Møte i døra

Tyranni, rett og sjølvbedrag i Egilssoga – og tvitydige situasjonar i islendingsogene

Abstract

This article points out a compositional pattern that may be essential to a greater understanding of the ideology behind Egils saga, but that has previously been acknowledged to a small degree, and whose significance has been overlooked. The general scholarly view of the saga – that its message is in support of Egill’s family and the Icelandic point of view against Norwegian royal power – seems to be somewhat insufficient, because there is a fundamental ambiguity, throughout the whole saga, in the presentation of the Kveldulfr family and their decisions, behaviour and ideals. On the surface, it seems that the author supports the Kveldulfr family and the Icelandic aristocracy’s understanding of themselves, but on a closer inspection the saga problematizes this self-understanding and the ideas upon which it is based. This comes to light especially in many coupled situations. Where similar issues occur twice, the Kveldulfr family assumes one position the first time, but the opposite position the next time, and in other situations where the family meets their former selves regarding their relation to the Norwegian royal power and its values. As a result, the saga fundamentally problematizes inheritance as the one legitimation of power, and the idea of the tyrant and the free farmers who respect each other and founded a free-state on this principle in Iceland. It does not, however, present an alternative view, just a problematization. The author argues that such a ‘non-solution’ ideology can be seen in many of the sagas of Icelanders and also in a somewhat ignored but important trait of their style: ambiguous situations, in which it is impossible to decide which party is right or wrong. This ideology seems to be ancient the author argues, because it is in accordance with what we encounter in our sources for a pre-Christian Nordic world-view. In the mythology, an essential idea is a form of dualism. For example the giants are the gods’ enemies but this does not make them evil and when they overthrow the gods’ cosmos, the gods bear the responsibility equally as much as the giants.