by Audrey Wahking
Set in Iceland’s Viking era, Grettir’s Saga follows the life of Grettir Asmundarson—a famously strong, cunning, and cursed man—as he fights enemies and rids Iceland of the undead, completing many cruel and heroic deeds along his journey. While the text focuses primarily on Grettir and other men, women make up a large and vital part of the saga. Women are frequently directly responsible for Grettir’s survival—Asdis provides Grettir with a critical weapon when he has none; Thorbjorn persuades farmers against hanging him. Thorstein, Grettir’s brother and avenger, is ransomed by Spes. Consequently, though Grettir’s Saga concentrates on the actions of men, it also explores the lives of women and offers a portrayal of the place and treatment of women in Icelandic society. Generally unable to match the physical strength of men, women can achieve an exceptional status in their world by relying on other nonviolent resources and skills such as courage, mental fortitude, foresight, wisdom, community, and luck. Ultimately, however, women must live in an inegalitarian society constricted by Iceland’s patriarchy; therefore, women who fall outside what society sees as natural are marginalised and feared. Due to society’s male-centric view, women are often not seen as fully autonomous humans but as undervalued objects or workers to be bartered for, used, or stolen from other men.
In Icelandic society, it is a fact of life that women are physically weaker than men—Grettir demonstrates this idea when he laughs at Thorstein’s body, saying, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen arms more like tongs. I would scarcely imagine you have the strength of a woman” (Grettir’s Saga 115). Unlike men—who often physically fight to settle disputes and gain prestige through tests of strength—Icelandic women cannot rely on their muscles to advance their position in society. As a result, they must use skills outside of physical strength to earn respect and thrive in their world.
An example of a powerful, nonviolent woman is Grettir’s mother, Asdis, who is widely respected for her bravery, mental strength, and foresight. When Grettir faces banishment, his father refuses to give him any weapons out of spite (Grettir’s Saga 44). Asdis, however, recognises the dangers and uncertainties of the world they live in and decides to give Grettir a “fine” family sword against her husband’s wishes (Grettir’s Saga 45). Asdis’ foresight in giving Grettir a weapon proves invaluable when Grettir later uses the sword to kill the revenant Kar (Grettir’s Saga 52) and eventually other foes. Her uncanny foresight even allows her to accurately prophesize the deaths of Illugi and Grettir on Drangey island due to witchcraft. While she cautions them that “[f]ew things are more powerful than the old ways of sorcery”, she knows that regardless of her warnings, her sons “will be cut down by weapons” (Grettir’s Saga 184). Though Asdis weeps afterwards at the thought of their deaths, she has the mental fortitude to do what she thinks must be done and send both her sons away, having prepared them as best she can. Towards the end of the saga, Asdis demonstrates profound courage and self-possession when Thorbjorn Hook—the killer of Grettir and Illugi—confronts her. After Hook arrives at her house with twenty men, he cruelly taunts Asdis in verse with the severed head of Grettir, telling her to “take care to cake it with salt” for it “will rot on you quickly” (Grettir’s Saga 217). Contrary to Hook’s expectations, Asdis does not break down at the horrific reminder of her son’s death; instead, she retains her dignity and replies with her own scathing poem, saying: “Think how sheep leap down / to the sea when a fox gives chase: / for that’s how you’d have fared… before [Grettir’s] sickness struck.” (Grettir’s Saga 217). Asdis’ scornful berating of Hook for killing Grettir dishonourably leads many to say: “it was no wonder that her sons were so courageous, when she herself was so brave in the face of such an ordeal as this” (Grettir’s Saga 218). Asdis is so respected in her community that “all the people of Midfjord supported her” in the ensuing Althing (Iceland’s version of a legal trial), “even those who had earlier been Grettir’s enemies” (Grettir’s Saga 216). Through completely peaceful means, Asdis is highly regarded in Icelandic society due to her extraordinary courage, mental strength in the face of hardship, and acute foresight.
Like Asdis, Thorbjorn the Stout is another woman whom society widely respects for her wisdom and decision-making. Described as a “commanding and clever woman”, Thorbjorn takes control and makes “all decisions” when her chieftain husband Vermund is away. On one such occasion, she stops a group of farmers (who all “greet her well” and respect her) from hanging Grettir (Grettir’s Saga 141). Even more impressively, Thorbjorn makes the famously obstinate and aggressive Grettir swear to stop raiding people in Isafjord and not take revenge on the farmers who captured him. Though Grettir later admits “it had been the greatest test of his self-control not to strike those men who had been so boastful about capturing him” (Grettir’s Saga 142), he keeps his oath to Thorbjorn and even praises her with the poetic talent he usually uses to disparage others, calling her “wise in all matters” (Grettir’s Saga 143). When pressed by her husband on why she saved Grettir’s life, Thorbjorn proves her wisdom by giving three reasons: Vermund’s prestige will grow when “it becomes known that [he has] a wife with the courage to act in this way”, Grettir’s kinswoman Hrefna asked her to look out for him, and Grettir is “a man who can do things others cannot” (Grettir’s Saga 143). Thorbjorn’s third reason most reveals her rationality and wisdom because it demonstrates her ability to look past Grettir’s immediate transgressions against her people. She acknowledges that, despite his flaws, Grettir can do many difficult and invaluable things, such as ridding the world of the undead.
The last chapters of Grettir’s Saga introduce Spes—another powerful woman who thrives in society through nonviolent means. “[P]roud and strong-willed”, Spes uses her cleverness, high-ranking birth, community, and innate luck to command the men in her life and achieve every goal she sets her mind to (Grettir’s Saga 225). Spes acts as a foil to the saga’s protagonist—where she maintains her agency, community, and good luck, Grettir fails to do the same. While Grettir loses much of his agency after the revenant Glam takes away his ability to grow stronger, live in society, and not fear the dark (Grettir’s Saga 102), Spes keeps her agency and independence. For example, Spes chooses to buy Thorstein’s freedom from the Varangians and succeeds “because of the position she enjoyed and her wealth” (Grettir’s Saga 226). In saving Thorstein from death, she subverts the saga’s consistent portrayal of women as helpless damsels who always require men’s protection and possession. When her husband Harald Signurdanrson complains that Spes spends his wealth too freely, she replies: “When we were married I told you… that I intended to remain free and independent and that I would be able to use your money in all matters that concerned me”, thus safeguarding her independence. Though not all of Spes’ actions align with Christian moral standards—she continually lies and cheats on her husband with Thorstein—all of Spes’ choices are her own. Furthermore, while Glam curses Grettir to struggle as an outlaw in the wilds alone (Grettir’s Saga 102), Spes maintains her supportive community of kin and women. “Many wealthy women accompan[y]” Spes to her pivotal oath swearing (Grettir’s Saga 231), and her relatives win her Harald’s wealth by speaking up on her behalf (Grettir’s Saga 233). In contrast, Grettir is forced to spend much of his time in isolation—though he often “sought the support of many men of standing… always something got in the way so that no one took him in.” (Grettir’s Saga 144). In addition to her intelligence and social status, Spes’ possession of luck also contributes to her power. While modern western thought defines luck as coincidental or unpredictable, in the Icelandic sagas, the opposite holds true. As Sommer notes, luck in Norse culture is a “quality inherent in the man and his lineage, a part of his personality similar to his strength, intelligence, or skill with weapons”, which expresses itself in “desirable characteristics” and “in events shaping themselves according to the wishes of the lucky man.” (275). Endowed with Norse luck, Spes shapes every event to her advantage: she frees Thorstein, runs rings around her husband in an almost comical fashion, evades the death penalty for adultery, earns the respect of Thorstein’s Icelandic family, and eventually dictates the end of her and Thorstein’s lives. Even after deciding to fully confess all her sins to the church in Rome, Spes only “received light treatment” and was “relieved, as much as possible, from all fines of penance” (Grettir’s Saga 237). Spes’ possession of luck serves to juxtapose Grettir’s characteristic bad luck. While the hardships Grettir faces are often caused by his decisions, frequently, they are due to ill fortune, as seen when he accidentally sets a house on fire and kills twelve men (Grettir’s Saga 109). Although they are unable to resort to brute force to make their way in the world like men, Asdis, Thorbjorn the Stout, and Spes demonstrate how women can gain power through nonviolent traits such as courage, mental fortitude, wisdom, community, and luck.
While Icelandic society allows resourceful or skilled women to gain influence in their communities, women who obtain power in seemingly unnatural or non-normative ways are ostracised and feared by society. Towards the saga’s end, a female witch finally kills Grettir. Thorbjorn Hook, who holds the task of removing Grettir from Drangey island, calls upon his foster-mother Thurid, who “had been skilled in magic and sorcery” back when people “were still pagan” (Grettir’s Saga 201). After Iceland converted to Christianity, society shunned pagan rites and punished people who practised them in public with lesser outlawry, isolating people like Thurid (Grettir’s Saga 202). Though Thurid is marginalised and considered unimportant, she succeeds where so many men have failed in killing Grettir. Through witchcraft, Thurid sends a cursed tree trunk to Drangey that causes Grettir to injure himself severely (Grettir’s Saga 206) and sends Hook to finish a sickly Grettir off during a conjured storm (Grettir’s Saga 211). In his dying days, Grettir admits his defeat by Thurid’s mighty hand, saying in verse, “Time after time I save / my neck from their probing spears… But, mumbling her spells, that haggard / crone with her stone-set necklace stumbled me…” (Grettir’s Saga 208). While many men swear revenge on Grettir for what he has done to themselves or their kin, very few succeed. Conversely, Thurid accomplishes her vow to “avenge the harm that has been done to me” through her cursed tree trunk which cuts Grettir’s “right leg above the knee… to the bone”, just as Grettir shattered her leg with a thrown stone (Grettir’s Saga 204).
After Hook kills Grettir, Illugi, and their servant Glaum, he seeks compensation for ending the legendary outlaw’s life. However, even Thorir—one of Grettir’s greatest enemies—refuses by saying, “I never intended to take his life by making myself a criminal or a conjurer as you have done. Rather than seeing you paid, it seems to me that you deserve death for magic and sorcery” (Grettir’s Saga 216). Although many men want Grettir dead, the fear and taboo of sorcery prevent them from condoning Hook’s accomplishment. Even Hook himself appears uneasy or ashamed about the way he succeeded through Thurid’s sorcery, as seen when he blatantly lies to Grettir, saying, “Christ showed us the way” to Drangey (Grettir’s Saga 213). At the Althing, Hook goes unrewarded and is effectively banished from society for the crime of benefiting from magic (Grettir’s Saga 219). People’s refusal to accept Grettir’s killing demonstrates the unease men and society show around women who cannot be controlled by ordinary means and gain power through mystical abilities. Regardless of her methods, Thurid was able to kill Grettir—a feat no man could accomplish with ordinary strength or trickery—yet she remained a marginalised and feared character, dismissed as possessing “no value in important matters” by society (Grettir’s Saga 202).
Although some women can attain exceptionality by standard or supernatural means, most ordinary women in Iceland live in a society that consistently devalues them, scorns and trivialises ‘women’s work’, and ignores the fact that women’s labour enables society to function. On top of the ordeals of everyday life under Iceland’s patriarchy, women must face the additional danger of sexual violence as they are not viewed as fully autonomous humans. As Evans points out, “The nature of skaldic verse is such that it both objectifies and immobilises its object. As it is the man who almost invariably speaks, the female object is denied voice as well as agency” (263-264). Throughout Grettir’s Saga, women regularly remain unnamed and are treated more like static, interchangeable objects than individual people. For example, although she speaks multiple times, Thorfinn Karsson’s wife is never referred to by name; instead, she is always the “mistress of the house” or the “housewife”, forever positioned in relation to Thorfinn and relegated to the role of wife. In addition, during the Saddle-Head Verses chapter, Grettir speaks to two messengers: the saga names the first male messenger Halli; the second messenger goes only by “woman” or “well-born” lady (Grettir’s Saga 125). Though both messengers are trivial characters and equally insignificant to the overarching plot, only the man is named.
Besides not giving female characters names, Icelandic society in Grettir’s Saga also disregards women by praising men for their public acts of heroism, leadership, and adventure, while typically trivialising the labour women undertake and expecting women to carry out domestic acts in private without recognition. For example, when Asmund tasks Grettir with managing geese and rubbing Asmund’s back, Grettir derides the domestic work as “unimportant” or a “weakling’s job” (Grettir’s Saga 34-35). In contrast, Grettir later approves of a horse herding role, praising it as “manly work” (though he later fails at this task as well) (Grettir’s Saga 36). Throughout the saga, unnamed and invisible women “work the wool” (Grettir’s Saga 35), give directions (Grettir’s Saga 128), and “hang tapestries” (Grettir’s Saga 57). While Iceland celebrates and records the public exploits of men (Grettir’s Saga follows a man’s life and adventures in outlawry), it minimises and devalues the ‘women’s work’ that allows households, farms, and society to function, reinforcing the idea that women are inferior to men and women’s labour should be taken for granted.
The terminology in Grettir’s Saga further underpins the idea of women as subordinate to men by characterising women more as valuable goods than fully independent people. While describing the marriage of Onund (Grettir’s grandfather) and Aesa, the text recounts how Onund and his friend, Thrand, speak with Aesa’s father, Ofeig, while the voice of Aesa is noticeably absent. Ofeig and Thrand bargain back and forth—Ofeig doubts Onund’s walking capabilities due to his wooden leg; Thrand counters that Onund is more “vigorous” than men with two legs. Eventually, both parties strike “a bargain” by which Aesa is “bound by agreement to wait three winters” to marry Onund (Grettir’s Saga 13). The materialistic terminology of bartering and trade that the saga utilises exemplifies how Icelandic society views women as prized objects belonging to men. With the proper incentive, ownership of women can be transferred between men, as seen when “Asmund won Asdis”, thus becoming Asdis’ father’s “trusted friend” (Grettir’s Saga 33). On one level, men evaluate women as commodities instead of individuals, with suitors and fathers weighing various incentives such as wealth, familial prestige, and social network expansion while arranging women’s marriages.
Although most women accept and benefit from marriage, society’s underlying view of women as inferior, transferable goods leads women in Grettir’s Saga to face an additional threat that men do not: the risk of sexual assault. The text describes characters like Thorir Paunch and Ogmund the Ill-Willed roaming the countryside and “taking men’s wives and daughters” to keep “them for a week or a half a month before sending them back home” (Grettir’s Saga 57). The implicit sexual violence in this passage conveys the terrifying reality that Icelandic women face—it is not unheard of for women to be kidnapped and raped at the hands of stronger men. When Thorir and his men arrive at Thorfinn’s house while he is away, Thorir tells Thorfinn’s wife, “You will receive a man in his place, as will your daughter and all the other women in this household”, causing the women to flee to the back of the house and weep with overwhelming fear (Grettir’s Saga 57). Although Thorir is an outlaw of Iceland, his words and actions demonstrate society’s view of women as part of a man’s property that can be taken and abused as a form of retaliation against men. After Grettir kills the would-be rapists, Thorfinn’s wife thanks him by saying, “You have freed me and my household from a shame. We would never have recovered from this disgrace had you not saved us.” Interestingly, she believes that the shame of rape falls upon women instead of men, further illuminating society’s male-centric mindset wherein women are sexual objects that can be soiled or shamed for the advantage and satisfaction of men.
Though Grettir saves Thorfinn’s wife and household from the berserkers, winning Kar’s sax in the process, the saga’s protagonist himself later rapes a maidservant after she mocks his penis size. The saga depicts the event as a humorous occurrence, focusing on Grettir’s witty and obscene verses and glossing over the actual assault. However, the brief description of the characters’ physical actions belies the superficial comedy, instead conveying an undercurrent of violence and terror: Grettir “grabbed hold of [the maidservant]”, “threw her up” on a bench, and told her “Woman, prepare for action!”; the bystander farmer’s daughter “ran out” (perhaps in fear of becoming a second victim); the maidservant “screamed at the top of her lungs” (Grettir’s Saga 198). In minimising the violence of the brutal rape and portraying it in a comedic light, the saga demonstrates how Icelandic society normalises sexual violence against women.
Grettir’s Saga portrays women as equally complex and varied in personality and skill as men. Their characters can range from the bravery and self-sacrifice of Asdis to the extreme cruelty of Thorbjorn Hook’s stepmother (who stabbed Hook’s eye out with his wooden toy) (Grettir’s Saga 188). Women fulfil many vital roles in society, from “guardians for family honour” to “political leaders, wives, lovers, mistresses of houses, independent widows, nuns, serving-maids, and witches” (Grettir’s Saga xvi). They must survive in the same harsh landscape as men; however, they face the additional challenge of living in a patriarchal society that devalues their worth as people and trivialises their everyday labour which enables society’s survival. “To recognise this fact”, as Evans writes in their discussion of Icelandic saga masculinity, “is to recognise the contingency and fragility of masculinity, and its ultimate dependence on femininity.” (265). All Grettir’s adventures—and indeed life itself in Iceland—are only possible because of the undervalued and invisible domestic and care work of ordinary women. Ultimately, although women like Asdis, Thorbjorn the Stout, and Spes can attain power through societally endorsed traits such as exceptional courage, mental fortitude, foresight, wisdom, community, and luck, men generally treat women as manipulatable goods without complete control over their futures. Women who gain power by supernatural means unknown to society are feared and rejected by men, while women without any extraordinary advantage face the dehumanising threat of sexual violence and rape.
Works Cited
Evans, Gareth L. “Models of Men: The Construction and Problematization of Masculinities
in the Íslendingasögur.” University of Oxford (United Kingdom), 2015.
https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/models-men-construction- problematization/docview/1937369525/se-2?accountid=14656. Accessed 22 Apr.
2022.
Grettir’s Saga. Translated by Jesse Byock, Oxford World’s Classic, 2009.
Sommer, Bettina Sejbjerg. “The Norse Concept of Luck.” Scandinavian Studies, vol. 79, no.
3, 2007, pp. 275–94, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40920756. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.