Gudrun—Femme Fatale
"Though I treated him worst, I loved him best."
Femme Fatale: “an attractive and seductive woman, especially one who is likely to cause distress or disaster to a man who becomes involved with her” (Google).
In The Saga of the People of Laxardal, translated by Keneva Kunz, the character of Gudrun is considered the most worthy and beautiful woman in all of Iceland. However, this beauty causes a multitude of pain, even when Gudrun does not utilize it.
For her first marriage, Gudrun was married at the age of fifteen to Thorvald, even though Gudrun’s father worried that their marriage would not bode well. Turns out her father was right. Thorvald married Gudrun for her beauty and quickly became distressed over her need for fine items. Looking at this scene with a modern lens, Gudrun was not mature enough to become a wife to an older man, especially when she was infatuated with finer things. After becoming fed up with her actions, Thorvald struck Gudrun in the face. Long story short, they get divorced. This was the beginning. of her femme fatale powers being used. Although this time, it was used unwittingly.
In her second marriage, Gudrun uses her femme fatale abilities to marry Thord, whom she had her eyes on. After insulting Thord’s wife by accusing her of cross-dressing for too long, Thord asks “‘would you advise me to announce my divorce from Aud here at the Althing or at home before the local assembly? I’ll have to collect a number of supporters because those whom I will offend by so doing will be determined on revenge’” (71).
Gudrun then replies, “‘Tarry-long brings little home,’” (71). Meaning, if you wait a long time to divorce your wife, then you cannot have me as your own. Understanding this meaning, Thord immediately takes action. Here, we see the first instance of Gudrun using her abilities to take control of her life.
Sadly, Thord dies after a while. But soon enough, Gudrun meets her ill-fated lover, Kjartan. It is clear that they both have a strong liking to each other, even without having to use her femme fatale abilities. However, the two are soon parted. On their separation, Gudrun loses control of her abilities. Bolli, Kjartan’s foster brother, proposes to Gudrun. She had previously told Bolli that she did not wish to marry him, but Bolli had already fallen into her (out of control) trap. He finally convinces her of marriage when he tells Gudrun that Kjartan plans to stay in Norway and has been enjoying the company of the king’s sister. Reluctantly, Gudrun marries him.
Bolli uses manipulative tools in order to receive the finest woman in all the land. Fate, however, does not seem to be on his side. They have a loveless marriage, which grows even more distant when Kjartan returns rich and single as ever. The femme fatale abilities that Gudrun once lost control of are now back in her possession; although, it may be too much for her to handle.
Kjartan marries another woman, although he cannot forget Gudrun. Thus marks the beginning of the end. In this act, the two families become at odds with one another. The tension continues to grow until Gudrun cannot handle her jealousy and powers anymore.
Gudrun asks Bolli to go with the others to ambush Kjartan and kill him (mostly for his offenses against her; I.e., marrying another woman).
At first, Bolli refuses to take offense against his foster brother, but then Gudrun cranks up a notch: “‘What you say is true enough, but you’re not fortunate enough. tobe in a position where you can please everyone, and if you refuse to go along it will be the end of our life together’” (113).
Bolli is immediately convinced and goes to kill his foster brother. At last, Gudrun has allowed her femme fatale ability to take over, resulting in the death of the man she loved the most. Not long after, Bolli is killed for his actions. A few years down the line, the men that killed Bolli are killed by his sons.
The actions of Gudrun are (partly) a result of her beauty. This leads me to pose a question: Are femme fatales “evil”? Or are they placed in this role because of the people around them?
As a man, I can confirm that nothing could ever hurt me more than a woman has. In all seriousness, Gudrun is using the only real weapon she has, and she uses the hell out of it. As for whether or not she wields it with malicious intent, I'm not sure. Either way, this was another great read; there's a reason I'm subscribed!
I appreciate this post! As I was reading Laxardal, I too was curious about Gudrun's efforts and means to get her way. I agree that she does come across as malicious at times and is generally unkind to those around her in favor of her own wants, but I also found myself wondering about how much she felt what she was doing was necessary in order to maintain herself and her life. Her father was alive throughout her multiple marriages, but after her first divorce I wondered what options a woman would have had at the time, other than to return to her father and hope for a future marriage. We've spent a lot of time discussing women and the agency that they do and don't have in a variety of situations, so to some extent, I still attribute some of her actions and choices to a need to ensure a place as someone's wife and means to live relatively well. However, as has been said, she definitely could have gone about all of these things in a much less hurtful, damaging way.