. In it, she is reluctantly wearing a
head-dress and despite others’ advice to
hold it dearly, she throws it to water and
rids herself of it. So we get a sense that
Gudrun will not suffer to please others; a
perfect attitude of character for one in a
love story. Gest interprets this as her first
husband, as each dream, symbolizes each
husband she will have and tragically, the
loss of each as well.
In Gripisspa it is said, “one cannot
escape one’s destiny”2 and thus Gudrun’s
first husband becomes a man named
Thorvald Halldorsson of Garpsdale. Like
the headdress, Thorvald does not become
Gudrun and she must get rid of him. She
divorces him on account of his wearing
feminine clothing, which Gudrun made
for him following the malicious advice of