Njáls saga: Difference between revisions

Omens, prophetic dreams and supernatural foresight figure prominently in ''Njáls saga''. The role of [[Destiny|fate]] and, especially, of [[fatalism]] is, however, a matter of scholarly contention. [[Halldór Laxness]] argued that the saga is primarily a book about the fatalism inherent in [[Norse paganism]]. In his view, the course of events is foreordained from the moment Hrútr sees the thieves' eyes in his niece and until the vengeance for Njáll's burning is completed to the southeast in [[Wales]]. In this way, Laxness believed that ''Njáls saga'' attested to the presence of a "very strong heathen spirit",<ref>Icelandic "mjög sterkur heiðinglegur andi".</ref> antithetical to Christianity, in 13th century Iceland.<ref>Laxness 1997 [1945]:16–17.</ref> Magnus Magnusson wrote that "[t]he action is swept along by a powerful under-current of fate" and that Njáll wages a "fierce struggle to alter its course" but that he is nevertheless "not a fatalist in the heathen sense".<ref>Magnusson 1987 [1960]:16.</ref> [[Thorsteinn Gylfason]] rejects the idea that there is any fatalism in ''Njáls saga'', arguing that there is no hostile supernatural plan which its characters are subject to.<ref>Thorsteinn Gylfason 1998:XXIII-XXIV.</ref>

 

 

===Hrútr and Hallgerðr===