Villainy and Gender in the Íslendingasögur

Abstract

This doctoral thesis explores how villainy and violence are presented in the sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), and the different ways these depictions are affected by the gender of the character performing these actions. To do this, the thesis is separated into three chapters that look at different kinds of violent actions that are widely condemned and vilified in the sagas, and how characters that perform these actions are presented differently based on their gender, their relations, and the context. The sagas were written during a period of great social changes in Iceland, with the civil war period Age of the Sturlungs (Sturlungaöld) and the later subjugation under the Norwegian king in 1264. The Íslendingasögur have here been used as a 9 th -11 th century past constructed by the 13th -15th century Icelandic society and its anonymous authors. The views presented in the Íslendingasögur are compared with those found in contemporary laws, sources, and events. In the first chapter, the literary motif of whetting a man into doing violent actions is analysed. Whetting is here considered a way to utilise the importance of honour within Old Norse society by pressuring the whettee into doing the violent action or else lose honour. This is frequently used to explain a blood feud. It is here shown that both men and women whet, as well as servile people. For men it is generally more shameful to whet, while for women it can be considered a cruel act, but not necessarily. Chapter two examines magical violence and the supernatural. Here the views of magical violence and witchcraft found in the Íslendingasögur and in more contemporary Norse sources are compared. It is here found that female witches, in general, are less condemned than male ones, as men performing acts of magic are seen as cowardly or effeminate. However, both male and female witches can, through their actions, be considered monstrous and thus viable targets of brutal killings. In the third chapter, different acts of physical violence are studied, and the violence shown in the Íslendingasögur are compared to the view of violence in the 13th century laws and the contemporary sagas (samtiðarsögur.) Here the most negative forms physical violence are actions done with a sense of uncontrollable excess and cruelty, as well as cowardly, hidden attacks. What also matters here is the victim of the physical violence, with the harm done to defenceless women, children and old men usually being considered unviable. In the thesis it is concluded that the villain’s gender plays a large part in how their actions are received. It is also shown that socially transgressive expressions of gender and sometimes by extension sexuality are recurring features of villainous characters. It is also shown that within the sagas, acts of violence done by women are frequently presented more neutrally or positively compared to those done by men, as men’s actions are judged more by their masculinity and honour. However, this does not mean that the villainy is presented negatively in predictable ways throughout the Íslendingasögur. This is partly due to the diversity found within the Íslendingasögur corpus and the different anonymous saga authors, as well as these sagas being written within a time period in which great societal changes were introduced.