Njal's Saga (39-59)

Frequently, women are bothered by their husbands, because supposedly, we have little temperament and no patience at all with them. But, is it true?

“We’re not made like women, that we become furious over everything,” said Skarphedin.
(Chp. 44, pg. 75)

At first, I thought about the Vikings’ beliefs, when Skarphedin said how they were not made. Who made them and how, anyway? Until here, the saga hasn’t mentioned anything about the Vikings’ beliefs or religion. I am curios of this and hope I’ll be able to find out later on in the book.

But then, I focused on what he said, rather than where he came from. Maybe women take everything too seriously—at least in ‘Njal’s Saga’. We can see this is true, when thinking about the ‘war’ being fought between Hallgerd and Bergthora, a common hatred that later on becomes serious, when they decide to start killing other people, who are not included in the fight (their servants).

It seemed that both of them enjoyed revenge, and even enjoyed getting mad and fighting without a good reason. If these women had acted differently, and thus, contradicted Skarphedin’s theory in the first place, then the conflict wouldn’t have prolonged. Maturely, each one of them would’ve think wise to end the battle, and, therefore, not get mad just because of some vague dislike.

But, it’s Bergthora and Hallgerd we’re talking about; what about the women in general? The women throughout the world, today? Do they get mad over everything, and certainly, would they keep on struggling forever?

In the T.V, and the movies and books, it is not always that women characters show this behaviour noted by Skarphedin. Rather, some women are even more patient than the men. In reality, women don’t get mad over everything. It does depend on who the women is, to figure out what is it that gets her mad.

There are so many razes and ethnicities and beliefs today, and therefore so many different ways of thinking and acting. This might explain the fact that for what some women could be atrocious, for some others could be everyday material.

For example, a 15-year old teenager might like for guys to flirt with her, but, these flirting thing might make a 50-year old women mad and annoyed at the boys…anyway, it’s hard to find boys that actually flirt with 50-year old women. Should they do it, they surely do it for fun.

For the women to hate and what not to, she has been influenced by her own community and world. Perhaps, a women likes to eat watching T.V, while others not, just because they were educated to think of that as lazy, and disrespectful.

The changes in moods would also affect this ‘getting-mad’ thing. It happens to me. It’s not that my sister always gets me mad. Sometimes, I get mad at her with much more ease, because I might be having a bad day.

I have yet not decided whether Skarphedin was right, or not. Because, I’m sure this is Hallgerd’s and Bergthora’s case, I’m not so sure though, if it’s my case, and the case of the rest of the women.

So, Skarphedin was right, as he was referring to Bergthora, his mom, getting mad for everything. And I’m sure that she with her enemy, Hallgerd, were both very short-tempered women. So, he expressed himself wrong—he should have named his mom only, she being the only one he wanted to refer this to.

But, the again, what did Skarphedin know? Perhaps he was referring to the women living within his community, not only his mom. Though I can’t think of any more cases, maybe all the women within the period of time did behave like that. And, it is reasonable to say that time has influenced women in general to think and feel about things in a different manner. Not only time, but their past, family and own community.

Njal's Saga (30-39)

I’d like to talk about the friendship between Gunnar and Njal. What I like so much about it, is the way that they let nothing come between them (their wives) but how the decide that it’s not their problem.

I wouldn’t have expected for Gunnar and Njal to be friends. First of all, their personalities don’t match. While Njal is more into thinking, Gunnar prefers physical power, and is more into fighting.

Njal was upset over it. Gunnar asked him why he founded so ill-advised.
“Every kind of evil will come from her when she moves east,” said Njal.
“She shall never spoil our friendship,” said Gunnar.
“It will come close to that,” said Njal, “but you will always make amends for her.”
(Chp. 33, pg. 54)

Gunnar is planning to marry Hallgerd, and Njal is upset about it. Then, Gunnar assures that this marriage of his shall never spoil our friendship. This is an example of how truly does Gunnar appreciate this friendship, and how he won’t let anything come between them.

Though Gunnar is doing something that Njal believes is imprudent, Njal whatsoever respected his friend’s choice, instead of getting mad and angry because of his friend being foolish. It might be foolish to him, but if not to Gunnar, why bother?

It is incredible how strong the bond is, for each husband not to take sides with his wife, how both Gunnar and Njal respect their friendship as much as they respect their wives.

Gunnar said that he would never trust against Njal or his sons, and she went on raging. Gunnar paid no attention.
(Chp. 37, pg. 63)

After Hallgerd’s servant is killed in order of Njal’s wife, Gunnar mentions this towards his wife. Angry and disappointed, Halberd’s leaves, because she would’ve expected for her husband to join her ‘side’. But Gunnar whatsoever understand that the ‘war’ is hers, along with Njal’s wives. So both husbands decide to remain aside. Gunnar makes it clear to his wife, that no matter she does and thinks, his friendship with Njal will carry on.

So, no matter whether their wives are complete enemies (that they kill each other’s servants) Gunnar and Njal persist to be friendly.

“You two are a real match for each other,” said Hallgerd. “Both of you are soft.”
(Chp. 38, pg.66)

Even their wives agree with the strong bond between their husbands. Soft, in a psychological way, because Gunnar is not at all flexible in the physical sense; in a way that they agree in paying for their wives’ mistakes and endless envies, in a way that they understand how it must be hard to deal with such woman.

Whether this type of friendship were to be produced in reality, I bet it wouldn’t last. I guess it would be because the smart one thinking as the strong one to be kind of dumb, to prefer to fight rather than think about it. And, so it would happen backwards; the strong one would think the smart one was a coward, because of not wanting to fight.

This friendship shows that if tried out, it will be possible for two people to persist friends, no matter all the obstacles blocking the way, or bad influences that might break the relationship once and for all.

The friendship between these two characters shows us that it is possible for two totally different people to be friends, as long as they respected each other’s beliefs and likes.

Njal's Saga (19-29)

Turns out Vikings weren’t as I expected—or at least the Vikings that have been mentioned so far in Njal’s Saga. The Media has been showing me Vikings that are supposedly big, old, stubborn, fat men (and by the Media I mean comics, drawings, etc). When we were told in class that we were going to read Icelandic Sagas, my mind immediately turned to what for me was a traditional Viking.

I imagined for the Saga to mainly talk about these Vikings’ life, which I thought was going to be mostly about violence, or rather stupid fights and daily problems that they would deal with; I pictured fights over a small pieces of terrain, or food, or any other kind of property. In conclusion, never would I have related, say, warriors of Troy, to Vikings.

But the Saga had indeed shown me otherwise, and many ways in which I can relate them.

To start off, Gunnar. Never would I have imagined a Vikings with such positive qualities, and so many. Not only was Gunnar an excellent sword fighter, but he was pretty good with bow and arrow too. He could jump twice his height, and he swam like a seal (Pg. 35). He was handsome, too. And now I compare him to my ‘Viking-rough model’ guy (which is the picture posted with this entry), and notice that it is little they have in common.

What about Njal? It was pretty hard for me to get used to a good-looking Viking (Gunnar), and kept forgetting he was an actual Viking. And then, comes Njal, and he was so well versed in the law that he had no equal, and he was wise and prophetic, sound of advice and well-intentioned, and whatever course he counselled turned out well (Pg. 35). A smart Viking? In my mind, it was connecting two totally different words, that I’d never thought about them meaning one thing.

Perhaps the reason why I thought so differently of Vikings, is because I related them to ‘Barbaric’. I have to understand, now thinking about it, that they are two different words, and they mean something different;

According to the Dictionary, Viking means any of the Scandinavian pirates who plundered the coasts of Europe from the 8th to 10th centuries.

Barbaric means without civilizing influences; uncivilized; primitive.

Though they could related, a Barbaric is not a Viking, as a Viking is not automatically Barbaric; that is more of a personal opinion, that it is up for the Viking himself to decide whether he wants to become Barbaric. True, the Vikings are pirates but they can still be civilized.

Therefore, I now know that the Vikings are not Barbaric; you can’t just think that all hippies are drug-dealers. True, some might like to smoke something once in a while, yet being a hippy shouldn’t make you a drug dealer…that way, not all Vikings are Barbaric.

What I used to think about Vikings, now I realize, must have been a stereotype. It certainly doesn’t mean that if one Viking (or just a couple) turned out to be grumpy and mean and fat, all Vikings will then be that way. I am glad I have realized this; I am once more aware of Vikings, in another way, and have enjoyed what I’ve read so far, of Njal’s Saga.