The Plot & the Story in Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar

The Plot and the Space in Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar

Alexey Eremenko

State University of Humanities at the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow)

Many aspects of the poetics of the Fornaldarsögur – including the perception of space – are to a large degree defined by the general conflict of the story, which, in turn, depends mainly on the ethical directives of the text. In the ethical system of Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar [1] (dating from the late 13^th century) [2] the central place is given to oppositions of two qualities – moderation and wisdom.

Moderation of actions is depicted in the saga as the main virtue of a character: it is connected with the hero’s ability to act in a way that the authors of the saga would consider just. Emotional immoderation is understood as desire to follow one’s personal wishes and whims, which usually has a destructive effect. Wisdom shown by the characters is ambivalent and can result both in positive and in negative consequences. Therefore it is possible to speak of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ wisdom, with the main difference between them being that the former was used for good, or, rather, for justice, and the latter – for personal advantage.

Ethical directives in the saga are not simply phenomena of the inner world of the character; they can have impact on the material world. In a number of instances the impact is direct: for example, ‘negative’ wisdom provides the ability to wield magic, i.e. manipulate physical objects (Hr.Gautr., 86, 98), as well as to foresee the future (Hr.Gautr., 112). In more complicated cases cause-and-effect relations can be affected: only Hrolf’s ‘positive’ wisdom, which he showed on numerous occasions, helped him to defeat his final adversary (Hr.Gautr., 146–147), even though guessing what it will require (Hr.Gautr., 105, 140–145), was simply impossible.

The space continuum of Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar is not homogeneous. Because of the plot requirements it is divided into three worlds which can be dubbed ‘real’, ‘fantastic’ and ‘heroic’. The division is not solely spatial – every one of the three is a complex system with a lot of features, which in each case are defined primarily by its storyline functions. The functions depend on the ethical directives of each particular world. Other important parameters of the world are topography, population and social structure.

1. The Real world.

The real world is the easiest to localize in terms of real topography – it includes Norway (Hr.Gautr., 46) as well as Gautland (Hr.Gautr., 45). These two regions were most deeply integrated into the cultural space of the authors and the audience of the sagas. The function of the real world for the story of saga was in providing a point of departure for the hero’s enterprises in other worlds, which is why it only figures in the beginning and/or end of the text (Hr.Gautr., 148) or one of adventures of the heroes (Hr.Gautr., 84–85, 112), as well as serving as a place where they return from their expeditions (Hr.Gautr., 56, 79). The real world of Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar has the same laws as the world where this text was composed – it was essentually a part of reality reflected in the saga. It had the same ethical norms that the Icelandic society of the times when the Fornaldarsögur were recorded was abiding by, and it was inhabited by common people belonging to Scandinavian culture. The protagonist acted as its representative, coming in contact with other worlds of the saga, and that’s why his adventures took place outside the territory of the real world.

2. The Fantastic world.

The most notable feature of the fantastic world is the absence of attributes allowing to localize it in the real space (Hr.Gautr., 95). To get to this nameless region the heroes have to travel unknown lands, moving away from places inhabited by humans (Hr.Gautr., 94–95). The moment of travel to the fantastic world in the saga is usually declared, but not described (Hr.Gautr., 62, 102, 112, 116, 131, 144), and plays no significant role; in fact, the characters just jump, or skip from real to fantastic space – a similar phenomenon is described for both epos [3] and fairy-tale [4].

The fantastic world of Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar is in some ways similar to the world of fairy-tale (‘the afterworld’, in terms of Propp). First of all this has to do with its storyline function: in the saga the character is always subjected to a test here, just as it happens in the fairy-tale afterworld [5]. Proposing this test to the hero constitutes the main role of the fantastic world in the general conflict of the saga. The test passed in this world by Hrolf Gautreksson is not connected to the general storyline, but it’s important for the ethical description of the hero: he manages to overcome his dangerous foes only because he possesses more wisdom and moderation than common men (Hr.Gautr., 86, 89–90, 100). Moreover, the inhabitants of the fantastic world are not defined in terms of a regular human society: the saga never tells a word about their ancestral background (Hr.Gautr., 46, 86). They are, in fact, not people, but supernatural beings with magic abilities (Hr.Gautr., 86) or attributes (Hr. Gautr. 97–98).

3. The Heroic world.

This world includes the regions of Denmark, (Hr.Gautr., 50–53), Gardariki (Hr.Gautr., 91–92), Ireland (Hr.Gautr., 112), England (Hr.Gautr., 118–130) which are formally localized in real space, but are situated far away from Iceland. Unlike Norway, to which the Icelanders always had close connection, those regions were less-known, and therefore could be turned into a scene for heroic myths of some sort. The degree to which they could be mythologized did vary: Sweden was perceived as belonging rather to the territory of real world, albeit with some attributes of the other two worlds (Hr.Gautr., 53). Other regions were described with a varying degree of fictionalization. On the whole, the heroic world blended attributes of the other two, although this was by no means a mechanical combination. On one hand, this was a quasi-real territory inhabited by humans and preserving the basic principles of human society – the state (Hr.Gautr., 91–92, 112) and the social hierarchy (Hr.Gautr., 123, 125, 128). However, the main features of this world were hyperbolized to the point where they become impossible in the real world. Here we see large-scale military conflicts that lead to conquests of whole kingdoms happening on a regular basis, and often with no historical prototypes whatsoever (Hr.Gautr., 150). The characters originating from the heroic world often possess supernatural powers, especially physical might (Hr.Gautr., 106–110). Besides, the moral qualities of its inhabitants are exaggerated as well: that includes, for instance, prowess (с. 133–136), magnanimity (Hr.Gautr., 74, 120–121, 127), wisdom (Hr.Gautr., 96–100) for positive characters and low cunning (Hr.Gautr., 136), stupidity (Hr.Gautr., 104–105) for negative ones.

The main part of the action in Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar takes part in the heroic world. Its storyline function is to provide the arena for the general conflict, which transfers to the fantastic world only for the duration of the critical test. This conclusion allows us to complete the scheme of correlation between the three worlds of the Fornaldarsögur. The real world is the starting point for the hero, the heroic world is the arena for main body of action, and the fantastic world – the equivalent of the afterworld – is a place where the hero passes his test.

Notes:

[1] Saga quoted after edition: Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda / Utg. av Guðni Jónsson, Bjarni Vilhjálmsson. Reykjavík, 1944. B. 3. Bls. 45–151. Further references gives as (Hr.Gautr.), the number specifies a page.

[2] Simek R., Hermann Pálsson. Lexikon der altnordischen Literatur. Stuttgart, 1987. S. 179.

[3] Gurevitch A. Ya. Пространственно-временной континуум «Песни о Нибелунгах» // Гуревич А.Я. История. Нескончаемый спор. Медиевистика и скандинавистика: статьи разных лет. М., 2005. С. 128.

[4] Propp V. Ya. Морфология <волшебной> сказки. Исторические корни волшебной сказки. М., 1998. С. 142. <Morphology of the fairy-tale>.

[5] Propp V. Ya. Морфология. С. 142–145.