Masculinity and Politics in Njáls Saga

Abstract

The subject of this study is how masculinity is problematized in Njáls Saga (ca. 1280), with the characters constantly accusing each other of not being manly. The author argues that the obsession of the saga characters with masculinity actually undermines the manly/unmanly-binary, since almost every character in the saga is subjected to ridicule about lack of manliness. While these allegations are often unfounded, sometimes they do have some foundation in reality; but even when the protagonists are indeed unmanly, they remain the most impressive characters in the saga. Thus it is possible to read the saga’s treatment of gender as critical of the norms of a misogynist society, showing how the ideal of masculinity may become so exaggerated that it becomes uncompromising and oppressive and leads to failed marriages and to outpourings of an aggressive heroism that thrives on the uneasiness of males, who know that everything may be used against them.

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